> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.oleria.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Approval Chains

> Define the sequence of approvals every access request must clear, from manual review to automatic and webhook-driven decisions.

An approval chain is a sequence of steps that must be completed in order. When a step is approved, the next step activates automatically. Every step must approve for access to be granted - if any step denies the request, the chain stops immediately and the request is denied.

## Approval methods

Each step uses one of the following approval methods:

| Approval method                     | How it decides                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| :---------------------------------- | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Manual                              | One or more approvers must review and approve the request.                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| Conditional                         | Oleria evaluates the request against conditions you define. Requests that match an approval condition are approved automatically; requests that match a human-review condition are routed to approvers. Requests that match neither are denied automatically. |
| [Webhook](/administration/webhooks) | An external service you configure receives the request and returns an approve or deny decision.                                                                                                                                                               |
| Always approve                      | No approvers are needed - the step approves automatically. You can add a delay before the automatic approval resolves. Always approve can't be combined with other steps - it must be the only step in the chain.                                             |

For manual and conditional steps, approvers can be the requester's manager or a specific list of people you choose. If an approver would be reviewing their own request, Oleria skips them and falls back to the next available approver.

<Note>
  Oleria doesn't allow a request to have no valid approver. If every possible approver resolves back to the requester, the request can't be submitted.
</Note>

## Creating an approval chain

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open approval chains">
    In the admin portal, at youroleriainstancename.oleria.io, go to **Governance** -> **Access Requests** -> **Approval chains**, and select **New chain**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Name the chain">
    Give the chain a name and, optionally, a description.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add steps in order">
    Add up to five steps. For each step, choose one of the [approval methods](#approval-methods) above and configure it.

    <img src="https://mintcdn.com/oleria/UhwWA8FXD1mkUZFa/images/governance/access-requests/approval-chain-creation.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UhwWA8FXD1mkUZFa&q=85&s=702aa92971b9bb5bba28f0edba42990b" alt="Approval chain with a conditional first step that approves requests shorter than 24 hours, followed by a manual step routed to the requester's manager" width="1892" height="800" data-path="images/governance/access-requests/approval-chain-creation.png" />

    <img src="https://mintcdn.com/oleria/UhwWA8FXD1mkUZFa/images/governance/access-requests/approval-chain-webhook.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=UhwWA8FXD1mkUZFa&q=85&s=fd11fed1911269f65350b6be0db92632" alt="Approval chain with a single webhook step that sends the request to an external service for an approve or reject decision" width="1892" height="508" data-path="images/governance/access-requests/approval-chain-webhook.png" />
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save the chain">
    Select **Save**. Editing a chain later creates a new version - requests already in progress continue on the version they started with.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Once a chain exists, assign it to a level of access on an [SSO application](/governance/sso-applications), an [integrated application](/governance/integrated-applications), or a [Custom Access](/governance/custom-access) item.

## Contact us

For questions, contact us at [support@oleria.com](mailto:support@oleria.com).