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

# Reviewing buyer transactions before they go live

> How creative and media-buy approval work, how to require human review of everything (the lowest-risk posture), and how you find what's waiting.

When a buyer transacts against your storefront, you decide how much a human reviews
before anything reaches your ad server. Two storefront settings control it, and
both default to **manual** — so out of the box, **you review before buyers go live.**

## The two settings

| Setting            | Controls                                            | Values                                |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| `creativeApproval` | Buyer-submitted **creatives** (`sync_creatives`)    | `auto` or `manual` (default `manual`) |
| `mediaBuyApproval` | Buyer-submitted **media buys** (`create_media_buy`) | `auto` or `manual` (default `manual`) |

Each is **storefront-wide** and set independently. Configure them by asking Murph
to set your approval settings, or with `PUT /api/v2/storefront`. The mode (`auto`
vs `manual`) is **separate** from what your acceptance policy *says* — the policy
is the content you judge against; the setting is whether a human judges at all.

<Note>
  Approval settings apply only to **ad-server-backed** storefronts (your Google Ad
  Manager, FreeWheel, or SpringServe inventory). Storefronts that route to an
  external sales agent or a linked storefront **pass through** — there's no review
  queue in front of someone else's agent.
</Note>

## The lowest-risk posture: review everything

The safest setup — and the default — is **both settings `manual`**: nothing a buyer
submits reaches your ad server until you've approved it. The approval gate runs
**before** any ad-server write, so no order or line item is created upstream while
an item is pending.

One honest nuance:

* **`creativeApproval: manual` holds every creative.** Each one lands in your queue
  as `pending_review`.
* **`mediaBuyApproval: manual` is policy-gated, not a blanket hold.** A media buy the
  evaluator judges *clearly on-policy* is auto-forwarded; everything else queues. So
  if you want a human to see **every** buy, keep it `manual` and make sure your
  acceptance policy doesn't pre-clear buys you'd want to eyeball. Until you've
  written an acceptance policy, `manual` is the right default.

## How you review what's queued

Pending items wait for your decision — `approved` forwards the item to the
underlying sales agent; `rejected` carries your reason back to the buyer. You act on
the queue three ways:

* **The Approvals widget** in chat — your main work surface. It shows both queues
  (creatives and media buys) with a pre-screen verdict, and you approve or reject
  inline. Ask Murph to open it ("show me what's waiting on me").
* **Ask Murph** — "what needs my approval?" lists the pending media buys and
  creatives; Murph pulls the details before any decision.
* **REST** — `GET /api/v2/storefront/media-buy-approvals?status=pending` and
  `GET /api/v2/storefront/creative-reviews?status=pending`, decided via their
  respective decide endpoints.

See [Media-buy approvals](/v2/storefront/media-buy-approvals/overview) and
[Creative reviews](/v2/storefront/creative-reviews/overview) for the per-queue
mechanics and buyer-facing callbacks.

## How you find out something is waiting

Today, pending review is a **queue you check, not an alert that's pushed to you.**
When a buyer submits a creative or media buy for review, it appears in your
Approvals widget and Murph's pending list right away — but it does **not** send you
an in-app notification, email, or Slack message.

So to stay on top of human-in-the-loop review, **open the Approvals widget or ask
Murph "what's waiting on me?"** Your storefront notifications (the feed, email, and
any Slack you've connected) fire for decision *outcomes* and storefront-health
events — not for a buyer simply submitting something that needs your review.

<Note>
  Proactive alerts for newly-pending review (a notification when a buyer submits, and
  a "you have items waiting" nudge) are not available yet — they're tracked as a
  planned improvement. For now, treat the queue as something you check.
</Note>

## What's not configurable yet

Approval is **storefront-wide** auto-or-manual today. Per-buyer rules, dollar
thresholds, and other selective-approval policies are on the roadmap, not yet
shipped — so don't rely on "auto-approve buyers I trust, review the rest" being
available now.

## Related

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Media-buy approvals" href="/v2/storefront/media-buy-approvals/overview" icon="receipt">
    The pending media-buy queue and decide endpoints
  </Card>

  <Card title="Creative reviews" href="/v2/storefront/creative-reviews/overview" icon="image">
    The pending creative queue and decide endpoints
  </Card>

  <Card title="Ad-server access" href="/v2/storefront/inventory-sources/ad-server-access" icon="shield-check">
    What reaches your ad server — and how approval gates it
  </Card>

  <Card title="Notifications" href="/v2/guides/notifications" icon="bell">
    What does (and doesn't) generate a notification
  </Card>
</CardGroup>