Can an agent approve its own request?

No. Whether a request runs, waits or is refused is decided by Pairbar from your settings, and a waiting request moves on only with your click on the sheet, a notification's button, or ⌘K.

What happens if I don't answer?

The request expires after an hour, and the asking chat is told so and carries on by itself.

Do helper chats cost extra?

Not from Pairbar. Helpers are real Claude or Codex chats started with your own command-line tools, on your own plans, with no API keys.

Approve What Claude and Codex Agents Ask For

Before you start

Pairbar installed and running (install Pairbar).
Claude Code and/or Codex with Pairbar's tools installed (let agents query Pairbar).
For notification buttons: Notification banner on in Settings → Notifications.

A chat's request becomes a ticket, waits on Pairbar's approval sheet, and only after Approve does a helper start on the other app and report back.

Steps

Install Pairbar's tools
Settings → Integrations → Pairbar tools for Claude and Codex → Install… on each app's row, then start a new chat. Allowing a tool in Claude or Codex only lets the chat ask: whether an action runs is still up to Pairbar.
Let a chat ask for something
For example, in a Claude chat: "get a second opinion from Codex on this approach". The chat calls second_opinion, and the request gets a ticket at once. With Ask me (the default for anything that starts a chat) the ticket waits for you.
Read the sheet
At the top of the chat list, a "Here's what Pairbar will do" sheet marked Agent request says who asks and for what, what it would start and in which app, what it may do ("Read-only (no commands, no edits)", "Can run commands", "Can edit files and run commands"), where it runs, the profile, and a budget line such as "1 of 3 for this chat · 2 of 8 this hour · 5 of 30 today · Codex 64% left". What it will be sent shows the whole brief, exactly as the helper will get it.
Approve or Decline
Press Approve or Decline. With several waiting, the sheet says "Request 1 of 3 waiting for you" and Next request moves on. A declined request tells the chat so, and it carries on by itself.
Answer from anywhere
With Notification banner on, a banner ("Claude chat “Fix login” asks: a review from Codex") has Approve and Decline buttons. In ⌘K, "Approve agent request “…”" and "Decline agent request “…”" are listed for each waiting request.
Set what asks first
Settings → Integrations → Agent actions: pick Off, Ask me or Allow for each kind, and the budgets (table below). Turn on Pause agent actions any time to refuse every request at once.

Allow a chat for an hour

For second opinions, reviews and read-only helpers, the sheet offers Allow requests like this from this chat for 1 hour. Tick it before Approve and requests of the same kind from the same chat run without asking for the next hour, within the budgets. For a check-in it offers Allow this chat's check-ins from now on (30 days). Helpers that run commands or edit, and handoffs with start: true, are asked every time.

Settings for each kind

Kind	Choices (default in bold)
Second opinions and reviews	Off, Ask me, Allow
Read-only helper chats (`start_chat` with `inspect` or `read`)	Off, Ask me, Allow
Helpers that run commands or edit	Off, Ask me (no Allow: you approve each one)
Handoffs to the composer	Off, Allow (the composer waits for your Send either way)
Messages to their own helpers	Off, Allow
Notifications from agents	Off, Allow
Running your workflows	Off, Ask me (workflows marked Agents may run this run without asking)
Workflow drafts	Off, Allow (nothing is saved until you press Create workflow)
Check-ins a chat schedules for itself	Off, Ask me

Budgets

Setting	To start with	Range
Helpers per chat at once	3	1–10
Helpers per chat per hour	8	1–60 (declined and expired requests don't count)
Agent-started chats at once	6	1–20
Agent-started chats per day	30	1–200
Keep this much of each plan for you	25%	0%, 10%, 25%, 40% or 50%

Pause and Stop all

Pause agent actions is the kill switch: every request is refused until you turn it off, a request you approve while it's on doesn't start, and chats' own check-ins wait. The reading tools keep working. Also in ⌘K as "Pause agent actions" / "Resume agent actions".
Stop all agent-started chats stops every running helper and workflow run an agent started, withdraws every waiting request, and ends the check-ins chats set up on themselves. Also in ⌘K.

What's kept

Every request, decision (and who made it: you, a setting, a grant, or an expiry) and outcome is listed in Settings → Integrations → Agent activity. Tickets, with the brief and the helper's reply, are kept in ~/.config/pairbar/agent-runs.json, readable only by you (the last 300 finished). A request nobody answers expires after an hour; a waiting request survives quitting Pairbar.

Troubleshooting

The chat says `turned_off`: That kind is set to Off in Settings → Integrations → Agent actions. Set it to Ask me or Allow.
The chat says `paused_by_user`: Pause agent actions is on. Turn it off in Settings → Integrations → Agent actions, or ⌘K → "Resume agent actions".
The chat says `too_deep`: The request came from a helper Pairbar started. A helper may only ask for a second opinion or a review (and message or stop its own helpers), and a helper's helper can't ask for anything. With Helpers can ask for second opinions off, helpers can't ask at all.
The chat says `no_escalation`: It asked for more access than it has. A Claude chat's ceiling is its permission mode (plan mode → read, default → commands, accept edits, auto or bypass → edit); a Codex chat's is its sandbox. Change the chat's own mode or sandbox if you want it to be able to ask for more.
The chat says `limited`: A budget is used up, the app has less plan left than you keep for yourself, you declined three of its requests within 10 minutes (refused for an hour), or it repeated a request that's still waiting, running or done. The answer says which, and suggests the other app when it has enough plan left.
No Approve button in the notification: Turn on Notification banner in Settings → Notifications. What the chat asks shows in the banner only with Include what the chat is asking on; otherwise it says "Open Pairbar to see what it would run."
Every action answers `locked`: The trial or subscription ended. While Pairbar is locked a waiting request can only be declined. See licence.

Frequently asked questions

Can an agent approve its own request?: No. Whether a request runs, waits or is refused is decided by Pairbar from your settings, and a waiting request moves on only with your click on the sheet, a notification's button, or ⌘K.
What happens if I don't answer?: The request expires after an hour, and the asking chat is told so and carries on by itself.
Do helper chats cost extra?: Not from Pairbar. Helpers are real Claude or Codex chats started with your own command-line tools, on your own plans, with no API keys.

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