Approver Chains

Multi-step and quorum approvals — one canonical shape shared by approval rules, access-review rules and the reviewer-chain registry.

One canonical shape, shared by all consumers

ApprovalRule.then_branch and CertRule.reviewer_chain share the same JSONB schema since Sprint cert-redesign Phase 2 (migration 0133 converted legacy flat lists). A rule has exactly one chain: the first rule whose conditions match decides, and there is no per-rule "otherwise" — else_branch was retired on 2026-09-07, as was stop_on_match. A rule that does not match simply hands over to the next one, and when none match the tenant's default chain for that trigger decides:

{
  "steps": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "quorum": "all",
      "approvers": [{"kind": "manager"}]
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "quorum": "any",
      "approvers": [
        {"kind": "approver_role", "value": "security"},
        {"kind": "approver_role", "value": "compliance"}
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Approver kinds — who becomes an approver?

• manager — the subject's direct manager (per identity)
• manager_of_manager — the manager's manager
• approver_role + value — all members of an IGAGroup with that role tag
• approver_identity + identity_id — a fixed, named identity
• iga_group + group_id — all members of a specific IGAGroup
• resource_owner — owner of the entitlement
• application_owner — owner of the application
• object_owner + {reference_kind, facet} — owner of the referenced object via the ownership registry; facet = business / technical / either / both (both fans out to two approvers)
• auto_approve — the step passes automatically

Which kinds are valid for a given chain depends on its target: the step-vocabulary endpoint (GET /api/v1/reviewer-chains/step-vocabulary?target=<key>) drives the editor dropdowns — the facets come live from the ownership registry, so the vocabulary never drifts from what is resolvable.

Reviewer-chain registry — named chains + one resolver

Since Sprint reviewer-chain-registry (2026-06-10) a reviewer_chain row is a named, reusable chain in the same {steps:[…]} shape. A chain can also be the default for a key (default_for, e.g. cert:grant or approval:access_request). Every consumer (approval rules, access-review rules, role formalization) resolves through one resolver, in a fixed order:

inline override → named chain (FK) → default-per-key → manager fallback

A rule without a chain therefore always gets a reviewer (never a silent no-reviewer). Two built-in chains are seeded per tenant: rc-manager-default (default for grant / identity-validity / access-request) and rc-composition-owners (default for role / policy / ownership — the object owner for the whole object, then item owners per item). The per-step scope (whole_object / per_item) drives the composition fan-out.

Quorum — how many must approve?

• all (AND) — every approver must approve. One reject is enough to reject the step.

• any (OR) — the first approval wins the step. Use this for "n-of-m" with n=1.

• n_of_m + quorum_n — exactly n approvals are needed (out of m total). For example, 2-of-3 for high-risk grants.

Multi-step — sequence semantics

Steps are sequential — step 2 only spawns once step 1's quorum is reached. Lazy step activation happens in _advance_or_finalize:

• Step 1 quorum reject → the whole chain rejects.
• Step 1 quorum approve → tasks for step 2 are spawned.
• Tasks from the same fan-out group share a fan_out_group_id so that group-quorum evaluation works atomically.

Delegation (out-of-office)

ApprovalDelegation (Sprint m34y) lets approvers temporarily hand over their decision-making authority. The period and scope are set per rule kind. The resolver follows active delegations at task-spawn time — the delegate receives the decision task in their inbox with a "delegated by X" badge.

Fan-out per approver

Each step spawns a separate decision task per approver, explicitly grouped via fan_out_group_id. Group quorum is evaluated on every decision; the step is complete as soon as the quorum is reached. Fan-out gives per-approver visibility plus a clean audit trail (who decided what, and when).

---

Further reading:

• Cert Flows
• Jml Flows