Agent spend governance: approved vs queued vs rejected

1. Why this guide matters

If your workflow only knows success or failure, it is missing the middle state that production teams usually need: queue for review.

NORNR's decision model is simple on purpose. The workflow can continue, pause for approval, or stop.

2. Install what you need

npm install @nornr/sdk

This guide uses the hosted NORNR path at https://nornr.com, so you can validate the decision flow without standing up the full local stack first.

3. Create the governed wallet

import { Wallet } from "@nornr/sdk";

const wallet = await Wallet.create({
  owner: "ops-agent",
  dailyLimit: 50,
  requireApprovalAbove: 20,
  baseUrl: "https://nornr.com",
});

This wallet is the mandate. It sets the budget and review threshold before the framework-specific workflow is allowed to continue.

4. Apply it in the workflow

const decision = await wallet.pay({
  amount: 22,
  to: "openai",
  purpose: "model inference",
});

if (decision.status === "approved") {
  await continueWorkflow();
} else if (decision.requiresApproval) {
  await holdForReview(decision);
} else {
  await stopWorkflow(decision);
}

The key pattern stays the same across frameworks: ask NORNR for a decision first, then let the expensive or externally billable step run only if policy says yes.

5. What to expect

• approved means the workflow can continue immediately inside its mandate.
• queued means the request crossed an approval threshold and should wait for review.
• rejected means policy did not allow the action to proceed.

That three-way split is what makes the pattern useful: low-risk work stays fast, higher-risk work becomes reviewable, and clearly out-of-policy work never leaves the workflow.

6. Where to go next

• Hosted quickstart
• Control room
• Guides library