---
key: review-an-automation-approval
title: Review an automation approval
audience: staff
section: automation
routes: ["/lifecycle-automation/approvals"]
permissions: ["lifecycle_automation.approvals.review"]
features: ["lifecycle_automation.approvals"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Open the automation approval queue, read why an automated message was held for a person, then approve or reject it with a note.
keywords: [approve message, held message, waiting for approval, review queue, reject, sign off, human review]
related: [use-the-automation-center, turn-an-automation-on-or-off, set-automation-guardrails]
---

In the sidebar, open **Automation**, then **Approvals**. The page address is `/lifecycle-automation/approvals`. The page heading reads **Approval queue**. Some automations are set so that a risky or unusual message stops here and waits for a person before it goes out.

## Before you start

- Opening the queue needs permission to review automation approvals. Acting on a request needs a second permission, to approve automation decisions; without it you can read everything but the **Approve candidate** and **Reject candidate** buttons do not appear.
- The queue opens on **Pending** so you see only what is still waiting.

## Steps

1. Find the request. Type in **Search** to match by automation name, the record it is about, or the channel, or change **Status** to **All statuses**, **Approved**, **Rejected** or **Expired** to look at history.
2. Click the request card. A drawer opens with the request number in its title.
3. Read the **Request** section: the automation, the record, the channel, when it was requested, when it is due, when it expires, and the risk tier and score that caused the hold. **Reason codes** lists the specific reasons.
4. Scroll to **Request snapshot** and the candidate details to see exactly what would be sent.
5. In the **Decision** section, type a note in the box. The note is kept for support and for the next person who looks at this request.
6. Press **Approve candidate** to let the action go ahead, or **Reject candidate** to stop it. Nova confirms with a short message and the request leaves the pending list.

## What you see

- Each card in the queue shows the status chip, the risk tier, the channel, the automation name, the record it concerns, when it was requested and its scope.
- Approving only releases this one action. It does not change the automation or approve anything else in the queue.
- When the queue is empty the page reads **No approvals are waiting in this queue**.

## If something looks different

- The page reads that the approval queue is unavailable: your role cannot review approvals. Ask your admin.
- The drawer shows **Action is waiting on an approver** instead of **Decision**: you can read the request but your role cannot decide it. Hand it to someone who can, or ask your admin for the approval permission.
- A request shows **Expired**: it waited past its expiry and the action was dropped. Nothing was sent. If the customer still needs the message, send it by hand from their record.
- Requests keep appearing for messages that should go out on their own: the automation's policy is holding too much. See [[set-automation-guardrails]].

[[route:/lifecycle-automation/approvals|Open the approval queue]]