Requesting approvals

Overview

This topic explains how to create approval requests.

Create approval requests

You can request approval from any member or team within your LaunchDarkly organization for the following types of changes:

• Changes to a flag, segment, or Agentcontrol config’s targeting
• Changes to a flag or AgentControl config’s variations
• Starting, stopping, or editing an experiment

You can request approval for resource changes at any time after you create them. Members that do not have permission to approve requests can still view the request.

Create approval requests for flags, AgentControl configs, and segments

To request an approval:

1. Make a change to any flag, AgentControl config, or segment.
2. Click Review and save. The “Save changes” dialog appears.
3. Review the changes displayed in the dialog.
4. If the Reviewer(s) menu is not visible, select the person icon.
5. Choose one or more reviewers from the Reviewer(s) menu.
   • Members and teams with permission to approve or decline approval requests appear in the top section of the menu.
   • Members and teams that can only view approval requests appear in the bottom section of the menu. If you add a member or team from this list, they will be notified of the approval request, but cannot approve it.

6. Enter a Comment to add details that help your reviewers understand the changes you made.

   • If your organization uses a third-party workflow management system for approvals, there may be additional fields that you are required to fill out here. To learn more, read Configuring approvals for an environment.
   Your environment may require approvals

   If your environment requires approvals, Review and request approval is the default option. To learn more, read Configuring approvals for an environment.

7. Click Request approval.

Reviewers receive an email, an in-app inbox notification, and, if they use the LaunchDarkly Slack app, a Slack notification asking them to approve your changes.

To learn more, read Reviewing approval requests.

The “Pending changes” section in the flag, AgentControl config, or segment’s right sidebar indicates that there are pending changes waiting for review. A flag or AgentControl config’s Targeting tab also updates with a number next to the checkmark pending changes icon.

You can request approvals for changes to flag and AgentControl config targeting or variations only, and to segment targeting only. You cannot request approval on other changes, such as updates to a flag’s settings.

You can also use the REST API: Create approval request for a flag

Create approval requests for experiments

You can create approval requests when you make a change to an experiment’s design, or when you want to start or stop an experiment.

Create approval requests for changes to experiments

To request an approval when you make a change to an experiment’s design:

1. Navigate to an experiment’s Design tab, and make any changes needed.
2. Click Save & request approval for new iteration. A “Request approval to start new iteration” dialog appears.
3. Enter a Reason for changes.
4. Click Continue.
5. Choose one or more reviewers from the Reviewer(s) menu.
   • Members and teams with permission to approve or decline approval requests appear in the top section of the menu.
   • Members and teams that can only view approval requests appear in the bottom section of the menu. If you add a member or team from this list, they will be notified of the approval request, but cannot approve it.
6. Enter a Comment.
7. Click Request to start new iteration.

Create approval requests for starting or stopping an experiment

To request an approval when you want to start or stop an experiment:

1. Navigate to an experiment’s Design tab.
2. Click Request approval to start or Request approval to stop. A “Request approval to start/stop experiment” dialog appears.
3. Choose one or more reviewers from the Reviewer(s) menu.
   • Members and teams with permission to approve or decline approval requests appear in the top section of the menu.
   • Members and teams that can only view approval requests appear in the bottom section of the menu. If you add a member or team from this list, they will be notified of the approval request, but cannot approve it.
4. Enter a Comment.
5. Click Request to start/stop experiment.

Required approvals

Enterprise customers can require approval requests for specific environments.

If your environment requires approvals, Review and request approval is the default option when you make a flag, AgentControl config, experiment, or segment change. If a team member has the bypassRequiredApproval custom role action, they are not required to request approval. Instead, they have the option to Save changes. The bypassRequiredApproval custom role action only applies to flag approvals. You cannot bypass required approvals for AgentControl configs or segments.

When you copy flag settings between environments, if the environment you’re copying changes to requires approval, then Review and request approval is the default option. To learn more, read Compare and copy flag settings between two environments and Configuring approvals for an environment.

You can also use the REST API: Create approval request to copy flag configurations across environments

To learn how to delete approval requests, read Deleting approval requests.