Approvio Backend

A scalable approval management system built with NestJS and TypeScript that enables organizations to define, execute, and manage complex approval workflows at scale (or at least this is the goal 😄).

Overview

Approvio is a backend service designed to streamline and automate approval processes within organizations. It provides a framework for creating approval workflow templates, managing approval rules, handling user permissions, and executing approval workflows with comprehensive audit trails.

Approvio is not responsible for running your workflow. It is tool that you can integrate in your automated and non-automated workflows to obtain the required approval before running them.

Example use cases

Financial approval

A company needs to implement an approval process for budget allocation requests. The business rule requires approval from three different stakeholders before any budget can be allocated:

• 1 Manager (from the requesting department)
• 1 VP (Vice President level approval)
• 1 Finance team member (for budget validation)

Implementation with Approvio:

1. Create Groups: Set up "Managers", "VPs", and "Finance" groups with appropriate members
2. Define Template: Create a workflow template with an AND approval rule:

   AND {
     GROUP_REQUIREMENT(Managers, minCount: 1),
     GROUP_REQUIREMENT(VPs, minCount: 1),
     GROUP_REQUIREMENT(Finance, minCount: 1)
   }
   

3. Request Approval: When a budget request is submitted, create a workflow instance
4. Collect Votes: Each group member can vote APPROVE or VETO through the API
5. Automatic Resolution: The workflow automatically becomes APPROVED when all three groups have provided at least one approval each

Multi-agent workflows (not yet implementable)

An autonomous agent needs to perform a potentially dangerous system operation (like deploying code to production or modifying critical infrastructure). To ensure safety, two additional AI agents must evaluate and approve the request before execution.

Future Implementation with Approvio:

1. Agent Groups: Create groups for "SecurityAI" and "InfrastructureAI" with the respective agent identities
2. Safety Template: Define a workflow template requiring approval from both agent groups:

   AND {
     GROUP_REQUIREMENT(SecurityAI, minCount: 1),
     GROUP_REQUIREMENT(InfrastructureAI, minCount: 1)
   }
   

3. Automated Request: The requesting agent creates a workflow with operation details
4. AI Evaluation: Each approver agent analyzes the request using their specialized models
5. Programmatic Voting: Agents vote via API calls based on their safety assessments
6. Execution Gate: The operation only proceeds if both agents approve, providing an automated safety checkpoint

A human could be included in the loop based on the requirements.

Key Capabilities

Workflow Management

• Create and manage reusable workflow templates with complex approval rules
• Support for AND/OR logic in approval rules with group-based requirements
• Configurable expiration times and automatic workflow lifecycle management

Permission System

• Role-based access control with group memberships
• Fine-grained voting permissions based on group membership and roles

Approval Rules Engine

• Group-based voting requirements with minimum vote thresholds
• Automatic vote consolidation and approval status calculation
• Support for veto votes and rejection workflows

Getting Started

See DEVELOPMENT.MD for setup instructions, development commands, and architecture details.

Documentation

For detailed information about the system architecture and components:

• Workflow Templates - Template creation and management
• Workflows - Workflow execution and lifecycle
• Permissions System - User roles and access control
• Deployment - Containerization and deployment guide