---
title: "Agent approvals and budgets | Briks"
url: https://briks.dev/docs/agent-approvals
description: "See what agents ask before they act, approve it in the studio, by email or on Telegram, choose what they may do alone, and set the budgets that cap their spend."
last_updated: 2026-10-08
---

# Agent approvals and budgets

Agents ask you before they do anything a visitor would see. This page covers what they ask about, where the requests reach you, how to approve, change or turn them down, what an agent may do on its own, and the budgets that cap what each one spends.

6 minute read Checked against the studio on 8 October 2026

Who decides

Owners and Admins decide what agents ask and change their settings. Editors, Clients and Viewers can watch the agents at work but cannot approve.

## What asks you first

| Kind of action | What happens once you approve it |
| --- | --- |
| Send an email | Only ever to people who wrote to the project. |
| Change the site | Built, checked and published as a new version, which you can undo. |
| Publish an article | Posted on the site's blog; you can change or remove it in the Database tab. |
| Update an article | Replaces the words of an article the agent wrote, at the same address; you can change it again in the Database tab. |
| Schedule social posts | Each post goes out at its time on its account; you can move or cancel it in Marketing before then. |
| Plan the team's week | Once approved, each task goes to its teammate; whatever a task leads to still asks you as before. |

Each request shows exactly what the agent wants to do: the email with its subject, the change in words, the article, the posts with their times.

An update to an article shows the post as it is now with a link to it, why the agent thinks it is due, and each part that changes beside what it says today. The Articles agent only updates posts an agent wrote, at least 90 days old, at most one every 7 days, and never a post you wrote or changed yourself. If you edit the post after the agent asked, the update is not made and your words stay; when the blog cannot tell whether you changed a post, the request says so.

## Where requests reach you

- **In the studio**: under **Waiting for you** on the Agents page, with the number waiting on the tab, and in the bell at the top of the studio.
- **By email**: with **Approve**, **Reject** and **Look first** links. Each link opens a page where you confirm; nothing happens until you do.
- **On Telegram**: with a button to approve or reject, once you have [connected Telegram](https://briks.dev/docs/telegram).

Choose email, Telegram or both

1. Connect Telegram

   Where: Profile

   Open your profile and press **Connect Telegram** under **Telegram**.

2. Choose where requests go

   Where: Agent approval requests

   Pick **By email**, **On Telegram** or **Both**. It is saved as you choose. Without Telegram, requests come by email.

Once anyone decides a request, wherever they did it, the others see it decided: the Telegram buttons go and the message says who decided. The same goes for [Discord](https://briks.dev/docs/discord).

## Approve, change or turn down

1. Read it

   Where: Waiting for you

   Each card names the agent and the project, says why it asks (the question or form entry it answers, where there is one), and shows what will happen.

2. Change it first, if you like

   Where: Change it first

   For an email, a site change or an article, press **Change it first** to edit the words, then **Approve with changes**. Your edits teach the agent how you write.

3. Approve

   Where: Approve

   Press **Approve**. An approved site change is built, checked and published as a new version you can undo from [Versions](https://briks.dev/docs/versions).

4. Or reject it

   Where: Reject

   Press **Reject**, and say why under **Why, for the agent** if you like. Nothing is done, and the agent learns from your reason.

Social posts come as one batch for the week. Untick the posts you do not want and press **Approve** with the number chosen, or **Approve all**. Edit a post's words with **Edit words**. **Change by instruction** sends the whole batch back with what to change, such as "leave out the one about parking": nothing in it is done, and it is written again and asked again.

Requests expire

A request not decided within seven days expires and nothing is done. The Team lead's daily note names what has waited longest, so nothing is missed.

## What an agent may do on its own

Each kind of action has its own choice under **What it may do on its own** in the agent's settings:

| Choice | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Ask me first** | The default. Every action of this kind waits for you. |
| **On its own, up to** a number **a day** | The agent acts without asking, up to **Actions on its own a day**. Past that number, it asks you again. |
| **Never** | The agent may not take this kind of action at all. |
| **Always asks you** | Shown in place of the choice where the agent's kind never acts alone, such as Security fixes. |

Agents earn trust slowly. After 5 approvals in a row with no changes, the agent offers to do that kind on its own from then on. It is an offer, not a switch it flips for itself: you decide. A site change it makes on its own is built and published like any other change, so it can be undone, and the Team lead's daily note lists what agents did on their own.

## Budgets

- **Budget a month**: 20 credits unless its job needs more. SEO starts at 30, the Team lead at 30, Designer and coder at 40, AI search at 60, Social at 60, Marketing at 60 and Articles at 90. At the budget it stops until the 1st and tells you.
- **Budget a day**: a fifth of the month's unless you change it, and never more than the month's. At it, the agent stops until tomorrow.
- **Running low**: with 10% or less of its month's budget left, the agent tells you once, in its thread and by email.
- **Failures**: three failed runs in a row pause the agent, and failed runs are not charged. Switch it back on from its page once you have looked at its **Runs**.
- **Quiet runs**: a run with nothing new to do is skipped without a charge. Each run holds 3 credits while it works and is charged what it took.

Tip

A budget caps what one agent can spend, so one busy agent cannot eat into the credits you set aside for building. Agent runs are paid from the same workspace credits described in [Credits and plans](https://briks.dev/docs/credits-and-plans).

Change a budget

1. Open the agent

   Where: Crew

   Choose the agent on the **Crew** tab.

2. Open its settings

   Where: Settings

   Under **Limits**, change **Budget a month** or **Budget a day**.

3. Save

   Where: Save

   The new budget counts from the next run.

The **Crew** tab shows what each agent has spent this month against its budget, and a card with the last 30 days: credits used, runs, how many failed, and what you approved and turned down. The **Activity log** lists every request and how it was decided, by whom and where, and **Export CSV** downloads it.

### Can an agent approve something for another agent?

No. Only Owners and Admins approve. Work handed between agents never acts on the business, and whatever it leads to still asks you.

### I approved by email. Why is the card still in Waiting for you?

The email link opens a page where you confirm. Until you press the button there, nothing is decided.

### Can I let an agent send emails without asking?

Yes, after it offers or by choosing **On its own** in its settings. It still asks once it reaches its daily number. Emails only ever go to people who wrote to the site.

## Read next

- [AI agents **Hire AI agents** Hire AI agents that look after a live site: 13 kinds led by a Team lead, or your own, each with a schedule and a budget, asking you before they act.](https://briks.dev/docs/ai-agents)
- [AI agents **Team lead** The Team lead plans your agents' week from your goals, waits for your approval, hands each task to the agent who can do it, and sends you one stand-up.](https://briks.dev/docs/team-lead)
- [Working on a project **Telegram** Connect Telegram to Briks to ask for changes, get answers, approve steps, publish and hear when builds finish, alone or with your team in a group.](https://briks.dev/docs/telegram)
- [AI agents **Security agent** Hire the Security agent to check your site's code, keys and live pages, hear in plain words what it finds, and have the Builder fix what you approve.](https://briks.dev/docs/security-agent)

Still stuck?

Write to [hello@briks.dev](mailto:hello@briks.dev) with your project's name and what you expected to see. A screenshot helps.