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Approval

docs/apps/providers/approval.mdx

3.2.42.7 KB
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import { VersionBadge } from '/snippets/version-badge.mdx'

<VersionBadge version="3.2.0" />

Approval adds a human-in-the-loop confirmation step to any server. The LLM presents what it's about to do, the user approves or rejects via buttons, and the decision flows back into the conversation as a message.

<Frame> </Frame>
python
from fastmcp import FastMCP
from fastmcp.apps.approval import Approval

mcp = FastMCP("My Server")
mcp.add_provider(Approval())

This registers a single tool:

ToolVisibilityPurpose
request_approvalModelShows an approval card, sends the user's decision back as a message

The LLM calls request_approval with a summary (and optional details) whenever it's about to take a significant action. The user sees a card with Approve and Reject buttons. Clicking either sends a message back into the conversation via SendMessage, which triggers the LLM's next turn.

The message looks like it came from the user:

"Deploy v3.2 to production" — I selected: Approve
<Note> Approval is an advisory gate, not an enforcement mechanism. The conversation isn't blocked while the card is open — the user can keep typing, and a determined LLM could proceed without waiting. Think of it as a strong UX signal that encourages confirmation, not a security boundary. For hard enforcement, implement approval logic server-side in your tool implementations. </Note>

Configuration

The constructor sets defaults; the LLM can override all of these per-call via tool arguments.

python
Approval(
    name="Approval",              # App name
    title="Approval Required",    # Card heading
    approve_text="Approve",       # Approve button label
    reject_text="Reject",         # Reject button label
    approve_variant="default",    # "default", "destructive", "success", "info"
    reject_variant="outline",     # same options plus "outline"
)

The LLM can customize each invocation:

python
request_approval(
    summary="Delete 47 files from /tmp",
    details="This cannot be undone.",
    title="Destructive Action",
    approve_text="Delete",
    approve_variant="destructive",
    reject_text="Keep files",
)

How it works

When the user clicks a button, two things happen:

  1. SendMessage pushes the decision into the conversation as a user message
  2. SetState("decided", True) replaces the buttons with "Response sent."

The tool description instructs the LLM to stop and wait for the "I selected:" message before proceeding. If approved, it continues. If rejected, it acknowledges and asks how to proceed.