# Show reviewers the effect of an agent's action, not the agent's story about it

PaperChase agent use case (free feed entry), version 1.0. Source: [u/ClickOk5811](https://www.reddit.com/r/AI_Agents/comments/1xi4941/designing_the_approval_screen_for_an_agent_the/), 2026-10-28.

## What they did

The author's made-up example is a $40 credit. The narrative version reads fine whether the action is good or bad. The effect version lists the tool, account, amount, records changed with before and after values, the last similar action, the policy limit it crossed, reversibility and the source. Reject is as easy as approve, and there is a button to ask the agent why. The post adds where to put gates (hard to undo, mistakes that would not show, cost of review, volume) and to track rejection rates and sampled audits.

## Worth knowing

A gate that never rejects could be a good agent or a review nobody reads, and the approval rate alone cannot tell you which. A better screen does not fix volume: one person facing thousands of items a day will skim anything.

## Workflow template

```text
Apply this workflow to [your project]:
1. For each gated action, list the fields that decide it: target, amount, before and after, policy rule, reversibility, source.
2. Make the agent fill those fields, with its explanation below them, not instead of them.
3. Put Reject next to Approve and add an 'ask why' option.
4. Track rejection rate and audit a sample of approvals each week.
5. Move low-risk, reversible actions out of the gate and into logs.
Stop and ask me before anything irreversible: deploys, payments, sends or deletes.
```

## Steps

1. **For each gated action, list the fields that decide it: target, amount,.** For each gated action, list the fields that decide it: target, amount, before and after, policy rule, reversibility, source.
2. **Make the agent fill those fields, with its explanation below them, not.** Make the agent fill those fields, with its explanation below them, not instead of them.
3. **Put Reject next to Approve and add an 'ask why' option.** Put Reject next to Approve and add an 'ask why' option.
4. **Track rejection rate and audit a sample of approvals each week.** Track rejection rate and audit a sample of approvals each week.
5. **Move low-risk, reversible actions out of the gate and into logs.** Move low-risk, reversible actions out of the gate and into logs.

## Credit

Workflow reported by u/ClickOk5811: https://www.reddit.com/r/AI_Agents/comments/1xi4941/designing_the_approval_screen_for_an_agent_the/
Related: https://www.reddit.com/r/mcp/comments/1xiezc6/when_would_you_preapprove_write_actions_for_an/

Summary and template written by PaperChaseWebb in our own words. Questions: mgmt@paperchasewebb.com