Approvals
Every mail, and every tool set to ask first, waits for your yes in the app.
Some things Niles never does on its own. It holds them, shows you exactly what it is about to do, and waits for your yes. Two kinds of thing wait:
- Every mail it writes. Niles never sends a mail by itself, whoever asked and however.
- A tool set to ask first. A remote tool server, such as Linear, lists its tools on its panel under Settings → Add-ons. Each tool can be On, Ask first or Off. A tool with no setting is on. The badges Reads only and Can delete help you choose.
Niles's own tools (lights, timers, Saved and the rest) never ask.
When you say yes, Niles runs exactly the call it showed you, with the same values. The model has no say in it after that.
The card
A tool card is titled after what it would do, such as "Let Linear create an issue?", and lists each value it would send. Long values fold behind an arrow.
A mail card is titled Send this email?, says which account it is from, and shows To, Cc, Subject and the whole message.
The buttons are:
- Allow once: do this one thing.
- Allow for this conversation: do it, and let this tool run without asking for the rest of this conversation. Only tool cards in the app have this. Mail never does, and nor does anything asked by voice.
- Deny: do nothing.
After you decide, the card says what happened: Allowed. Done., Denied. Nothing was done., Lapsed. Nothing was done., or that it was allowed but did not work, and why.
"Allow for this conversation" lasts until Niles restarts.
Where the cards are
- In the chat, under the reply that asked.
- In Niles's panel, on the Approvals tab (the shield). A badge shows how many wait.
- On My profile → Approvals: "What Niles would not do on its own: a mail to send, a tool set to Ask first. Only you see yours."
The panel and the profile show the same two lists. Needs review has the cards still waiting, each folded to one line with Details to open it, when it was asked and how long it waits, and Show in the chat when it belongs to a conversation. Approvals history lists what you decided, such as "Allowed once · 15:34" or "Denied by voice · 12 Oct", 30 at a time with Show older.
Deciding in the panel is the same as pressing the button on the card in the chat.
Only the person who asked sees an approval and can answer it. To anyone else it does not exist.
Answering by voice
When a tool asks first after a spoken request, Niles asks you out loud. A plain "yes" or "no" to the same satellite decides it. Niles reads the words itself; anything else leaves the question waiting. If Niles knew the voice that asked, only that voice can answer. A spoken yes is Allow once.
The same question also shows in the app, so you can answer it from your phone instead.
Mail is never approved by voice. Ask for a mail by voice and Niles tells you it is written and waiting in the app for you to check and send.
Typing "yes" in the chat does not approve a card. Use the buttons.
How long it waits
| Asked | Waits |
|---|---|
| by voice | 5 minutes |
| in the app | 1 hour |
After that it lapses and nothing is done. A restart of Niles also lapses everything still waiting.
A request that asks first, made where nobody is there to answer (by an automation, say), fails at once rather than waiting.
There is no phone notification for an approval. Look in the panel or on your profile.
What the history keeps
The history keeps, for each decision, what the tool was, the card's title, a short summary, what you decided, how and when. It never keeps the values themselves. A value whose label looks like a password, a token or a key shows as dots in the summary, and a mail's summary is only who it was to and its subject, never the text.
Each person keeps their newest 500 entries. Without Niles's database there is no history: "Niles has no database here, so it keeps no history of what you decided."