Autonomy
The three autonomy tiers, when to use each, and how the confirmation flow works.
Every automation has one of three autonomy tiers, set in the automation builder:
- Draft only: every run waits for approval in the task inbox before its step executes.
- Approve each step: pauses after every step for approval. (Automations run a single step today, so this behaves the same as draft only until multi-step automations ship.)
- Auto-execute safe steps: research/draft steps run without approval; nothing that sends externally is ever eligible for this tier.
When to use draft only or approve each step
Use one of the approval-gated tiers for:
- High-stakes steps: advancing a deal stage, sending outreach, or anything visible to the client or team.
- Automations you are still calibrating: reviewing proposed steps in the inbox lets you verify the automation is behaving as intended before trusting it to run unattended.
- Any step involving external-facing content: outreach drafts, for example, should usually get a human review before being sent.
Proposed steps appear in the task inbox with full context, including the automation that fired, the client, and the proposed step, so you can make an informed decision quickly.
When to use auto-execute safe steps
Use auto-execute for automations whose step is side-effect-free — today that means draft_sequence: drafting a sequence template never sends anything to a prospect on its own. Client Path enforces this at the engine level — a step kind can never be promoted into the auto-execute-eligible set without a dedicated security review, so picking this tier with a mutating step (like advance_stage or notify_user) still routes through the inbox.
Auto-executed runs are still logged in the automation's run history — see audit.
The confirmation flow
When an automation set to draft only or approve each step fires:
- The proposed step appears in the task inbox with status pending.
- You (or any editor, admin, or owner) can approve, reject, or snooze it.
- If approved, the step executes immediately.
- If rejected, no action is taken. The rejection is logged.
- If snoozed, the task reappears after the snooze period.
See also: task inbox, approve, reject, and snooze, audit.