Best possible solution:

Land a rebased, narrower patch that keeps backend WebChat /approve routing, settles or drops the approval CLI work through the canonical CLI thread, reuses current approval refresh behavior, and removes stale sessions/changelog churn.

Do we have a high-confidence way to reproduce the issue?

Yes, at source level. Current main leaves non-local /approve on normal chat submission, and normal submission is queued when isChatBusy(host) is true for the run waiting on approval.

Is this the best way to solve the issue?

No, not as submitted. Sending /approve through backend chat.send is the right owner boundary, but the approval CLI authority path, reconnect hydration, sessions alias, and changelog pieces need current-main reconciliation and maintainer approval.

Full review comments:

• [P1] Route approval listing through approval-runtime authority — src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts:414-415
listPendingApprovals calls exec.approval.list through the generic CLI gateway helper, but broad pending-approval visibility is gated on admin or trusted approval-runtime clients. For an operator recovery command this can falsely hide requester-bound approvals, so use the existing approval-runtime client or document and test a maintainer-approved narrower contract.
  Confidence: 0.9
• [P2] Reuse the existing approval refresh helper — ui/src/ui/app-gateway.ts:155-174
  Current main already has refreshPendingApprovalQueue, which preserves partial-list fallback semantics, removed prompt IDs, sorting, and expiry pruning. This parallel hello-time loader reimplements those rules and can drift after rebase.
  Confidence: 0.88
• [P2] Drop the stale sessions list alias change — src/cli/program/register.status-health-sessions.ts:195-216
  Current main already registers sessions list through shared option helpers and tests parent/list-side option forwarding. Reintroducing this copied alias and route after rebase creates another public CLI path that can drift from canonical option handling.
  Confidence: 0.82

Overall correctness: patch is incorrect
Overall confidence: 0.9

AGENTS.md: found and applied where relevant.

Codex review notes: model internal, reasoning high; reviewed against 010b61746379.

Label justifications:

• P1: The central WebChat exec approval workflow can block real users when /approve is queued behind the run waiting for that approval.
• merge-risk: 🚨 compatibility: The PR changes public CLI command surfaces while overlapping current sessions list behavior and a separate pending-approval CLI implementation path.
• merge-risk: 🚨 security-boundary: The PR exposes pending exec approval command details through a new CLI path that must preserve approval visibility boundaries.
• rating: 🧂 unranked krab: Overall readiness is 🧂 unranked krab; proof is 🌊 off-meta tidepool and patch quality is 🧂 unranked krab.
• status: ⏳ waiting on author: ClawSweeper has contributor-facing work open and is waiting for author action. Not applicable: The external-contributor proof gate does not apply to this member-authored, maintainer-labeled draft; the body lists tests/Testbox validation, but live WebChat proof after rebase would still reduce risk.

PR surface:

Source +228, Tests +137, Docs +6. Total +371 across 17 files.

Security concerns:

• [medium] Approval list uses generic CLI authority — src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts:414
  Pending approval records are filtered by requester, reviewer device, admin, or trusted approval-runtime authority; the new CLI list path uses the generic gateway RPC helper and can give operators incomplete visibility at an exec approval boundary.
  Confidence: 0.9

What I checked:

• Repository policy read: Root AGENTS.md and the relevant docs/UI scoped AGENTS.md were read; protected maintainer items, approval security boundaries, CLI compatibility, and release-owned changelog guidance affected this review. (AGENTS.md:1, 010b61746379)
• Live protected PR state: Live GitHub metadata shows the PR is open, draft, author-associated as MEMBER, labeled maintainer, conflicting, and not maintainer-modifiable at head 4f062d6. (4f062d6c8906)
• Current-main WebChat approval gap: Current main defines /approve as a non-local command, so WebChat falls through to normal chat submission; that path queues when isChatBusy(host) is true for the run waiting on approval. (ui/src/ui/app-chat.ts:1940, 010b61746379)
• Approval listing authority risk: The PR's new listPendingApprovals calls exec.approval.list through the generic CLI gateway helper, while current main grants broad approval visibility only to admin or trusted approval-runtime clients. (src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts:414, 4f062d6c8906)
• Reconnect hydration overlap: Current main already has refreshPendingApprovalQueue, which preserves partial refresh behavior, dismissed/resolved IDs, sorting, and expiry pruning; the PR adds a separate hello-time loader instead of reusing it. (ui/src/ui/controllers/exec-approval.ts:327, 010b61746379)
• Sessions alias already on main: Current main already registers and tests sessions list through shared option helpers, while the PR carries an older copied alias implementation and a new fast-route change. (src/cli/program/register.status-health-sessions.ts:214, 010b61746379)

Likely related people:

• vincentkoc: Recent history extracted shared visible approval list mapping, and this PR also touches the approval-list and WebChat approval surfaces. (role: recent approval backend and current PR area contributor; confidence: high; commits: 6464f8d1d924; files: src/gateway/server-methods/approval-shared.ts, src/gateway/server-methods/exec-approval.ts, src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts)
• steipete: History shows the original exec approvals CLI tooling and service status work on the CLI/docs surface this PR changes. (role: primary approvals CLI history contributor; confidence: high; commits: 3686bde783fd; files: src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.ts, src/cli/exec-approvals-cli.test.ts, docs/cli/approvals.md)
• jesse-merhi: Recent Control UI approval prompt work is adjacent to the reconnect hydration and approval queue behavior touched here. (role: recent Control UI approval prompt contributor; confidence: medium; commits: 5297eebe8837; files: ui/src/ui/controllers/exec-approval.ts, ui/src/ui/app-gateway.ts)
• fuller-stack-dev: Recent local approval resolution work touches the trusted approval-runtime authority model implicated by the new CLI listing path. (role: approval-runtime authority contributor; confidence: medium; commits: 13cfb77c10f9; files: src/gateway/operator-approvals-client.ts, src/gateway/server-methods/approval-shared.ts)

• 🦀 challenger crab: rare, exceptional readiness with strong proof, clean implementation, and convincing validation.
• 🦞 diamond lobster: very strong readiness with only minor maintainer review expected.
• 🐚 platinum hermit: good normal PR, likely mergeable with ordinary maintainer review.
• 🦐 gold shrimp: useful signal, but proof or patch confidence is still limited.
• 🦪 silver shellfish: thin signal; proof, validation, or implementation needs work.
• 🧂 unranked krab: not merge-ready because proof is missing/unusable or there are serious correctness or safety concerns.
• 🌊 off-meta tidepool: rating does not apply to this item.

Shiny media proof means a screenshot, video, or linked artifact directly shows the changed behavior. Runtime, network, CSP, and security claims still need visible diagnostics.

• ClawSweeper keeps one durable marker-backed review comment per issue or PR.
• Re-runs edit this comment so the latest verdict, findings, and automation markers stay together instead of adding duplicate bot comments.
• A fresh review can be triggered by eligible @clawsweeper re-review comments, exact-item GitHub events, scheduled/background review runs, or manual workflow dispatch.
• PR/issue authors and users with repository write access can comment @clawsweeper re-review or @clawsweeper re-run on an open PR or issue to request a fresh review only.
• Maintainers can also comment @clawsweeper review to request a fresh review only.
• Fresh-review commands do not start repair, autofix, rebase, CI repair, or automerge.
• Maintainer-only repair and merge flows require explicit commands such as @clawsweeper autofix, @clawsweeper automerge, @clawsweeper fix ci, or @clawsweeper address review.
• Maintainers can comment @clawsweeper explain to ask for more context, or @clawsweeper stop to stop active automation.