ServiceNow Ask for Approval action
Documents record-based approval requests, approval and rejection rule sets, individual or group approvers, manual approvers, due dates, output states, journal fields, automatic approval, rejection, or cancellation, and waiting-state safeguards.
What this source can teach
Use this source to inspect a concrete implementation and the decisions visible in its context.
- Start with the original. Open the source and find the guidance or example relevant to your task.
- Trace the connection. Use the claim notes below to see how this site applies the source to specific patterns.
- Check the setting. Compare the source's platform, people, and constraints with your own decision.
Pattern Decisions This Source Supports
| Pattern | Supported decision | Required contract | Claim note |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI agent acts without approval | Flag this anti-pattern when an AI agent or automation executes a high-impact side effect without showing and requiring approval for the exact action and payload first. | The agent distinguishes read-only steps, draft steps, reversible local changes, and external side-effect steps before execution. | Supports workflow approval rules, waiting states, due dates, approval outputs, and manual approver behavior. |
| Approval workflow | Choose approval workflow when the core job is routing a submitted request through one or more authorized decisions before work can continue. | Submitting creates a durable approval record with requester, target, requested action, version, approver rule, due date, and route state. | ServiceNow supports approval and rejection rules, manual approvers, due dates, approval output states, journal fields, cancellation, and safeguards for waiting states. |
| Human approval gate | Choose human approval gate when automation is paused at runtime and cannot execute the next step until an eligible human authorizes it. | The gate belongs to a specific automation run, step ID, payload version, model or workflow version, target object, and approver rule. | Supports workflow approval actions, waiting states, rules, due dates, and approval output states. |
Comparisons supported by this source
- AI agent acts without approval vs human approval gate vs agent plan preview vs agent progress trace vs tool-use visibility vs dangerous-action review
Supports approval actions, waiting states, rule sets, approvers, due dates, and output states.
- Approval workflow vs review before submit vs permission recovery vs invite user
ServiceNow documents approval rules, rejection rules, due dates, manual approvers, approval output states, and waiting-state safeguards.
- Human approval gate vs approval workflow vs review queue vs review before submit vs recommended next action
Supports flow-designer approval actions that wait on approval rules, due dates, output states, rejection, and cancellation.
Evidence Role
This source is treated as product-example evidence. Its value comes from the specific claims and setting described above.
Publisher: ServiceNow Docs. Last checked: .