> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.parmanasystems.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Approve an approver change > Approves an approver change and applies it at once: an added key is trusted from the next approval checked; a revoked key's approvals are refused from the next request on, including ones it already signed. ## OpenAPI ````yaml openapi.bundled.yaml POST /approval-issuers/changes/{id}/approve openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: Parmana API version: 1.0.0 description: > Parmana sits between an AI agent and the systems it acts on. An agent sends a Business Transaction: who authorized it, what action it wants, and the facts that justify it. Parmana evaluates the policy bound to the action, checks any signed human approval the policy requires, releases the action to the connector only if the policy approves, and returns a signed Execution Trust Record anyone can verify. **Authentication.** Send `Authorization: Bearer ` on every request. The only routes that need no key are the probes, the documents and the independent verification routes: `GET /health`, `GET /ready`, `GET /openapi.yaml`, `GET /openapi.json`, `GET /api-manifest.json`, `GET /documentation`, `GET /reference`, `GET /parmana-handbook.pdf`, `GET /handbook/download-leads`, `POST /handbook/download-leads`, `POST /refusal/verify`, `POST /execution-intents/verify`, `POST /audit/verify`, `GET /keys/{keyId}` and `GET /.well-known/jwks.json`. A missing or unknown key returns `401` before anything else runs. The server holds only a hash of each key. See [Authentication](/api-reference/authentication). **Two kinds of key.** An agent or service key may invoke only the capabilities listed on it. A human key (`credentialHolderType: USER`) is required for governance: proposing and approving policies, approvers and external connectors, and repairing Execution Intents. Approving or rejecting a change also needs a step up authorization signed with the checker's own step up key, and the checker must not be the person who proposed it. **Ownership.** Every lookup by `businessTransactionId` is scoped to the key that submitted the transaction. A transaction submitted by another key returns the same `404` as one that does not exist. **Try it live.** The first server below is the public sandbox, `https://parmana-sandbox.vercel.app`: the same code as production with its own database, keys and demo approver, whose one action, `sandbox:receipt`, acts on nothing. Every "Try it" panel calls it with the published demo key prefilled. The demo key may invoke only `sandbox:receipt`, so other capabilities return `403` and governance routes return `403 NON_HUMAN_CALLER_DENIED`. Everything sent to the sandbox is visible to every visitor. See [Playground](/playground). Production needs a key issued by its operator. **Start here:** the [Playground](/playground) (no install), the [Quickstart](/quickstart), then [Integrate Parmana](/agents/integrate) for agents and [Connect any external system](/guides/connect-any-external-system) for your own endpoint. contact: name: Parmana Systems email: founder@parmanasystems.com license: name: Proprietary, source-available for evaluation only, see LICENSE url: https://github.com/pavancharak/parmana/blob/main/LICENSE servers: - url: https://parmana-sandbox.vercel.app description: >- Public sandbox (the docs playground). Same code as production, demo data only, acts on nothing. Demo key prefilled. - url: https://parmana-api-real.vercel.app description: Production. Needs a key issued by the operator. - url: http://localhost:3000 description: Local (packages/api, PORT env var, default 3000) security: - bearerAuth: [] tags: - name: Execution description: >- Executes a Business Transaction through the complete Execution Trust pipeline - name: Transactions description: Business Transaction creation and retrieval - name: Verification description: Deterministic verification of an Execution Trust Record - name: Receipts description: Cryptographically signed Execution Trust Receipts - name: Trust Records description: Execution Trust Record retrieval - name: Replay description: Deterministic replay of a recorded Execution Trust Record - name: Policies description: Policy existence/readability check - name: Policy Governance description: Maker-checker proposal, listing, approval, and rejection of policy changes - name: Approvers description: Maker-checker for the keys trusted to sign approvals, without a deploy - name: External Connectors description: >- Maker-checker for binding a capability to an operator's HTTPS endpoint and its policy, without a deploy (ADR-0013) - name: Business Signal Sources description: >- Maker-checker for the business systems Parmana asks for the facts a policy needs, without a deploy (RFC-0023) - name: Authority Grants description: >- Maker-checker for which agent may have which action decided, within which limits, until when (RFC-0023) - name: Sandbox