The Approval Workflow
Every deployment execution and destroy operation in Amnify Deploy requires two explicit approvals before any change is made to your cloud infrastructure. Both approvals are required — they are a deliberate safety mechanism designed to prevent accidental infrastructure changes.
This guide explains each approval step, what to look for, and how to make confident decisions.
Why Two Approvals?
Cloud infrastructure mistakes can be costly:
- Accidentally destroying a production database is often unrecoverable
- Creating resources in the wrong region or account incurs unexpected costs
- Misconfigured networking can expose internal services to the public internet
The two-phase approval model gives you two independent opportunities to catch a mistake before it becomes a real problem. Neither step can be skipped.
Phase 1 — Plan Approval
What the Plan Is
After you trigger an execution, Amnify Deploy analyzes your template and the provided variable values and generates a plan — a detailed preview of every cloud resource that will be created, modified, or deleted if you proceed.
The plan shows:
- Resources to be created — new cloud resources that do not yet exist
- Resources to be modified — existing resources that will have properties changed
- Resources to be destroyed — existing resources that will be removed
Nothing in your cloud environment is changed when the plan is generated. It is a read-only preview.
How to Review a Plan
When the run status reaches Awaiting Plan Approval:
- Open the current Run from the Deployment detail page
- Read through the Plan Output section carefully
- Check:
- Does the list of resources being created match what I expected?
- Are there any modifications or deletions I did not intend?
- Is the count of new resources reasonable?
- Are resources being created in the right region and account?
Approving the Plan
If the plan matches your expectations, click Approve Plan. The run moves to Awaiting Apply Approval.
Cancelling at the Plan Step
If anything looks wrong, click Cancel. The run is cancelled and nothing in your cloud has been changed. Go back to the Deployment, edit the variables or configuration, and trigger a new execution.
Phase 2 — Apply Approval
What the Apply Step Does
After you approve the plan, the run moves to Awaiting Apply Approval. This is your final confirmation before Amnify Deploy executes the plan and makes actual changes to your cloud infrastructure.
The second approval exists to separate understanding what will happen (Plan Approval) from deciding to make it happen (Apply Approval). It also provides a window to consult with a colleague if you are unsure, or to reconsider if you changed your mind after approving the plan.
Approving the Apply
Click Approve Apply to proceed. The run status moves to Applying and infrastructure changes begin. Once this step is past, the changes are in progress and cannot be cancelled.
Cancelling at the Apply Step
Click Cancel before clicking Approve Apply. The run is cancelled and your cloud infrastructure is unchanged.
Approval for Destroy Operations
The same two-phase approval applies when you destroy a deployment. The plan will show exactly which resources will be permanently removed.
Read destroy plans even more carefully than deploy plans. Resource deletion in the cloud is typically irreversible. Data stored in databases, object storage, or other stateful services will be lost permanently once the destroy is applied.
Who Can Approve
Approvals can be made by any user with access to the Deployment within your Amnify organization. There is no separate approval role — any authorized team member viewing the Run can approve or cancel.
If your organization requires formal change management, the approval steps serve as an execution record. Each Run captures who triggered the execution and when each approval was made.
Summary
| Step | Status | Your Action | What Happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan generated | Awaiting Plan Approval | Approve or Cancel | Reviewing change preview |
| Plan approved | Awaiting Apply Approval | Approve or Cancel | Final confirmation |
| Apply approved | Applying | Wait | Cloud changes in progress |
| Done | Completed / Failed | — | Infrastructure provisioned or error |
Next Steps
- Monitoring Runs — track execution after approval and handle failures
- Deployment Lifecycle — full status reference and lifecycle diagram