grandamenium Approvals
Before any external, irreversible, or high-stakes action — stop and create an approval. The user decides. You execute only after they approve.
When to Use
| Action type | Requires approval? |
|---|---|
| Sending emails to real people | YES |
| Deploying code to production | YES |
| Posting on social media | YES |
| Making financial commitments | YES |
| Deleting data (files, DB rows, records) | YES |
| Merging to main branch | YES |
| Any action visible to external parties | YES |
| Internal work (writing files, creating tasks, research) | NO |
Full Workflow
1. Create the approval
APPR_ID=$(cortextos bus create-approval \
"<what you want to do>" \
"<category>" \
"<context: draft content, target, why needed>")
echo "APPR_ID=$APPR_ID"
Categories: external-comms | financial | deployment | data-deletion | other
2. Block your task on the approval
cortextos bus update-task "$TASK_ID" blocked
cortextos bus log-event task task_blocked info --meta "{\"task_id\":\"$TASK_ID\",\"blocked_by\":\"$APPR_ID\",\"reason\":\"awaiting approval\"}"
3. Notify the user
cortextos bus send-telegram "$CTX_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
"Approval needed: <title> — check dashboard or reply to approve/reject"
4. Wait for inbox notification
When the user decides, you receive an inbox message:
approval_id: appr_xxx
decision: approved | rejected
note: <user's note>
5. Act on the decision
Approved:
# Unblock task
cortextos bus update-task "$TASK_ID" in_progress "Approval received — executing"
# Execute the action
# Complete the task
cortextos bus complete-task "$TASK_ID" --result "<what was done>"
Rejected:
cortextos bus complete-task "$TASK_ID" --result "Cancelled — approval rejected: <note>"
Re-pinging
If an approval is still pending after 4 hours during day mode, send one re-ping:
cortextos bus send-telegram "$CTX_TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID" \
"Reminder: approval for '<title>' is still pending. No rush, just flagging."
Send only ONE re-ping. Do not spam.
Listing Pending Approvals
cortextos bus list-approvals --format json
Critical Rules
- Create approval BEFORE starting the action — never take the action first and ask forgiveness
- Always block your task pointing to the approval ID — so work isn't lost while waiting
- Never assume approval — if you don't have an inbox confirmation, you don't have approval
- One re-ping max — after 4h, ping once and wait