# Review and approve proposals

A proposal is a change that waits for a person before it lands in a brain. Proposals come from:

- an agent writing to a protected folder, such as `ground-truth/`
- an agent asking for review of any change
- someone on the Draft role saving a change
- someone saving in a protected folder without the Approve role
- a delete that needs approval, including every delete made through a connection. See [Delete files and folders](/brains/delete-files).
- a routine on a shadow run, or one whose owner is on Draft
- the assistant suggesting a new routine

## Review a proposal

1. Select **Proposals** in the sidebar. The number beside it is how many are waiting.
2. Open a proposal. You see which brain it's for and exactly what it changes, line by line.
3. Select **Approve** to write the change to the brain, or **Reject** to discard it.

The proposal leaves the pending list, and ako records you as the person who decided. Use **pending** and **all** at the top of the list to see past decisions.

## Who can approve

You need the Approve role. Admins and the owner can always approve. If you can't, the proposal says it is waiting for someone on the Approve role. An admin can give you that role. See [Roles and what they allow](/team/roles).

Some files need an admin, whatever your role: a brain's `.brain/policy.yml`, and the org-wide brain's `skills/` and `instructions/` folders. ako checks every file in a proposal on its own. If one of them needs an admin, it says which.

## Routine proposals

When the assistant suggests a routine, the proposal shows a **New routine** box with its name, schedule and instructions. Select **Approve and register** to create it. You become its owner, and it starts on the schedule shown. Rejecting creates nothing.

## Access requests

When an agent asks to reach into a brain that requires approval, the request appears above the list under **Access requests**. Select **Approve** or **Deny**. Agents can never approve these themselves.

## Approve from Slack

If your organisation has [connected Slack](/connections/slack), proposals are posted to a channel with **Approve** and **Reject** buttons. They work exactly like the ones in the app.