Approval Flow
Bridges talk to real people in real channels, so they're held to a higher bar than the local chat. The approval flow is the moment when the agent stops and surfaces a confirmation card in Ghast Desktop before it does something with downstream effects.
What triggers an approval
The agent does not stop for every reply. Trivial chat exchanges are auto-sent. Approval triggers fire on:
| Trigger | Why |
|---|---|
| Long reply | Anything over a configurable size threshold (default 800 chars). |
| Outbound file or attachment | Sending media to a channel. |
| Side effects in tool calls | A tool the agent uses has writes: true or destructive: true — e.g. posting to another channel, modifying remote state. |
| Non-actor message in a group | A user who isn't on the channel's approved-actor list asked the agent to do something. |
| First reply in a newly mapped channel | Treated as a sanity check; subsequent replies in that channel run without prompting. |
| Auto-apply review hit | If Partner Mode's auto-apply rules say to pause, the agent does. |
You can tune most of these in Settings → Channels → [Platform] → Approval Rules.
What the approval card shows
The card appears in the desktop client (not in the remote channel). It contains:
- The channel name and platform.
- The triggering user's identity.
- A preview of the message the agent intends to send.
- A list of any tool calls the agent is about to make (with parameters).
- Three buttons: Send, Edit & Send, Cancel.
While the card is up, the agent stalls. Other channels and conversations continue working — only the one waiting on approval is paused.
Edit & Send
Sometimes the agent's draft is 90% right. Edit & Send opens an inline editor so you can tweak the message before posting. The edited content is what's sent; the agent doesn't re-generate.
Timing out
If you don't respond within 30 minutes, the request is treated as Cancel. The agent posts a brief "I held off on this — let me know if you still want me to" reaction in the channel (configurable per channel).
Logging
Every approval (granted or denied) is logged in Settings → Channels → [Platform] → Approval Log. The log shows:
- Timestamp
- Channel / user
- Action type
- Decision
- Final message content (if sent)
Useful for review or compliance.
Bypassing approvals
You can lower the approval bar per channel, per platform, or per workspace. Reasonable choices:
- DMs in Telegram — bypass approval (you're the only one in the chat).
- High-trust internal Slack channels — bypass for short replies, keep for tool calls with side effects.
- Public-facing channels — keep all approvals.
Settings → Channels → [Platform] → Approval Rules lets you set thresholds.
When approval doesn't trigger
A few cases where the agent posts without pausing, even for non-trivial work:
- Reactions — emoji reactions are too lightweight to gate.
- Confirmations and acknowledgements — "got it, working on it" is auto-sent.
- Already-approved tool calls — if the same exact tool call shape has been approved recently, repeat calls within a short window pass through.
These are conveniences. You can disable each in the rules.