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title: Bots & Automation description: Using service accounts, webhooks, and chatops with Guardrails.

Bots & Automation

Bots can open approval requests (as initiators) or receive events to notify teams. Guardrails stores the initiator_id, so consider creating a service account user for your bot.

Service Accounts as Initiators​

Use a dedicated service account user (e.g., automation@yourco) and authenticate via a token with scoped abilities. Changes captured while authenticated as this user will record them as the initiator.

Event-Driven Integrations​

Guardrails fires domain events you can listen to:

  • OVAC\\Guardrails\\Events\\ApprovalRequestCaptured
  • OVAC\\Guardrails\\Events\\ApprovalStepApproved
  • OVAC\\Guardrails\\Events\\ApprovalStepRejected
  • OVAC\\Guardrails\\Events\\ApprovalRequestCompleted
  • OVAC\\Guardrails\\Events\\ApprovalRequestRejected

Example: Send Slack notifications​

use Illuminate\\Support\\Facades\\Notification;
use App\\Notifications\\SlackApprovalPing;

Event::listen(\OVAC\Guardrails\Events\ApprovalRequestCaptured::class, function ($e) {
    Notification::route('slack', env('SLACK_WEBHOOK'))
        ->notify(new SlackApprovalPing('New approval request #'.$e->request->id));
});

Event::listen(\OVAC\Guardrails\Events\ApprovalRequestCompleted::class, function ($e) {
    Notification::route('slack', env('SLACK_WEBHOOK'))
        ->notify(new SlackApprovalPing('Request #'.$e->request->id.' approved.'));
});

Event::listen(\OVAC\Guardrails\Events\ApprovalRequestRejected::class, function ($e) {
    Notification::route('slack', env('SLACK_WEBHOOK'))
        ->notify(new SlackApprovalPing('Request #'.$e->request->id.' rejected at step '.$e->step->name.'. Comment: '.($e->signature->comment ?: '—')));
});

ChatOps Approvals​

  • Expose a small endpoint your bot can call to POST the approve action with a signed token.
  • Or map bot identities to real approver accounts and let them sign steps if they satisfy signer rules.

CI/CD & Commits​

Guardrails can gate config toggles or deploy flags via your admin app:

  • Approve a feature flag before a pipeline proceeds.
  • Store the approval request ID in your release notes or build metadata.