# Ask for approval

Hold a run until a person approves or rejects it.

## Choose how to ask

- **In GoRunner**: **Approval** › **Request Approval (wait)**. People decide in **Runs**. It sends nothing.
- **By email**: **Email (SMTP)** › **Send for Approval (wait for decision)**. One step emails **Approve** and **Reject** buttons, then waits.
- **Anywhere else**: **Approval** › **Create Approval Links (no wait)**, then your own step that sends the links, such as **Gmail**, or **HTTP Request** to your chat tool’s API, then **Approval** › **Wait for Decision**.

## Add an approval in GoRunner

1. Where the run should wait, add a step on the main line: type `approval` and choose **Approval** › **Request Approval (wait)**.
2. Fill in **Title** and **Details**, so whoever decides knows what it’s about.
3. Press **Publish**.

When a run reaches the step, it waits and shows Held. **Approvers** is only a note on the run; nobody is told. To tell people, ask by email or send the links yourself.

## Decide a held run

1. Open **Runs**. Held runs are under **Needs you**, in **Held for a person**.
2. Press **Approve** or **Reject**, then confirm.

Operators, editors and admins of the workspace can decide. Viewers see the run under **Needs attention**.

![Runs › Needs you, Held for a person: a held refund with Approve and Reject.](https://docs.gorunner.io/img/build/approve-1-light.jpg)

You can also decide on the run’s own page. Either way, the run carries on with your answer, and ends Worked even when rejected.

## Act on the answer

Add a [Branch](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/branch-and-loop#branch) after the approval that checks whether `{{steps.step_2.status}}` equals `approved`, with your approval step’s name in place of `step_2`. Anything else is a rejection, or no answer in time: then `status` is `timed_out`.

**Auto-continue after (timeout)** lets the run go on without an answer. At 0, the default, it waits for ever.

> **Note** An approval works only on the main line. Inside a Branch, a Loop or a workflow run by a Sub-flow step, it fails.

**What if a mail scanner opens the link?**

Nothing is decided. Opening a link shows a page with the choice; only pressing it records the answer. Each link works once, and the first answer wins. Anyone who has the link can answer, without signing in, so send it only to whoever decides.

**Can I stop a held run instead?**

Yes. On the run’s page, press **Cancel**; if you can approve the run, it is under **⋯**. It stops waiting, and the steps after it don’t run.

**Can another system answer instead of a person?**

Yes. Use **Delay / Wait** › **Wait for Approval / Webhook**. Send its `resumeUrl` to the other system; a `POST` to it carries on the run, with the body on `resumeData`.

## Check it worked

Once the workflow is live, start a run. In **Runs**, it shows Held under **Needs you**.

## For developers

A held run is `paused` with `waitingOn: person`. [Approve or reject a held run](https://docs.gorunner.io/api/runs/decide-run) decides it with an API token. The answer is also on `{{steps.step_2.resumeData.decision}}`.

## Related

- [Approval](https://docs.gorunner.io/apps/approval): Every action and field
- [Email (SMTP)](https://docs.gorunner.io/apps/email-smtp): Send for Approval and its fields
- [Runs](https://docs.gorunner.io/build/runs): Held and the other states · 4 min

Source: https://docs.gorunner.io/build/ask-for-approval