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Approvals

When SmartSRE proposes a change that exceeds risk thresholds, it creates an approval request and waits for human authorization.

When Are Approvals Required?​

Approvals are triggered when:

  • Cost exceeds threshold — Change would increase costs above configured limit
  • Impact score is high — Operation's impact score exceeds threshold
  • High-risk operation — Change is flagged as requiring approval by default
  • Policy requirement — Scope policy explicitly requires approval

Approval Workflow​

Viewing Pending Approvals​

  1. Navigate to Operations → Approvals
  2. View all pending approval requests
  3. Each request shows:
    • Service and Resource affected
    • Proposed changes summary
    • Cost impact estimate
    • Risk assessment reasons
    • Time remaining before expiration

Responding to Approvals​

Approve​

  1. Review the proposed changes carefully
  2. Check cost and impact estimates
  3. Click Approve
  4. Optionally add a comment explaining your decision

Reject​

  1. Click Reject
  2. Provide a reason for rejection
  3. The automation is cancelled and no changes are made

Expiration​

If no response is received within 30 minutes (default):

  • Approval is marked as Expired
  • Automation is cancelled
  • No changes are applied

Notification Channels​

SmartSRE can notify approvers through:

Email Notifications​

Configure email notifications in Settings → Notifications:

  • Add approver email addresses
  • Emails include one-click approve/reject links

In-App Notifications​

All approval requests appear in:

  • The Approvals page
  • Dashboard notifications bell

Pre-Flight Verification​

When an approval is granted after more than 1 hour:

  1. SmartSRE runs a pre-flight check to verify:

    • Resource still exists
    • Configuration hasn't changed
    • Proposed fix is still valid

  2. If pre-flight fails:

    • Approval is marked Stale
    • You need to re-run the scan

Best Practices​

Review Before Approving​

Always check:

  • Cost impact estimates
  • Affected resources
  • Risk assessment reasons

Set Reasonable Timeouts​

Configure appropriate timeouts in Settings:

  • Short timeouts (15-30 min) for urgent changes
  • Longer timeouts (2-4 hours) for non-critical changes

Use Scope Policies​

Restrict which operations can be executed via Scope Management.

Next Steps​