Approval Chains — Proposed Guide

Planned API — Reference Only

Approval Chains: A chain describes an ordered set of review responsibilities for a business request. It should explain how a request advances and what…

Overview

A chain describes an ordered set of review responsibilities for a business request. It should explain how a request advances and what happens when a reviewer cannot act.

Key concepts

Keep chain definition separate from an instantiated review. Record the chain version selected for the request.

Implementation considerations

Changing a chain should not rewrite decisions already recorded under an older version. Define whether pending reviews retain their original routing.

Illustrative data model

This local fixture shows a possible representation for the concepts above. It is not an endpoint response, production configuration or a claim that the described capability is implemented.

JSON fixture

Fictional concept fixture

{
  "reference_only": true,
  "topic": "Approval Chains",
  "chain_id": "chain_example_123",
  "version": 1,
  "reviewer_ids": [
    "usr_example_123"
  ]
}

Design review checklist

Document which organization owns the approval chains representation and which actor may view or change it.
Test the boundaries of chain id, version, reviewer ids using synthetic values, including missing or inconsistent references.
Before future implementation, obtain an approved contract and review failure behavior. This documentation does not authorize production activation.

Proposed data types

Illustrative field dictionary
Name	Type	Description
chain_id	string	Stable fictional chain reference; not a secret and not evidence that a resource exists.
version	integer	Illustrative resource revision for detecting stale updates; no live concurrency contract is published.
reviewer_ids	array<string>	Fictional reviewer references; validate ownership and avoid duplicate membership.

Approvals API Overview

Approval Workflows

Approval Tiers