Definition
Approval mode is a setting where an agent pauses before a specified action and waits for a human to sign off before carrying it out.
In practice
It is the practical middle ground between watching an agent constantly and not watching it at all. The agent runs unattended by default and stops only at the steps you nominated, which lets you separate what is reversible from what is not. Gate on reversibility rather than importance: an agent doing important reading unattended is fine, an agent doing trivial deleting unattended is not. The usual candidates are sending external email, spending money, deleting, and posting publicly. Requiring approval everywhere defeats the purpose, since an agent that needs a click per step is a slower version of doing it yourself.
Example
A sales agent researches inbound leads and drafts a first reply to each one. Reading company sites and writing drafts runs unattended, because nothing there is irreversible. Sending is gated: the agent pauses, the owner sees the draft, and one click either sends it or returns it with a note. Over a week she approves most drafts unchanged and learns which kinds of lead still need her own voice.
Common questions about approval mode
Which agent actions should require approval?
Gate on reversibility rather than importance. Approval mode fits actions that cannot be undone or that speak for you in public: sending external email, spending money, deleting data, and posting publicly. Reading, researching, and drafting can usually run unattended, because a bad draft costs nothing until someone sends it.
Does approval mode slow an agent down?
Only at the steps you gate. With approval mode, the agent runs unattended everywhere else and pauses at the nominated actions, so the delay is the time a person takes to review. Requiring approval on every step defeats the purpose, because an agent that needs a click per step is slower than doing the job yourself.
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