> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.icustomer.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.icustomer.ai/pulse/autopilot-vs-approval-first.md).

# Autopilot vs approval-first

The autonomy dial: approval-first by default, autopilot where you have deliberately opened it.

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### Approval-first

The platform starts with a simple posture: **approval-first, everywhere.** Nothing commits spend, sends, or record changes without a human saying yes. That is not a training-wheels mode; it is the default contract.
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{% column %}

### Autopilot

**Autopilot** is not a switch, it is a dial you open deliberately, per tool and per kind of action, using the [gate modes](/iharness/gates.md): move a specific action from needs-approval to always-allow, and iHarness handles that class of work without asking, while still recording every decision as if it had asked.
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## How trust is supposed to build

{% stepper %}
{% step %}

### Start approval-first

Read the reasoning on proposals; approve, modify, reject.
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### Notice what you always approve

When a class of action has earned a streak of unedited approvals, that is the candidate.
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{% step %}

### Open that gate, narrowly

One tool, one action type. Not "autopilot everything."
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### Audit by trace, not by trust

Autonomous decisions carry the same receipts as approved ones; the reasoning stays inspectable whether or not you were asked.
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## What autopilot never overrides

Suppression lists, consent, caps, and the one-cadence-per-contact rule bind autonomous actions exactly as they bind approved ones. And the whole dial closes instantly: return any gate to needs-approval, or blocked, at any time.

{% hint style="info" %}
Practical recommendation: run approval-first for your first weeks. The approvals are how you calibrate the system, and how it calibrates to you.
{% endhint %}


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