Octonous has access to real apps with real data. An unreviewed action could send an email to the wrong person, post publicly, or overwrite something important. The approval step makes sure you're always in the loop.
Every action that creates, sends, updates, or deletes something triggers an approval:
Sending or replying to an email
Creating a calendar event
Posting a Slack message
Creating or updating a GitHub issue
Writing to a spreadsheet
Creating a Notion page
When the card appears, you can modify the arguments before approving. Edit the email body, adjust the task title, change the recipient. The edited version is what gets sent.
If you reject, Octonous stops that step. Tell it why and it adjusts.
In automations, approvals are skipped. The automation runs unattended. This is why testing with Preview mode before activating matters.