Approve Requests
When a tool is set to “Requires Approval”, MCPFirewall intercepts the call and waits for your decision. This is the core human-in-the-loop feature.
What happens when a call is intercepted
Section titled “What happens when a call is intercepted”- The AI client sends a tool call
- The gateway detects the tool’s mode is “Requires Approval”
- The request is parked (the goroutine holds with near-zero CPU usage)
- A pending approval appears in the Activity Log tab and as an OS notification
- You review and decide
- The call either proceeds to the server or the AI gets an error
The approval card
Section titled “The approval card”Each pending request shows:
- Tool name and the server it belongs to
- Arguments the AI passed (expandable to see the full payload)
- Ruleset that triggered the approval requirement
- Time remaining before automatic denial
Your three options
Section titled “Your three options”Approve: the call goes through to the upstream server and the AI receives the result normally.
Deny: the call is blocked. The AI receives an error message and typically tries a different approach.
Always Allow: the call goes through, and the tool is switched to Enabled for the rest of the current session. Future calls to this tool skip the approval step until the session ends.
Notifications
Section titled “Notifications”You do not need to keep the dashboard open. MCPFirewall sends OS notifications when a new approval is pending.
macOS: native notification center. Click to open the dashboard.
Linux: D-Bus desktop notification with inline Approve and Deny buttons. You can decide directly from the notification without opening a browser.
Windows: toast notification with Approve and Deny action buttons that open the decision URL.
Tray icon (macOS desktop app): the tray icon turns yellow when approvals are pending. The menu shows the pending count and a shortcut to the approval queue.
The dashboard also updates in real time via WebSocket. If you have the Monitor page open, new approvals appear instantly.
Timeout
Section titled “Timeout”If you do not respond within the configured timeout, the call is automatically denied. The AI receives a timeout error.
To adjust the timeout, go to Settings and change the approval timeout value. A longer timeout gives you more time but means the AI waits longer.
Start broad, then narrow. Begin with most tools set to Requires Approval. After a few sessions, you will see which tools are safe to always allow. Switch those to Enabled and keep review on the rest.
Use Always Allow for session trust. If you are working on a specific task and trust a tool in that context, “Always Allow” gives you speed without permanently changing your ruleset.
Group by risk. Set read-only tools (search, list, get) to Enabled and write tools (create, delete, execute) to Requires Approval. The AI works quickly on research while you control state-changing actions.