---
title: "Review and approve work"
description: "The activity timeline, the approvals model, agent tasks, subagents, and inline references"
canonical_url: "https://hoplite.sh/docs/threads/review"
markdown_url: "https://hoplite.sh/docs/threads/review.md"
---

# Review and approve work
URL: /docs/threads/review
LLM index: /llms.txt
Description: The activity timeline, the approvals model, agent tasks, subagents, and inline references
Related: /docs/threads/run, /docs/agent/tools, /docs/sandboxes/previews, /docs/github

# Review and approve work

Everything the agent does streams into the thread as it happens, and sensitive actions pause for your sign-off first. This page covers the surfaces you use to follow and control a run.

## The activity timeline

Tool calls stream into the thread as they happen: file reads and edits, shell commands, browser actions, GitHub operations. Each entry carries a short human-readable description of what the agent is doing and why. Mid-run reasoning and narration fold into the timeline so long runs stay scannable.

## Approvals

Sensitive sandbox and preview actions pause and ask before they execute:

| Action | Examples |
| --- | --- |
| Sensitive file changes | Credentials and environment files, CI workflows, infrastructure configuration, unresolved targets, and paths outside the repository workspace |
| Shell | Shell commands |
| Processes and sandbox | Killing processes, sandbox restarts, sandbox downsizes |
| Previews | Preview-checklist changes |
| Project settings | Proposed changes to project settings |

Pending approvals surface in an inline bar — approve or deny each one without leaving the conversation. Routine repository-local edits, reads, searches, browser actions, and status checks run without interruption so the agent keeps its momentum. The full tool-by-tool breakdown is at [Tools](/docs/agent/tools#which-tools-require-approval).

## Questions

When an agent needs structured input, its question appears in the same pending
action bar. Answer every required field and submit to resume the run, or cancel
the question to return a denial. Answers are persisted before execution resumes,
so the same response reaches both cloud and local-agent runs without being lost
to a refresh or worker retry.

## Agent tasks

When Agent tasks are enabled for your workspace, a progress indicator and a collapsible **Agent tasks** dock appear above the composer. They summarize the agent's planned work and show whether individual tasks are pending, in progress, completed, or cancelled. The overall task list can also be marked interrupted.

<Callout type="info" title="Rollout-gated">
Availability is controlled by your workspace's rollout, so the dock may not appear in every workspace yet.
</Callout>

## Subagents

When a run delegates work, the **Subagents** control opens a durable panel for its child agents. The panel separates active work from recent results, shows each child agent's prompt and available summary, and reports whether it is running, needs approval, completed, failed, or was interrupted.

A child that needs approval exposes the same review path in the panel, so you can resolve its blocked action without hunting through the timeline.

## References in messages

When an agent cites a GitHub pull request, commit, Linear issue, source location, or task, Hoplite renders it as an inline reference link. References that Hoplite can resolve show live metadata on hover; unresolved links remain ordinary links so the message stays readable.

## Review the diff

The desktop diff view includes a changed-files tree with file, addition, and deletion counts. Select a file to jump to its patch, drag the divider to resize the tree, or hide and restore it with **Cmd+B** on macOS or **Ctrl+B** elsewhere. Hoplite remembers the layout for that workspace; smaller viewports show patches at full width without the tree.

## Rate an agent response

Use the thumbs-up or thumbs-down control on an assistant reply to save a private rating. You can add reason chips and an optional comment, change the rating later, or remove it; your choice persists across reloads and is not shared with other workspace members. Hoplite attributes the response to its producing model server-side so the team can triage the right behavior.

## Previews and terminal

When the agent starts your app, a **Preview panel** shows it live inside the thread, and a **Terminal panel** gives you a shell into the sandbox. For UI changes, the agent can attach an ordered checklist to guide your review. See [Previews](/docs/sandboxes/previews).

## Sitemap

See the full [sitemap](/docs/sitemap.md) for all pages.
Well-known sitemap: [/docs/.well-known/sitemap.md](/docs/.well-known/sitemap.md).