--- title: How leave approvals work description: The default chain, custom workflows, replacements, edits, cancellations, request history and who can see attachments order: 2 --- What happens between Submit and `approved` or `rejected`. ## Where decisions happen The request's review page, **Review leave request**, is at `https://app.squadbear.com/approvals/`. **Inbox** carries the badge and lists every request waiting on you; Home repeats those rows under **Your day**. **Leave → Approvals** lists the leave records you may see and opens a pending row on the review page. The review page and **Leave → Approvals** both require the manager or admin role. An approver on the **employee** role sees the request in Inbox but cannot open the review page; they decide through a connected agent (`approve_request` / `reject_request`, scope `approval:write`). ## The default chain The chain is materialized at submission, one step per matching workflow step. The seeded Vacation policy uses two: the direct manager decides first, and above 2,400 scheduled minutes - 5 days on the default 8-hour day - a second step adds every active admin. Sick leave approves automatically; Unpaid leave binds to the built-in **Simple manager approval** workflow. A step whose only approver is the requester is recorded as approved by them, not skipped; an approver away on approved leave that day is replaced by their manager or the first active admin. ## Custom workflows Admins define chains at **Workspace settings → Approval workflows**: 1-5 steps, each with 1-8 approvers - direct manager, manager's manager, team lead, a named employee, or any admin - and the first to respond decides the step. Each step takes an optional duration condition and an SLA in hours. A workflow binds to a policy at **Workspace settings → Leave policies → *[policy]*** through the **Approval workflow** field. ## Replacements When a policy requires a replacement - the seeded Vacation and Unpaid leave policies do - a request cannot be submitted without naming a colleague to cover, who cannot be the requester. Assigning or changing one later is rejected when that person is already absent or covering. Only they can accept or decline. ## Editing and cancelling Only the requester or an admin can edit a request, and only while it is `pending` - editing re-validates against the creation rules and restarts the chain from step one. Cancelling is open to the requester, their manager, or an admin, on `pending` or `approved` requests; the days return to the balance, and a partly-taken approved request can be cancelled from a date forward, keeping days already taken. A `rejected` or already-`cancelled` request cannot be cancelled again - the call is refused with a 409. ## Request history The request detail carries a **Request history** trail - up to 100 entries, oldest first: submission, edits with the fields that changed, step decisions, escalations, cancellations and cover events. The requester, anyone on an approval step, the requester's manager and admins see it. ## Attachments Attachments are added by the requester when submitting, or from the request's detail on **My leave**. The requester, admins, and any candidate on any step read them, whatever the request's status; `get_request` applies the same rule. Only the requester or an admin writes or deletes one; after the request leaves `pending`, deleting is admin-only. ## Worked example Tomasz requests 8 days of Vacation and names a cover. Submitting reserves 3,840 minutes and materializes two steps - 8 days clears the 2,400-minute threshold. His manager clears step one; step two waits on any active admin - Marta's approval converts the reservation into used days. > [!AGENT] > Show me Tomasz's pending vacation request and who still needs to approve it. ## Related - [How leave works in SquadBear](/docs/leave/concepts/) - [Part-time and custom work schedules](/docs/leave/work-schedules/) - [Connect Claude to SquadBear](/docs/getting-started/connect-an-agent/)