glossary
What is an approval gate in AI agents?
An approval gate is a checkpoint where an AI agent must get human approval before a sensitive action. Definition, examples, and how tools implement it.
An approval gate is a checkpoint where an AI agent stops before doing something important and waits for you to say yes. It shows you exactly what it's about to do, who it affects, and whether you can undo it. You approve, reject, or send it back with feedback.
What it means
Think of it as a "show me before you send" rule. The agent does the thinking and the drafting, then pauses at the moment it would actually act. You see the exact email, the exact ticket fields, or the exact record change before it happens.
Good approval gates show you everything you need to decide: what the agent wants to do, why, who it affects, and whether the action can be undone. Bad ones just say "run this tool?" with no context.
The best implementations are configurable: safe defaults that you can loosen per agent as you build trust, all the way to full autonomy when you're ready. See how Doozy does it.
Example
Your agent drafts a follow-up email to a client. Instead of sending it, the email appears in your approval queue with the recipient, the full message, and the meeting notes it was based on. You read it, fix one sentence, and approve. That one email goes out. The next one still waits for you — unless you've set that agent to YOLO on email.
Where it appears in Doozy
Doozy has three modes: safe defaults (approval on external actions), custom per agent (tighten or loosen per category), and YOLO (full autonomy when you trust it). Admin rules can't be overridden by the agent or the request. See how Doozy approval gates work for the full breakdown.