Approvegate — is this change approved to ship?

3 min read Original article ↗

Production release controls

Control what ships to production.

Require approvals, verify the approved commit is the one deploying, and pause releases when needed. One step in GitHub Actions or GitLab CI.

Free for one service · No credit card · Start in shadow mode

.github/workflows/deploy.yml

  1. Approvegate

    Waiting for approval

Commit
9f2a1c7
Status
Waiting for approval
Requested by
jdoe
Reviewers
MMayaAAlex

ApproveView build

  • Approved commit verified

    Ensures the approved commit is the one deployed

  • Independent approver

    Prevents self-approval

  • No active freeze

    Checks your team's freeze windows

Commit-bound approvals

Make sure the commit you approved is the one being deployed.

Independent sign-off

Require someone other than the requester to approve a production release.

Deployment freeze windows

Pause releases during incidents, maintenance, or sensitive periods.

Evidence you can export

Keep a record of every deployment decision and export it when needed.

Why Approvegate

More than a manual approval button.

Approvals are only useful when they apply to what's actually shipping. Approvegate checks each deploy against the approved commit, enforces your release rules, and records the decision in one place.

Basic manual approval

(e.g. GitHub Action)

1name: Deploy

2on: workflow_dispatch

3jobs:

4 deploy:

5 runs-on: ubuntu-latest

6 steps:

7 - name: Manual approval

8 uses: trstringer/manual-approval@v1

9 - name: Deploy

10 run: ./deploy.sh

1name: Deploy

2on: workflow_dispatch

3jobs:

4 deploy:

5 runs-on: ubuntu-latest

6 steps:

8 with:

9 service: api

10 environment: production

11 # Checks approval, commit, freezes…

12 - name: Deploy

13 run: ./deploy.sh

Release controls in three steps.

Add Approvegate to your existing CI/CD pipeline and start shipping with confidence.

  1. 1

    Connect your pipeline

    Add Approvegate to your GitHub Actions or GitLab CI workflow.

  2. 2

    Set your release rules

    Configure approvals, separation of duties, and deployment freeze windows.

  3. 3

    Start in shadow mode

    See which deployments would fail your policies before enabling enforcement.

Watch a demo.

See Approvegate in action.

Shadow mode

See what Approvegate would catch. Before it blocks anything.

Start in shadow mode to evaluate your existing deployment process without interrupting releases. Approvegate runs your configured checks, records the verdict, and shows which deployments would have been blocked.

Learn more
DeploymentPolicy resultReasonTime
apiWould passAll checks satisfied2m ago
!workerWould require approvalMissing required approval12m ago
webWould be blockedActive freeze window1h ago
cronWould passAll checks satisfied3h ago

Audit evidence

Release controls today. Audit evidence when you need it.

Every deployment check creates a structured record of the approval decision, the commit, and the policy verdict. Export evidence packages as JSON or PDF, export populations as CSV, and match them against auditor sample lists.

Learn more
  • Deployment record

    Commit, approver, timestamp, policy verdict

  • Tamper detection

    Hash-chained audit log and SHA-256 content hashes

  • Multiple export formats

    JSON, PDF, CSV (including auditor sample matching)

Pricing

Simple, transparent pricing.

Start free and upgrade as your team grows. All plans include production approvals, commit verification, freeze windows, and evidence exports.

MonthlyYearly-17%

Free

Protect your first production service.

Get started

  • 1 protected service
  • Up to 3 users
  • 30-day audit log

Starter

Bring approvals to your growing application.

Subscribe

  • Up to 3 services
  • Up to 5 users
  • 90-day audit log

Recommended

Team

Standardize releases across your engineering team.

Subscribe

  • Up to 10 services
  • Up to 20 users
  • 1-year audit log

Business

Manage release controls across more services.

$208/mo

$2,490 billed yearly

Subscribe

  • Up to 25 services
  • Up to 50 users
  • 2-year audit log
  • Priority email support

Enterprise

Governance at scale, on your terms.

Contact us

  • SSO
  • Custom audit retention
Compare plans in detail →

Questions teams ask first

Find out what your pipeline would have blocked.

Add one step to one service in shadow mode. It takes about 15 minutes and never blocks a deploy.

Start free

Questions first? Email CJ, the founder. You'll get a reply from a person, usually the same day: [email protected]