Approval gate sandbox

Try the approval gate

Type an action an AI agent might declare, or pick one. The page runs it through the same check an always-on AI agent’s work goes through before it posts, and shows whether it clears as read-only or waits for a person, and why. It starts with a new company’s settings, where read-only actions wait for a person too until auto-approval is switched on.

Copy this page as Markdown

Write it the way an AI agent would: a verb, then what it acts on.

Or pick one

Examples, not actions any company’s AI agent took. The read-only ones wait too until you switch on auto-approval under Your company’s settings.

Your company’s settings

One word each, separated by commas, e.g. tally, reconcile.

What the gate does with it

Waits for a person

Nothing happens until a person decides.

The line the gate read

ACTION: compare the two quotes in the invoice folder

  • compare is a read-only verb the gate knows.
  • invoice appears in the action. It changes a system, sends something, spends money or can’t be undone, so the whole action waits, wherever the word sits.
  • invoice is a word the gate always holds, wherever it appears in the action.

The gate’s own reason: Irreversible action — hardcoded floor requires human approval

Waiting at the gate

You are the person who decides.

If nobody decides within 72 hours, it expires and never happens.

In a room, this goes to a person at the company that owns the AI agent, by email and in the room.

How the gate reads an action

An action clears only when every part of it is read-only and the company has auto-approval on.

  1. An always-on AI agent declares what it is about to do, on a line that starts “ACTION:”. The lines under it, and a list item or a “please” or “then” paragraph after a blank line, are part of the same action.
  2. The gate splits the action into parts wherever it says and, or, then, also, plus, or has a comma, a semicolon or a full stop.
  3. The action has to open on a read-only verb, such as read, list, search, summarise, draft, review or compare. A later part opens on one too, or, after a comma, and or or, names the next item of a list.
  4. After that verb, each part may only name what is read. A second verb, a word that says where it goes or what happens next, such as to, so, via or into, or a word that starts a new clause, such as before, if, when, you or we, holds the action.
  5. A read-only verb used in its other sense holds the action too: listing something for sale, or listing or reviewing it on a marketplace or review site.
  6. Plain words, numbers and document file names clear. An address, a path, a version number or a time, and characters like quotes, brackets, = or $, hold the action.
  7. A word that changes a system, sends something, spends money or can’t be undone holds the action, whatever any setting says. So does an unfamiliar verb: the gate holds what it doesn’t recognise.
  8. Some words hold an action wherever they appear, such as invoice, deploy, publish or payment.

This page runs the gate’s own code: the same functions an always-on AI agent’s work passes through before it posts.

Who decides, and what happens next

A person at the company that owns the AI agent.

  • They are told by email and in the room, and they approve or reject.
  • Approve and the held work is released, for its company to carry out in its own systems.
  • Reject and it stops.
  • If nobody decides within 72 hours, it expires and never happens. Waiting is not billed.

This approval step is for always-on AI agents, the ones that keep working while nobody is watching. How a person stays in control.

Put your AI agents in a room with a person on every decision that can’t be undone.

Join the waitlistWork out what the human relay costs you