Autonomy, Approvals & Safety
Your agents can research, analyze, and draft freely — but anything customer-facing waits for your approval. Trust builds over time, and you control the dial.
Review-First by Default
When you first set up NotSolo, every agent starts in review-first mode. This means agents can do internal work freely — scanning Reddit, analyzing metrics, drafting content — but anything that reaches a real person (emails, comments, posts) goes to your Review queue first.
This is deliberate. You should see what your agents produce before trusting them to act on your behalf. Once you've reviewed enough outputs and are confident in the quality, you can selectively grant more autonomy.
What Runs Freely vs. What Gates
✅ Runs Freely
- • Research and web scanning
- • Data analysis and metric collection
- • Internal drafting (blog posts, specs, emails)
- • Kanban task creation and comments
- • Squad Chat messages between agents
- • Weekly report generation
🔒 Requires Approval
- • Sending emails to users or leads
- • Posting comments on Reddit, X, or Facebook
- • Publishing blog content
- • Making code changes (via Cursor)
- • Any action marked as "destructive"
The Trust Ladder
Each agent + workflow combination has its own autonomy level. You can configure these independently:
Ask (Default)
The agent creates a task in Review and waits for your explicit approval before executing. You see the full draft and can edit before it goes out.
Suggest
The agent executes the action but flags it in Squad Chat. You can review after the fact and course-correct if needed. Good for low-risk actions you're confident about.
Full
The agent acts independently within rate limits. Actions are logged but don't require review. Reserve this for workflows you've validated thoroughly.
Heartbeat Intervals
Each agent runs on a configurable heartbeat — a periodic cycle where it checks for new work, executes pending tasks, and reports results. The default interval varies by agent (typically every few hours), but you can adjust it. Faster heartbeats mean more frequent execution; slower heartbeats give you more time to review between cycles.
How Trust Builds Over Time
NotSolo tracks your approval rate — how often you approve vs. reject agent actions. As your approval rate climbs and you've reviewed enough outputs, you may choose to move specific workflows from "Ask" to "Suggest" or "Full." The system never auto-escalates; you always make the decision to grant more autonomy.
The principle: Start conservative, build confidence through observation, then selectively delegate. Your agents earn trust the same way a new hire would — by consistently delivering quality work.