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

# Budget Approval

> Approve or decline paused Hive Agent runs when budget guardrails require human review

Budget approval lets a Hive Agent pause before it keeps spending. The run waits for a recipient to approve more budget or decline the continuation.

## When does a run pause? <a href="#when-runs-pause" id="when-runs-pause" />

Fetch Hive checks budget before planning, again after source preparation, before each planner retry, and at the top of each repeat pass.

A run can pause when it crosses the **Budget Hint (USD)** and **Budget Strictness** is **Conservative**. **Balanced** usually continues but can reduce node concurrency after the hint is crossed. **Aggressive** allows more work before pausing.

A run can also stop when it reaches **Budget Cap (USD)**. The hard cap is the real ceiling by default.

If the Hive Agent is configured to ask for approval at the hard cap, the run pauses instead of stopping. The approval page shows spend so far, the hard cap snapshot, the estimated next gated work, and a suggested additional budget amount.

When a run needs approval, its status becomes `blocked`. No new node work starts while the run waits.

## Who receives the approval? <a href="#recipient" id="recipient" />

Fetch Hive sends the approval to the Hive Agent creator when that person is still a member of the account. If not, it sends the approval to the account owner.

If **Email address** is set under **Notifications**, alerts go there. If **Send via** is **Telegram**, Fetch Hive sends to the selected connected Telegram account. The same delivery settings are used for budget approvals and optional run-finished alerts. If Telegram is selected but no active destination is available, Fetch Hive falls back to email.

## How do I approve more budget? <a href="#approve-budget" id="approve-budget" />

Open the magic link from the email or Telegram message.

Review the objective, spend summary, current hard cap, estimate, and expiry.

Enter **Additional budget (USD)** when you want to raise the cap.

Click **Approve and continue**.

Fetch Hive raises the hard cap by the additional amount and resumes the paused run.

For hard-cap approvals, **Additional budget (USD)** is required. For soft-hint approvals, it is optional.

## How do I decline? <a href="#decline-budget" id="decline-budget" />

Open the approval link and click **Decline**.

The run stays blocked and finalizes without continuing the loop.

## What happens when the link expires? <a href="#expiry" id="expiry" />

Budget approval links expire after 24 hours.

If the request can still be resent, click **Send a fresh link** from the expired page. Fetch Hive rotates the token and sends a new notification.

A newer pause can supersede an older pending approval. Use the newest link when multiple messages exist.

## How does approval affect the rest of the run? <a href="#after-approval" id="after-approval" />

After approval, Fetch Hive lets the current run continue past the soft hint. The hard cap still applies.

For hard-cap approvals, approval does not bypass the cap. Fetch Hive raises the cap by the amount you enter, then checks budget again before continuing. If the amount is too low, the run can pause again.

The projected amount is a token and rate-card estimate for the next gated work, not a guaranteed cost to finish. Retries, verifier rejections, and compose attempts can require more budget.

See also: [Creating and Configuring](./creating-and-configuring) for budget settings and [Notifications](./notifications) for all alert types.