# Ask for approval

> Pause a run until someone approves or rejects it, or answers a question in writing, then carry on with their answer. People outside your workspace can answer too.

Web page: https://docs.lodol.com/docs/guides/approvals

A **Request approval** step pauses the run and asks people to decide. They get an email and a notice in Lodol, each with a link, and anyone outside your workspace can answer from the link without an account. The run waits without using any resources, then carries on with the answer.

It asks for one of two things, set in **What you need back**:

- **Approve or reject** (the default): for a sign-off or a control, such as before paying a bill or posting in public.
- **A written reply**: people answer a question only a person can, such as which PO number an invoice goes against.

## Ask for an approval

<WorkflowPreview
  title="Approve bills before they're paid"
  steps={[
    { step: 'New QuickBooks bill', app: 'QuickBooks', trigger: true },
    { step: 'Request approval', icon: 'UserCheck', note: 'Pay @bill.vendor_name $@bill.total?' },
    { step: 'If', icon: 'Split', note: '@approval.approved is true' },
    { step: 'Pay a QuickBooks bill', app: 'QuickBooks', depth: 1 },
    { step: 'Otherwise', icon: 'Split' },
    { step: 'Send message', app: 'Gmail', depth: 1, note: 'to the person who entered it' },
    { step: 'End if', icon: 'Split' },
  ]}
/>

<Steps>
<Step>

### Say what needs deciding

**What to ask** is the one line people see first, such as `Pay @bill.vendor_name $@bill.total for bill @bill.doc_number`. Put everything else they need in **Details**: amounts, line items and links to the documents. Links are clickable in the email and in Lodol.

</Step>
<Step>

### Choose who decides

Put their email addresses in **Who to ask**, separated by commas. People in your workspace answer in Lodol; anyone else gets a secure link by email. **Who can answer** sets whether only those people can decide, those people plus the workspace's owner and admins, or anyone in the workspace who can run workflows.

</Step>
<Step>

### Act on the decision

Add an **If** step after it that tests `@approval.approved`, with the approved steps inside and the rejected steps under **Otherwise**.

</Step>
</Steps>

<Callout type="warn" title="Leave Who to ask empty, and anyone can decide">
  With no one listed, anyone in the workspace who can run workflows can approve. That's fine for a quick check, but not for a control. For tiered approvals especially, name the people at each level.
</Callout>

## Ask for a written reply

Set **What you need back** to a written reply and write the question as **What to ask**: `Which PO number should the @bill.vendor_name bill go against?`. Later steps read the answer as `@answer.reply`.

Use a reply only when a person really has to supply information. For a yes or no, use an approval: it gives you `approved` as true or false, not words to match.

## When nobody answers

| Setting | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Time limit (hours)** | How long to wait. 72 hours if left empty, at most 720 (30 days). Fractions work: `0.5` is half an hour. |
| **If nobody answers in time** | Left empty, an approval is rejected and a written reply stops the run with an error. An approval can instead **Treat it as approved** or **Stop with an error**. A reply can **Continue without a reply**, which gives the next steps an empty reply with `timed_out` set. |
| **Remind every (hours)** | Reminds the people asked this often while the request waits, up to 10 reminders. |
| **Escalate after (hours)** | If nobody has answered after this long, also asks the people in **Escalate to**, or the workspace's owner and admins if that's empty. It must be shorter than the time limit. |

## Keep approvals honest

Two settings keep the person who asked from approving their own request:

- **Require a different approver** stops the person the run runs as from approving it: whoever started the run, or the workflow's owner for a scheduled or triggered run.
- **Prepared by** names whoever prepared the item, such as the person who entered the bill. They can't approve it.

These apply to approvals, not to written replies.

## Approve in steps

- **Several levels:** chain Request approval steps, each followed by its If, so a second person only sees what the first approved. Use different people at each level, or the second level controls nothing.
- **Route by amount:** put Request approval steps inside If branches, such as a manager for bills under $5,000 and the finance lead above.
- **Approve small amounts automatically:** start with an `approved` value set to true, ask for approval only inside an If for large amounts, and act on the result once after the If, so both paths share the same steps.

## Post the request in Slack

**Also post to Slack channel** posts the request to a channel, with a link to answer, using your workspace's Slack connection. The Lodol app must be a member of the channel.

## What the step returns

| Output | What it holds |
| --- | --- |
| `approved` | `true` or `false` for an approval |
| `decision` | The decision, in words |
| `reply` | The written answer, for a reply |
| `comment` | Any comment left with a decision |
| `decided_by` | Who answered |
| `decided_at` | When they answered |
| `timed_out` | Whether the time limit ran out |
| `approval_id` | The request's ID |

Every field of the step is on the [Approvals](https://docs.lodol.com/docs/integrations/built-in/review.md) reference page.