git:20260827.a927b9f to git:20260909.8c46eeb

---

name: pending-approvals

description: Use when the user asks to list, inspect, approve, reject, or revoke pending approvals

---

# Pending Approvals

Pending approvals are not automatically resurfaced in later sessions. Recovery

is explicit: the user asks to list/search pendings or supplies an approval id.

Use the unified CLI and treat the DB as primary:

- `gaia approvals pending` -- the undecided pendings only (all sessions by

default; `--session <id>` narrows to one orchestrator session)

- `gaia approvals list` -- the DB-backed grants table plus the undecided

pendings beneath it; it takes `--session` / `--orphans-only` / `--json` and

has NO `--status` filter. Filtering by decision lives on

`gaia approvals history --status <pending|approved|rejected|revoked>`

(`--limit N`, default 50).

- `gaia approvals approve <approval_id>`

- `gaia approvals reject <approval_id>`

- `gaia approvals revoke <approval_id>`

Every lookup and single-item decision requires the complete canonical

`P-<32 lowercase hex>` id. A short display label or raw nonce is never a lookup

key. Full-id lookup may cross session boundaries. Always re-present exact content,

risk, rollback, and verification before an approve decision; for COMMAND_SET,

show the full indexed ordered set. Never infer approval from conversational

language alone or select a similarly prefixed id.

**These verbs are not all the orchestrator's to run.** The trusted-CLI

role guard (`hooks/modules/security/gaia_cli_only_guard.py`) splits them

along a read/write line, not a T3 line: `approvals list` / `show` / `pending`

/ `history` / `stats` are in `ALLOWED_READ_PHRASES` -- the orchestrator reads

these directly. `approvals approve` / `revoke` / `reject` / `reject-all` /

`clean` / `replay` are in `EXPLICITLY_DENIED_PHRASES` -- categorically denied

for the orchestrator role, not approvable, regardless of mode. **Reads are the

orchestrator's; decisions are not.** A decision is dispatched to a specialist

(or, for the CLI-only admin case below, made explicitly by the user) -- never

run bare by the orchestrator itself.

**For a SINGULAR approval, `gaia approvals approve <approval_id>` is an admin

decision-recording verb, not executable activation.** It writes `APPROVED`

directly to the `approvals` row, but creates **no executable grant** and triggers

**no automatic re-dispatch**. The originally blocked command therefore remains

unexecutable from that admin decision alone. When the blocked command still

needs to run, this verb **MUST NEVER** substitute for the structured decision

path owned by the active host adapter. Load the adapter skill declared for the

active host by

`hooks/adapters/registry.py::registered_adapter_skill_documents` for the

mechanism it owns; `orchestrator-present-approval` owns the neutral presentation

and activation contract. Use the bare `approve` CLI verb only for the

audit/CLI-only case -- for example, marking a row from a different session as

decided when the command it covers will not be re-run.

**COMMAND_SET now activates through the same writer from either entry point.**

For a plan-first `request_type: "COMMAND_SET"` pending (minted by `gaia

approvals request-set`, which carries a `request_fingerprint`),

`activate_db_pending_by_id` takes a dedicated branch that calls

`insert_plan_command_set` -- the identical call the CLI admin verb `gaia

approvals approve` makes, and the only shape the runtime's execution check

(`reserve_plan_command`, keyed on `source='plan-first'`) finds. The structured

decision path and the admin verb therefore activate a `request-set` pending

identically. The

legacy `create_command_set_grant()` route survives only for a multi-command

payload with NO `request_fingerprint`, a chain-intake shape production no longer

emits; it is kept as a defensive fallback, not as the plan-first path. The

earlier defect -- a correctly labeled Approve reporting success while the

retried commands re-blocked, because every multi-command payload went through

the legacy route -- is closed.

Legacy filesystem records may still be read as a compatibility fallback for

older singular approvals; new COMMAND_SET requests and grants are DB-backed.

See `reference.md` for current precedence, legacy locations, ambiguity handling,

expiry, and batch rejection rules. Never edit the DB or legacy files directly.

A COMMAND_SET grant in `FAILED` is not pending or resumable. Show its completed,

failed, and untouched indexes as history; require a new request and approval for

all retry/remainder work.