---
title: "Call approvals.get_item"
method: POST
path: "/api/v1/tools/approvals.get_item"
tags: ["approvals"]
---

# Call approvals.get_item

`POST /api/v1/tools/approvals.get_item`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai`
- URL: `https://app.goosybear.ai/api/v1/tools/approvals.get_item`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Say what ONE thing waiting for a decision actually is — 'what am I approving here?', 'what's this one?', 'why is this waiting on me?'.  Read ONE thing waiting for a decision, by its id ('<kind>:<sourceId>') — what it is, what it says, whether this person can decide it, how long it has waited, and whether a reviewer already has it open. Works for every kind in the review queue, not just assets. Use it for the item on the screen the person is looking at. Check 'status': 'found' means the item is described; 'not_in_queue' means it is decided already or was never theirs; 'source_unavailable' means the read FAILED and nothing is known about it — say so and offer to try again, never say it was decided. Read-only. You can read what is waiting, get an item ready, and ASK a person to decide. You can never approve, reject, or decide anything yourself — say who it is waiting on and stop there. Not for the whole queue of waiting work — that is `approvals.list_queue`.

Every result names the workspace it ran in. Say which workspace the answer is about. When the account has more than one workspace and none is selected, this tool refuses with `workspace_ambiguous` and lists the choices — offer them, never pick one.

## Headers

- `x-request-id` string

## Request body

- object
  - `itemId` string, required: The review item's id, in the form '<kind>:<sourceId>' (for example 'asset:3f2c…'). Take it from the item currently on screen — it is named in the surface data — or from a row you have already read. Never invent one.
  - `workspace` string: Which workspace to run in — its slug. Omit to use your default. With more than one reachable workspace and no default, the call is refused and the choices are listed.

## Response `200`

The call was admitted and dispatched. `ok` says whether the tool succeeded — a refusal the tool itself produced is still a 200, exactly as it is a successful JSON-RPC result over MCP.

- union
  - object: The tool ran and answered.
    - `ok` true, required
    - `status` 'found' | 'not_in_queue' | 'source_unavailable', required
    - `item` object, nullable, required
      - `itemId` string, required
      - `kind` string, required
      - `title` string, required
      - `detail` string, nullable, required
      - `canViewerDecide` boolean, required
      - `waitingFor` string, nullable, required
      - `dueAt` string, nullable, required
      - `pickedUp` boolean, required
    - `workspace` string, required: The slug of the workspace this call ran in.
    - `working_in` object, required: Which workspace this call ran in, and how that was decided. Present on every workspace-scoped result.
      - `label` string, required: The chip words — e.g. "working in: Acme Main".
      - `note` string, required: Why this workspace — e.g. "your default", "this call only".
      - `workspace` string, required: The resolved workspace's slug.
      - `source` 'call-override' | 'key-pin' | 'stored-default' | 'sole-reachable', required: Which rung of the R7 precedence resolved the workspace.
  - ToolRefusal: A call that was admitted and dispatched, and did not succeed.
    - `ok` false, required
    - `code` string, required: The typed reason — e.g. `workspace_ambiguous`, `invalid_arguments`, or the tool's own failure code.
    - `message` string, required: A sentence a person can act on.
    - `workspaces` string[]: On a workspace refusal: the slugs this key may pass as `workspace`.
    - `issues` object[]: On `invalid_arguments`: which fields failed, and why.
      - `path` string, required
      - `message` string, required
    - `path` string: On an authoring refusal: where in your call's input it points, e.g. `steps.<key>.params.<field>`.
    - `fix` string: On an authoring refusal: the change to your call that would pass.
    - `instruction` string: On an authoring refusal: what to do next with it.

## Other responses

- `400`: The request could not be used: the body is present but not a JSON object (`tenant_api.malformed_body`); it is a top-level array carrying more messages than this endpoint accepts (`tenant_mcp.batch_too_large`); or the `Idempotency-Key` header is malformed (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_invalid`), disagrees with the body's `idempotency_key` (`tenant_api.idempotency_key_conflict`), or was sent to an action that cannot replay a retry (`tenant_api.idempotency_unsupported`). Nothing ran.
- `401`: No bearer credential, or one that did not resolve. Deliberately ONE undifferentiated answer for absent / unknown / revoked / expired, so the endpoint is never an oracle over the key space.
- `403`: The credential is good but the surface is not open to it — the platform or account API switch is off, or the holder lacks the `api.access` capability. The `code` says which.
- `404`: No such tool. The body names no tool and is identical for every unrecognised name.
- `429`: Over this key's per-minute cap. Carries `Retry-After` and `error.retry_after_seconds`.

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api.md) · [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/llms.txt) · [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/goosybear/apis/goosy-bear-api/revisions/6d82fb124064?raw)