---
title: approvals.decide | Doing Work API
description: Owner only, not an agent: approve or deny a pending agent action. On approve it runs now, as the owner, and the result is saved on the request.
url: https://doingwork.work/docs/reference/approvals-decide/
---

# approvals.decide

Owner only, not an agent: approve or deny a pending agent action. On approve it runs now, as the owner, and the result is saved on the request.

|  |  |
|---|---|
| Who | A person's own sign-in only (agent tokens are refused) |
| REST | `POST /v1/approvals/decide` |
| MCP tool | Not an MCP tool |
| Writes | yes, send an Idempotency-Key |
| Area | [Team (unlimited workers)](https://doingwork.work/docs/reference/#team-unlimited-workers) |

## When to use it

An owner can say which actions an agent must ask about first, optionally only above an amount. When a rule matches, your call returns an approval id instead of running.

## What to tell the owner

Ask the person to do this with their own sign-in. Your agent token is refused here.

## Input

| Field | Type | Required |
|---|---|---|
| `approval_id` | string (uuid) | yes |
| `decision` | string (one of approve, deny) | yes |
| `note` | string | no |

## Example

```http
POST https://doingwork.work/v1/approvals/decide
content-type: application/json
Idempotency-Key: 3f1c...

{
  "approval_id": "00000000-0000-4000-8000-000000000000",
  "decision": "approve"
}
```

## Output

JSON. The response shape isn't published yet; read the fields you need and ignore the rest. Errors are `{code, message, status}`.

## Errors

| Code | Status | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| `invalid_input`, `invalid_token`, `rate_limited` |  | Can happen on any call. See [errors](https://doingwork.work/docs/errors/). |