> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.agentworldprotocol.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Approval

> Human-in-the-loop gating for sensitive action types.

Approval sits between admission and permission in the [action lifecycle](/spec/loop/action-lifecycle): the world acknowledges the submission immediately with `state: "pending_approval"`, then waits for a decision before the action becomes `accepted`. The admission bound (AWP-LIF-002) applies to the acknowledgement, not to the decision.

* Action types marked `requires_approval: true` enter the `pending_approval` state after validation and before `accepted`. The world emits `safety.approval_requested` (approval id, action id, type, params, requester, expiry, and the current [task](/spec/session/task) when one is set) on the approval channel to its configured approver(s). `[AWP-APR-001]`
* The approver responds via `safety.approval.respond` (`approve` | `deny`). Approve → `accepted` (or `queued` if the concurrency group is busy and the submission chose `queue`). Deny → `rejected` with reason `approval_denied`. `[AWP-APR-002]`
* Approvals time out after `approval_timeout_ms` (safety policy; default 60000) → `rejected` with reason `approval_timeout`. If the submission's own `deadline_ms` expires first, the action is `rejected` with reason `deadline_exceeded` (AWP-LIF-008). `[AWP-APR-003]`
* Approvals are per-action; worlds MAY support scoped standing approvals (type + parameter predicate + expiry), which MUST appear in the audit log. `[AWP-APR-004]`
* Who may approve is deployment configuration, out of protocol scope; the protocol only defines the messages and states. `[AWP-APR-005]`
* Approval request content is subject to the audit [redaction rules](/spec/safety/audit-log#redaction) (AWP-AUD-006): `params` fields and the task text listed in `safety_policy.audit.redact_paths` are redacted in the log, not in the message to the approver. `[AWP-APR-006]`