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One SKILL.md (the playbook) + one starter template. A preview:

Agent Approval Gate Playbook

The problem

Every proactive agent promises to ask before it acts. The promise is only as good as the gates behind it: which actions, above which amounts, to which people, with what evidence attached. Without a written matrix, "ask first" quietly becomes "asked once, assumed forever" — and the first bad send is discovered by the recipient, not by you.

The four gated actions

Proactive agents converge on the same four consequential actions: sending a message, making a payment, signing a document, deleting a file. Duet, Dots, and Muse all name approval for these explicitly. Your matrix covers exactly these four first; everything else (reading, drafting, summarizing) is ungated but logged.

Workflow

1. Inventory the blast radius (input: agent's connected apps -> output: a list of what it can reach).
   For each app, write the worst single action the agent could take in it:
   email -> message a client; payments -> pay an invoice; files -> delete
   a folder; calendar -> cancel a meeting. If you cannot name the worst
   action, you do not understand the connection well enough to approve it.
2. Set thresholds (input: blast radius -> output: numbers, not vibes).
   Payments: auto-allowed up to $0 by default; draft-for-approval up to a
   number you choose (e.g. $200); above that, two-person approval. Messages:
   internal team = draft-for-approval; external = approval + a 10-minute
   review window before sending. Signatures and deletions: never auto, and
   deletions always require a named approver plus a backup copy first.
3. Approval mechanics (input: thresholds -> output: how approval happens).
   Approval must be explicit (a tap, not silence), attached to the exact
   draft (not "approve whatever"), and time-boxed (unapproved drafts expire
   in 24 hours). The agent re-asks when any field changes — amount, recipient,
   or attachment. A changed draft approved on its old version is a failed gate.
4. Audit trail (input: a week of agent actions -> output: a one-page log).
   Every gated action logs: what, when, who approved, what the draft said at
   approval time, and what actually went out. Review the log weekly for the
   first month. Two questions to ask each week: did any approval get reused
   for a changed draft? Did any action happen with no log line at all?
5. Break-glass (input: your absence -> output: a named deputy).
   Name one deputy who may approve while you are unreachable, with a lower
   threshold than yours, and a rule that break-glass approvals are reviewed
   first on your return. No deputy, no unattended operation — the agent waits.

Red flags

Template preview

Approval Gate Worksheet

1. Blast radius

2. Thresholds

• Payments: auto $___ / draft up to $___ / two-person above $___
• Messages internal:
• Messages external:
• Signatures:
• Deletions:

3. Approval mechanics

• Explicit approval method:
• Draft-change rule:
• Draft expiry:

4. Weekly audit questions

1. Any approval reused for a changed draft?
2. Any action with no log line?

5. Break-glass deputy

• Deputy:
• Deputy threshold:
• Review-on-return rule:

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