Design
Approval gates: where a person stays in the loop
27 Oct 2026 · 3-minute read
Reading data is safe to automate. Acting on the world is not. Cortiq draws the line in the toolset itself.
Every tool in Cortiq has a kind: read, compute or action. Reads look at Base. Computations transform data in your browser. Actions reach outside the run, by saving a file, writing to your clipboard or asking your wallet to sign a statement.
The runner treats the three differently. Reads and computations run as soon as their turn comes. Actions stop the run, show the filled-in content, and wait. There is no timeout that approves on your behalf and no setting that turns the gate off.
Your decision is part of the record. An approved action is logged with the time you approved it; a rejected one is logged as rejected and skipped, and the rest of the run carries on. When you export the run, those decisions are inside the file, and they change its hash.
The current toolset has no tool that can move funds, swap tokens or send a transaction on your behalf. Integrations with outside services are planned, and they will arrive as action tools behind the same gate.