---
title: "Review and approval"
description: "What happens to a post that reaches a closed gate, who can open it, and what approval actually authorises."
updated: "2026-08-18"
verifiedAgainst:
  - packages/shared/src/strategy.ts
  - packages/shared/src/autopilot.ts
---

A post that reaches its Content Direction's gate and cannot pass it moves to
`needs_approval` and waits. Nothing is lost and nothing is published.

## Which posts wait

| Direction policy | Result |
| --- | --- |
| `auto` | The post may proceed without a person, in Full mode |
| `review` | The post waits for a person |

A Direction created before the setting was narrowed may still read `founder`, a
stricter form of review. It is honoured wherever it appears and can no longer be
set on a new Direction.

In Assisted mode every post waits, whatever the Direction says.

## Reviewing

Open the post, read it, and either approve it or edit it first. Approving is not
a formality: it is the authorisation for a specific article to go on your public
blog.

Rejecting sends it back rather than deleting it.

## What approval authorises

Approval covers that post. It does not change the Direction's policy, and it
does not authorise the next post in the same lane. If you find yourself
approving everything in a lane without changes, that is a signal the Direction
could be set to `auto`; if you find yourself rewriting every post in a lane, the
signal points the other way.

## Publication is a separate boundary

Approving a post and publishing it are distinct steps, and full publication is
gated separately from draft generation. A post can be approved and still be
waiting for its scheduled slot. See
[scheduling and publication](/autopilot/scheduling).