description: >- Routes that exist only on the public sandbox (ADR-0014), for trying Parmana from a browser - name: Refusal Records description: >- Durable, signed evidence that a policy decision rejected a transaction (RFC-0021) - name: Execution Intents description: >- A signed statement, stored before an action is released, of exactly what is about to be released, plus the operator tools to find and repair a released action that has no signed Trust Record (ADR-0012) - name: Audit description: >- Signed caller-authentication audit events, independently third-party-verifiable - name: System description: Operational endpoints paths: /approval-issuers/changes/{id}/approve: post: tags: - Approvers summary: Approve an approver change description: > Approves an approver change and applies it at once: an added key is trusted from the next approval checked; a revoked key's approvals are refused from the next request on, including ones it already signed. Checked in order: a human key, not the proposer, and a step up authorization for this change id and action `approve`, valid once. The step up authorization is the same one policy changes use, with the change id in `payload.pendingPolicyChangeId`. operationId: approveApprovalIssuerChange parameters: - name: id in: path required: true description: The `changeId` from the proposal. schema: type: string requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/approve-policy-change-request.schema' examples: stepUp: summary: Real captured request value: stepUpAuthorization: payload: version: 1 nonce: 0b6081da-cd57-4519-ae36-71eb1bb62432 pendingPolicyChangeId: ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78 action: approve authorizedAt: '2026-09-28T19:05:59.733Z' expiresAt: '2026-09-28T19:07:59.733Z' signature: >- Nv94Q62/g4IQ0zFxDqF621Stz+JBy/4KOvLJ9+RfJO8xMw6hw06X4gzdDNEh2DxJt9xmL7VTF9TxDd9s9qmkCg== keyId: human-checker-step-up-key algorithm: ed25519 responses: '200': description: Approved and applied. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/approval-issuer-change-response.schema' examples: approved: summary: Real captured response value: changeId: ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78 action: add approverId: manager-priya keyId: manager-priya-key-1 publicKeyPem: > -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- MCowBQYDK2VwAyEAEDuWHf+bbRY7J/Mr0RVmAKYHH5CDijTWhdnISXWLD6Y= -----END PUBLIC KEY----- reason: Priya approves refunds for the West region from October. proposedBy: human-maker proposedAt: '2026-09-28T19:05:59.726Z' status: APPROVED resolvedBy: human-checker resolvedAt: '2026-09-28T19:05:59.738Z' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthorized' '403': description: >- `NON_HUMAN_CALLER_DENIED`, `SAME_ACTOR_CANNOT_APPROVE_OWN_CHANGE` or `STEP_UP_AUTHORIZATION_INVALID`. Sign a new step up authorization for this change and action. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/error.schema' examples: sameActor: summary: Real captured response value: error: >- Approver change 'ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78' was proposed by this same caller — the proposer (maker) may not also approve or reject it (checker). code: SAME_ACTOR_CANNOT_APPROVE_OWN_CHANGE stepUpReused: summary: Real captured response, the same step up sent twice value: error: >- The step-up authorization envelope is missing, invalid, expired, replayed, or does not match this request. code: STEP_UP_AUTHORIZATION_INVALID '404': description: '`APPROVAL_ISSUER_CHANGE_NOT_FOUND`: no approver change has this id.' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/error.schema' examples: notFound: summary: Real captured response value: error: >- Approver change '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000' not found. code: APPROVAL_ISSUER_CHANGE_NOT_FOUND '409': description: >- `CONFLICT`: the change is already resolved, the key to add now exists, or the key to revoke is no longer active. Nothing was written. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/error.schema' examples: alreadyApproved: summary: Real captured response value: error: >- Approver change 'e0292192-c75b-45eb-89e2-c14bae0f8751' is already APPROVED. code: CONFLICT x-codeSamples: - lang: bash label: cURL source: >- # Sign the step up authorization on your own machine first: # npx tsx scripts/sign-policy-change-step-up.ts --private-key-file step-up.private.pem \ # --key-id checker-step-up-1 --pending-policy-change-id ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78 --action approve > step-up.json curl -X POST https://parmana-api-real.vercel.app/approval-issuers/changes/ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78/approve \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $PARMANA_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ --data "{\"stepUpAuthorization\": $(cat step-up.json)}" - lang: typescript label: TypeScript source: >- import { ParmanaClient, signPolicyChangeStepUp } from "@parmana/sdk"; import { readFileSync } from "node:fs"; const client = new ParmanaClient({ endpoint: "https://parmana-api-real.vercel.app", apiKey: process.env.PARMANA_API_KEY!, }); const stepUp = signPolicyChangeStepUp({ pendingPolicyChangeId: "ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78", action: "approve", privateKeyPem: readFileSync("step-up.private.pem", "utf8"), keyId: "checker-step-up-1", }); const change = await client.approveApproverChange( "ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78", stepUp, ); console.log(change.status); - lang: python label: Python source: >- import os from pathlib import Path from parmana import ParmanaClient from parmana.crypto import sign_policy_change_step_up client = ParmanaClient( endpoint="https://parmana-api-real.vercel.app", api_key=os.environ["PARMANA_API_KEY"], ) step_up = sign_policy_change_step_up( pending_policy_change_id="ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78", action="approve", private_key_pem=Path("step-up.private.pem").read_text(), key_id="checker-step-up-1", ) change = client.approve_approver_change("ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78", step_up) print(change.status) components: schemas: approve-policy-change-request.schema: title: Approve Policy Change Request description: Request body for POST /policies/pending-changes/{id}/approve. type: object additionalProperties: false required: - stepUpAuthorization properties: stepUpAuthorization: $ref: '#/components/schemas/policy-change-step-up-authorization.schema' examples: - stepUpAuthorization: payload: version: 1 nonce: 343ee454-92c6-4ef9-9cfe-e98329e51f53 pendingPolicyChangeId: 6f4e4020-adf5-4449-938d-27aab58f66b7 action: approve authorizedAt: '2026-09-15T03:47:51.939Z' expiresAt: '2026-09-15T03:49:51.939Z' signature: >- keOXnzUk8KcGrQTkpXC4Ki8ps3GTvMANwqq96b+toxba07gjkcmpyL/vaPZ7+pPZ1HAOJOOy3rj5XfhcwOTnAw== keyId: human-checker-step-up-key algorithm: ed25519 approval-issuer-change-response.schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/approval-issuer-change.schema' title: Approver Change Response description: >- Response of POST /approval-issuers/changes (201) and of approve and reject (200). A bare Approver Change, no wrapper. error.schema: title: Error Response description: >- Shared error envelope produced by packages/api/src/middleware/error-handler.ts and by every route's inline validation checks. error is always a plain human-readable string (never a nested object). code is present only when the failure was a RuntimeError subclass reaching the centralized error handler (VerificationFailedError, ReceiptGenerationError, or an uncategorized RuntimeError); it is absent from every inline route-level check (businessTransactionId format/required checks) and from BusinessTransactionValidationError, PolicyValidationError, SignalValidationError, PolicyNotFoundError, DuplicateBusinessTransactionError, and the generic 500 fallback. POST /policies/validate does NOT use this envelope at all. See its own response schema. For the triggering condition and recommended caller action behind any specific error/code/status combination, see the Error catalog at /api-reference/error-catalog. type: object additionalProperties: false required: - error properties: error: type: string description: Human-readable error message. code: type: string description: >- Stable machine-readable error code. Only present for errors that reach the handler as a RuntimeError. examples: - RUNTIME_ERROR - VERIFICATION_FAILED - RECEIPT_GENERATION_FAILED - POLICY_DENIED - CAPABILITY_NOT_ALLOWED - RATE_LIMITED - AUDIT_UNAVAILABLE - SIGNING_UNAVAILABLE - CONNECTOR_NOT_REGISTERED - EXECUTION_RECORD_INCOMPLETE - EXECUTION_INTENT_UNAVAILABLE - EXECUTION_INTENT_RESULT_NOT_RECORDED - EXECUTION_INTENT_NOT_FOUND - EXECUTION_INTENTS_NOT_ENABLED - EXECUTION_INTENT_NOT_RESOLVABLE - EXECUTION_INTENT_RESOLUTION_INVALID - NON_HUMAN_CALLER_DENIED - EXECUTION_OUTCOME_UNKNOWN - AUTHORIZATION_NO_LONGER_VALID executionStatus: type: string enum: - EXECUTION_UNKNOWN - NOT_EXECUTED description: >- RFC-0023 phase 4. EXECUTION_UNKNOWN with EXECUTION_OUTCOME_UNKNOWN: the action was released and the call failed, so whether it ran is unknown; never reported as failed, and the Execution Intent stays ERRORED until a person resolves it. NOT_EXECUTED with AUTHORIZATION_NO_LONGER_VALID: the release was refused because a business condition or the authority grant it rested on no longer held, and nothing was sent. examples: - error: businessTransactionId must be a valid UUID. - error: >- Business Transaction 'eed2a972-1bf5-4166-8472-761f76fbf1b2' already exists. - error: >- Execution rejected: Vendor payment rejected because the assessed payment risk exceeds the maximum permitted threshold. code: RUNTIME_ERROR policy-change-step-up-authorization.schema: title: Policy Change Step-Up Authorization description: >- Signed envelope proving a checker's explicit, fresh intent to approve or reject one specific