# Grok Bot approvals and Auto-review: what it asks first

Auto-review checks each action and asks you when needed. See the approval card, the two rule types (Ask first, Allow automatically) and why cards expire.

*From Learn Grok Bot, an independent guide (not affiliated with SpaceXAI or Cursor). Web version: https://learngrokbot.com/approvals Last verified: 2026-10-06.*

*Step 6 of 9 on the path "Learn Grok Bot, step by step". Before it: [Set up routines](https://learngrokbot.com/routines.md). After it: [The shared computer](https://learngrokbot.com/shared-computer.md).*

A Bot does most of its work without asking. **Auto-review** checks each action before it runs, and when one needs you the Bot stops and shows a card. Rules in **Settings** decide where that line sits.

**In short**

- With **Auto-review** on, a Bot searches, browses and works on its own files without asking. It stops when the check finds a risk, or when one of your rules says **Ask first**.
- An approval card has three buttons: **Always allow**, **Allow once** and **Deny**. Nothing runs until you pick one.
- **Allow once** covers the action on the card. **Always allow** writes a permanent rule.
- Your rules are in **Settings** > **General**, under **Bot**. A rule is one sentence and one of two choices: **Allow automatically** or **Ask first**.
- An approval that a routine raises while you're away expires after about 10 minutes, and the action doesn't run.

## What a Bot does without asking

**Auto-review** looks at each action a Bot is about to take, on its computer or in your apps, and does one of three things: lets it run, stops and asks you, or refuses it.

Before you read which is which, make a guess.

**Predict: Auto-review is on and you haven't written any rules. You ask a Bot to do these five things. Which one makes it stop and ask you?**

- Search the web and read public pages
- Set up a routine that runs every Monday
- Delete two folders of files it made earlier
- Write a file in a temporary folder, then delete it
- Change a protected system folder on its computer

Answer: Change a protected system folder on its computer

On an account with no rules of its own, only the last one stops. The Bot searches, browses, sets up routines and deletes its own files without a card. Here it is deleting two folders the moment it's asked.

![Three replies from a Bot, one after another: Creating those two scratch folders with an empty file in each first. Folders are up. Removing scratch-a, then scratch-b. Done, both scratch folders are gone. No approval card appears between them](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-deleted-without-asking.png)

The command on the system folder stops because it changes a protected part of the computer. Auto-review weighs each action by the tool it uses and the risk it carries, and there's no published list of what it stops. For anything you always want a say in, [write a rule](#write-a-rule).

Two kinds of work reach you another way:

- An email or a Slack message that a Bot writes shows up as a draft, with **Send email** or **Send message** beside **Discard**. The draft goes out when you click send.
- A password, a sign-in code, a CAPTCHA or a payment confirmation is yours to enter. The Bot hands you its screen, as [the shared computer](https://learngrokbot.com/shared-computer#take-over) shows.

## Answer an approval card

When Auto-review stops an action, the Bot's row in the sidebar turns orange and starts **Waiting for you**. The card is in that Bot's chat, and the action waits there until you answer.

**Walkthrough: Answer an approval card**

### Step 1: Read what the Bot wants to do

Open the chat of the Bot that's waiting. The card is the last thing in the conversation.

![An approval card in a Bot's chat. Its heading reads Allow Demo Meeting Prep to run a command? and a tag reads Needs approval. One line says: Create test file under /etc with sudo on Grok Bot's computer. Under it are a View the full request link and three buttons: Always allow, Allow once and Deny](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-card.png)

1. The heading names the Bot that's asking. The line under it says what the action is and where it would run.
2. **Needs approval** means nothing has happened yet.

### Step 2: Click View the full request

The one-line summary is short on purpose. **View the full request** opens the reason Auto-review stopped, with the exact action under it. **Hide** folds it away again.

![The same card with the full request open. A sentence says the agent is trying to create a system test file under /etc using sudo, which needs approval because it modifies protected system locations. Under it is the command itself, with a Hide button and a copy icon](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-full-request.png)

1. Why it stopped: this command changes a protected system folder.
2. The action itself, word for word. The icon at the end of the line copies it.

If you can't tell what an action would change or who it would reach, ask the Bot to explain it in plain words before you answer.

### Step 3: Choose Deny, Allow once or Always allow

Each button leaves the card in a different state.

![The card after Deny. The tag now reads Denied, the three buttons are gone and a line reads Demo Meeting Prep won't do this. Under the card the Bot writes that the command was blocked for approval and the second try stayed blocked, so it didn't run the next step](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-denied.png)

1. After **Deny**, the tag reads **Denied** and the buttons are gone.
2. The card says in words that the Bot won't do it.
3. This Bot tried the command a second time, was blocked again with no new card, and told its owner.

