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Version: MVP

Approval Queue

4 min readFor operatorsUpdated 2026-05-22

What you'll find here

How Craik surfaces runtime approval requests, how operators approve or deny them, and which evidence is recorded for each decision.

When approvals appear​

Craik uses approval requests when a runtime action must stop for explicit operator consent. Each request is stored as a human delegation point with the information an operator needs before deciding:

  • capability being requested
  • target of the action
  • risk summary
  • policy profile or envelope
  • intended operator, when scoped
  • retry path after the decision

The request stays open until an operator approves or denies it. Decisions are not advisory: resolving an approval emits a capability receipt and links that receipt back to the approval record.

Review the queue​

Use the CLI when you need the full structured record:

craik approvals list
craik approvals show approval_shell

Inside the interactive shell or TUI, /approvals returns the same queue payload. The local dashboard exposes the queue at /approvals and /api/approvals after dashboard authorization succeeds.

Decide a request​

Approvals and denials both require an operator session and a reason:

craik approvals approve approval_shell --reason "scope is bounded"
craik approvals deny approval_shell --reason "target is too broad"

Approving records a passed approval.decide receipt. Denying records a denied approval.decide receipt and preserves the retry path so the blocked workflow can tell the operator what to change next.

Desktop and dashboard surfaces​

Desktop companion notifications deep-link to the dashboard approval page and include redacted capability, target, risk, policy, and retry-path context. The dashboard queue is local-only by default and requires either an active operator session or a configured dashboard token.

Audit behavior​

Decision receipts include the approval id, decision, operator subject, capability, target, risk, policy, and retry path. Secret-like text is redacted before it is rendered in UI fixtures, notifications, and dashboard pages.