Pending Policy Change (Policy Governance, Layer 4). Produced by PolicyChangeStepUpAuthorizationSigner (@parmana/crypto) using the checker's own step-up private key, never the bearer API key. Verified server-side against: the checker's registered stepUpPublicKey, payload.pendingPolicyChangeId matching the URL's {id}, payload.action matching the endpoint (approve vs reject), payload.expiresAt not yet passed, and payload.nonce not previously seen (single-use, replay-rejected on a second attempt with the same envelope). type: object additionalProperties: true required: - payload - signature - keyId - algorithm properties: payload: type: object additionalProperties: true required: - version - nonce - pendingPolicyChangeId - action - authorizedAt - expiresAt properties: version: type: integer nonce: type: string description: >- Single-use value; a second request replaying the same envelope is rejected. pendingPolicyChangeId: type: string action: type: string enum: - approve - reject authorizedAt: type: string format: date-time expiresAt: type: string format: date-time signature: type: string description: >- Base64-encoded signature over the canonical payload, signed with the checker's step-up private key. keyId: type: string algorithm: type: string examples: - ed25519 examples: - payload: version: 1 nonce: 343ee454-92c6-4ef9-9cfe-e98329e51f53 pendingPolicyChangeId: 6f4e4020-adf5-4449-938d-27aab58f66b7 action: approve authorizedAt: '2026-09-15T03:47:51.939Z' expiresAt: '2026-09-15T03:49:51.939Z' signature: >- keOXnzUk8KcGrQTkpXC4Ki8ps3GTvMANwqq96b+toxba07gjkcmpyL/vaPZ7+pPZ1HAOJOOy3rj5XfhcwOTnAw== keyId: human-checker-step-up-key algorithm: ed25519 approval-issuer-change.schema: title: Approver Change description: >- A proposal to add an approver key, or to revoke one added this way, and its resolution. One person proposes it; a different person approves or rejects it with a step up authorization. Only an approved change affects which approvals verify. type: object additionalProperties: false required: - changeId - action - approverId - keyId - reason - proposedBy - proposedAt - status properties: changeId: type: string description: >- Unique id of the change, a UUID. The step up authorization for approve or reject names it in payload.pendingPolicyChangeId. action: type: string enum: - add - revoke description: >- add trusts a new key; revoke stops trusting a key added this way, and every approval it ever signed. approverId: type: string pattern: ^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$ description: >- The approver, as named in the payload.issuer.approverId of the approvals they sign. keyId: type: string pattern: ^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$ description: >- The approver's key, as named in payload.issuer.keyId. A key id is used once: a revoked key id cannot be added again. publicKeyPem: type: string description: >- The approver's Ed25519 public key, PEM (SPKI), as the server stored it. Present on add, absent on revoke. reason: type: string maxLength: 2000 description: Why, from the proposer. proposedBy: type: string description: The proposer's caller id. Always a human credential. proposedAt: type: string format: date-time status: type: string enum: - PENDING_APPROVAL - APPROVED - REJECTED description: >- PENDING_APPROVAL until a second person approves or rejects it; then APPROVED or REJECTED, once. resolvedBy: type: string description: Who approved or rejected it. Never the proposer. resolvedAt: type: string format: date-time rejectionReason: type: string description: Present when REJECTED. examples: - changeId: ba7c5827-5844-4069-94fc-9b438ef08f78 action: add approverId: manager-priya keyId: manager-priya-key-1 publicKeyPem: | -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY----- MCowBQYDK2VwAyEAEDuWHf+bbRY7J/Mr0RVmAKYHH5CDijTWhdnISXWLD6Y= -----END PUBLIC KEY----- reason: Priya approves refunds for the West region from October. proposedBy: human-maker proposedAt: '2026-09-28T19:05:59.726Z' status: APPROVED resolvedBy: human-checker resolvedAt: '2026-09-28T19:05:59.738Z' responses: Unauthorized: description: >- The `Authorization` header is missing, is not a bearer key, or names a key the server does not know. Nothing ran. Send a valid key. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/error.schema' examples: authRequired: summary: Real captured response, missing or invalid Authorization header value: error: authentication required securitySchemes: bearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer x-default: 2VfYWCzt_cBAPK-8uufX6ordfY2JuQhFPsohuEumKME description: > Caller API key issued by scripts/generate-api-key.ts. Sent as Authorization: Bearer . Verified against a stored SHA-256 hash in constant time by packages/api/src/auth/StaticKeyAuthenticator.ts. Required on every route not listed as exempt in this document's top-level description. See /api-reference/authentication. ```` This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.