- **Deny** blocks the action.
- **Allow once** lets this one action run. The tag reads **Allowed once**, and the same kind of action asks again next time.
- **Always allow** lets it run and stops asking about actions like it. The next step shows what that leaves behind.

### Step 4: See what Always allow adds

**Always allow** writes a rule into your settings, in the app's own words, and quotes it on the card. From then on a matching action runs without a card.

![A card headed Action approved with a green tag reading Always allowed. It repeats the task the Bot asked to run, then says: A rule always allowing this was added to your Auto-review settings, followed by the rule in quotation marks](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-always-allowed.jpg)

Image: Grok on YouTube, Grok Bot 101 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xXhE25vJZY)

Use **Allow once** for anything that touches an account, money or something you share with other people. Keep **Always allow** for small actions you'd never want to be asked about twice.

> **You should see**
>
> The card's tag reads **Denied**, **Allowed once** or **Always allowed**, and the Bot carries on or tells you what it couldn't do. Your answer covers the action on the card. Work the Bot had already finished stays done.

## Write a rule of your own

A rule moves the line for one kind of action. **Ask first** makes a Bot stop every time, and **Allow automatically** lets the action through without a card.

The app keeps one list of rules, in its settings. Adding to it takes a sentence and two clicks.

**Walkthrough: Add an Ask first rule**

### Step 1: Open Settings and find the Bot section

Click your picture at the bottom left of the app and choose **Settings**. On the **General** page, scroll down to the section headed **Bot**.

![The Bot section of the General settings page. An Auto-review row with a switch that is on, then Custom Rules: a text box labelled When Grok Bot wants to, a menu labelled It should set to Allow automatically, a greyed Add Rule button and the line These rules apply only to you. Built-in safety checks always apply](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-rules-settings.png)

1. The **Auto-review** switch turns the whole check on or off.
2. **Custom Rules** holds the rules you write.
3. Your rules sit on top of the built-in checks, which always apply.

### Step 2: Describe the action and choose Ask first

Under **When Grok Bot wants to:**, type the action in plain words. Open the **It should:** menu and choose **Ask first**. Then click **Add Rule**, which stays grey until you've typed something.

![The Custom Rules form filled in. The text box reads send an email or post a message anywhere, the It should menu reads Ask first, and the Add Rule button is now white](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-rule-draft.png)

### Step 3: Find your rule in the list

Each rule is a row under the form, with its **Action** and its **Behavior**. The same list holds every rule that **Always allow** has written for you.

![The rules form with a list of three rules under it, in two columns, Action and Behavior. Each row reads Allow automatically. The first row ends in a padlock. The other two end in a pencil icon and a bin icon. The heading over the form reads Auto-review Rules](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-rules-list.jpg)

1. A rule that **Always allow** wrote, in the app's own words.
2. The pencil edits a rule and the bin deletes it. A padlock in their place marks a rule set by a team's admin, which you can't change.

Image: Grok on YouTube, Grok Bot 101 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xXhE25vJZY)

On a team account and in older versions of the app, the heading over the form reads **Auto-review Rules**, as it does in this picture. It's the same list.

> **You should see**
>
> Your rule is in the list. The next time a Bot tries a matching action, it stops and shows a card.

Three things decide how a rule behaves:

- When two rules match the same action, **Ask first** wins.
- An **Allow automatically** rule lets an action through only when Auto-review finds no other reason to stop it.
- Rules are saved on the computer you wrote them on. A second desktop needs its own.

Good first rules cover what can't be taken back: sending, posting, paying and deleting. [Is Grok Bot safe?](https://learngrokbot.com/safety#ladder) sorts your own accounts into the ones that need a rule.

## Approvals that arrive while you're away

An approval in a chat you have open waits for you. An approval from work that started without you, such as a routine or a message from another Bot, waits about 10 minutes. Then the card reads **Expired**, and the action doesn't run.

![A card headed Approval expired, with a grey tag reading Expired. It has no buttons. A line at the bottom reads You can manage Auto-review in Settings](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-expired.jpg)

Image: Nuno Tavares on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUxn_kTrc1o)

To get the work moving again:

- Ask the Bot to try the task again, and answer the new card while you're there.
- For an action a routine needs on every run, add an **Allow automatically** rule, or click **Always allow** the next time the card appears.
- Answer from wherever you are. A waiting approval also shows in the phone app, and on any other computer where you're signed in.
- Open the Bot's own chat. As of the 12 September 2026 build, a group chat couldn't show an approval card, so a Bot told you the action was blocked and asked you to come to its one-to-one chat.

## Your own computer has a separate setting

Everything so far is about the Bot's computer in the cloud. Whether a Bot may touch the Mac or PC in front of you is a different setting, called **Execution on this computer**. It's in **Settings** > **Computer**, with one row for each computer you've signed in on.

![One computer's rows on the Computer page of Settings. A name field with Save and Remove buttons, then Execution on this computer: Let Grok Bot open files and run tasks on your computer. Auto-review still checks everything first. Its menu is set to Ask every time](https://learngrokbot.com/assets/shots/approvals-own-computer.png)

The menu has three choices, and the one you pick covers every Bot:

- **Ask every time** is where a computer starts. A Bot that wants to run something on your machine shows you the exact command first.
- **Always allow** lets Bots open files and run tasks there, with Auto-review still checking each one.
- **Never allow** shuts your computer off from Bots. Choose it unless a job needs your local files.

## Three mistakes with approvals

Each of these makes a Bot ask too much or too little.

> **Common mistake: Writing a rule so broad that it stops everything**
>
> A rule such as "reply to emails" set to **Ask first** can stop a Bot from reading your inbox as well, and "ask before any message goes to a customer" can stop every post in Slack.
>
> **The fix:** Name one action and how far it reaches, such as "send an email to anyone outside my company". If a rule stops more than you meant, edit it in the list.

> **Common mistake: Clicking Always allow to get a card out of the way**
>
> **Always allow** is the highlighted button, and it writes a permanent rule that the app words for you. That rule can cover more than the one action you were looking at.
>
> **The fix:** Click **Allow once** when you're in a hurry. If you've already clicked **Always allow**, open the rule list in **Settings** and delete the row.

> **Common mistake: Switching Auto-review off because the cards slow you down**
>
> The switch is all or nothing. It covers every action a Bot takes, including the ones you'd want to hear about.
>
> **The fix:** Leave **Auto-review** on and add an **Allow automatically** rule for the one action you're tired of approving.

Next, see the computer your Bots do all of this on, and what they share there.

**Next:** [The shared computer](https://learngrokbot.com/shared-computer)

All your Bots work on one cloud computer and share its files, logins and programs. See what each Bot keeps to itself, how to take over and what Reset removes.

### Does Auto-review check everything a Bot does?

No. It checks commands on the computer, actions in your plugins, computer use, changes to routines, and delegation such as Cloud Agent and subagent launches. It doesn't check what a Bot saves to its memory, or most changes to settings. It's also a model making a judgment, so it can miss things. [Is Grok Bot safe?](https://learngrokbot.com/safety) covers which accounts to keep out of a Bot's reach.

### Does Deny undo what the Bot already did?

No. Your answer covers the action on the card. To stop a Bot in the middle of a job, send it "Stop now". Neither one reverses work that's already finished.

### Why can't I turn the Auto-review switch off?

On Cursor Enterprise, an admin can require Auto-review for the whole team. The switch then reads **Required by your admin**, and the admin's rules show in your list with a padlock. You can still add rules of your own, and they can only make a Bot ask more often.

### My card has a different heading. Is it the same thing?

Yes. Older versions of the app head the card **Auto-review Paused This Action**, **The Bot wants to run a task** or **The Bot wants to use a connected service**, with a tag that reads **Approval needed**. The three buttons are the same.

- 2026-10-06: First published.

## Sources

- [SpaceXAI docs: Approvals, security, and privacy](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/approvals-security-and-privacy)
- [Cursor Help Center: Grok Bot How Tos](https://cursor.com/help/grok-bot/how-to)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot security](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/security)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot security FAQ](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/security-faq)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Chat and collaboration](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/chat-and-collaboration)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot for teams and enterprises](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/teams-and-enterprises)
- [SpaceXAI docs: Grok Bot for Mobile](https://docs.x.ai/grok-bot/mobile)
- [SpaceXAI: Grok Bot changelog](https://x.ai/changelog/bot)
- [Grok on YouTube: Grok Bot 101 (the pictures of an Always allowed card and of the rule list)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xXhE25vJZY)
- [Nuno Tavares on YouTube: I Spent 50 Hours Testing Grok Bot (the picture of an expired card)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUxn_kTrc1o)
- [Nuno Tavares on YouTube: I Built My Entire AI Team in Grok Bot With One Prompt (a rule that stopped too much; approvals in a group chat)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HazsXJgRdr0)
- [Charles Shen on YouTube: Grok Bot Tutorial: Build an AI Agent Team (a rule that caught every Slack post)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjQRTYKxDXc)