What you're approving
Before an agent touches a workspace, a person approves it in the browser. That person is you. Here’s the screen, line by line, so you know what you’re signing before you press the button.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- A client that has just opened a Hydrant tab. Not there yet? Start with Connect your agent.
- A Hydrant account, or an email address or GitHub account to make one. Hydrant signs you in first (“First, prove it’s you.”), with GitHub or an email code, then shows the request. No workspace yet? The screen lets you make one on the spot.
- If Hydrant’s Terms or Privacy policy changed since you last agreed, you’ll be asked to accept the current versions before you can approve anything.
- A free slot on the workspace’s plan: 2 connections and keys combined on Free, 20 on Solo Pro, no cap on Team. Plans and billing has the rest.
- Read who’s asking. The heading names the client: “Claude Code wants in.” Underneath, Hydrant says how it knows. “Verified as” followed by a host means the client published its identity at that address; the name is still the one it chose. “Registered”, a date and “no verified home page” means it introduced itself and Hydrant has only its word for the name. Approve those only when you started the request yourself.
- Check the email line, if there is one. Some clients also ask who you are. Then the screen says “It also gets your verified email” and shows the address. Approving sends it; there’s no separate switch. If this sign-in has no verified email, the screen says so and the client gets no email. If the client didn’t ask, there’s no line.
- Check your account. Signed in as shows your Hydrant name and account identifier when available. This identifies your browser account; it does not mean the client receives that identifier. Wrong account? Use another account signs this browser out of Hydrant and clears the choices on this page. Save unfinished work in other Hydrant tabs first. GitHub may keep its own session, so check the account again after signing in. You’ll review fresh consent before approving; an expired request needs a new link from your client.
- Pick one workspace. One workspace per connection. The first one in the list is preselected, so look before you approve. Need two? Connect twice.
- No workspace yet? A Workspace name field stands where the list would be, already filled in with a suggestion. Keep it or type your own. Create and approve makes the workspace, with a few starter issues, and approves the request in one go. Expecting an invitation instead? Open the link in that email, then start again from the client.
- Pick the access.
- Read and write: creates, edits and comments as you. Same reach as a read-and-write agent key.
- Read only: it can look. It can’t touch.
- Check where you go next. Returns to this computer is normal for a command-line tool. Keep the client’s sign-in running until it finishes. If the local return won’t load, restart sign-in from the client and open its fresh authorization link; see the recovery steps. For a web client the screen names the site.
- Press Approve (or Create and approve), or Cancel to connect nothing.
What each access covers
Section titled “What each access covers”| Read only | Read and write | |
|---|---|---|
| Read issues, comments, history, projects, roadmap, cycles, Insights, the Playbook and task guidance | Yes | Yes |
| Create and edit issues, comment, edit its own comments, react, resolve threads, link issues, add named agents | Yes | |
| Set an assignee’s lane or bench (your own, or anyone’s as Owner or Admin) | Yes, if your role allows it | |
| Projects, cycles, workflow, labels, saved views, workspace identity | Yes, if your role allows it | |
| Attach images, attach or pin guides on an issue, record which guidance it received | Yes | |
| Propose, publish or review Playbook guides | Only with the Owner’s grant | |
| Request a workspace export | Yes, if you’re an Owner or Admin |
Read and write is still capped by your role. A Member’s agent can’t change the workflow just because the checkbox said “write”. Who can do what.
What you should see
Section titled “What you should see”“Approved. Sending you back to” and the client’s name. The client finishes on its own. If you made the workspace on this screen, Hydrant waits instead: it tells you where the workspace lives, Back to the client finishes the connection, and Open shows you the workspace in a new tab. Go back to the client first; it’s waiting on you. The connection is already listed under Settings › Agents › Access, waiting for its first contact, and turns verified when the client first calls in. In Hydrant, everything the agent does is recorded under the client’s name and yours, like Claude Code (agent; via Sam Rivera), or under the named agent you link it to. That attribution stays in the history after the connection is gone.
A browser sign-in lasts: the client holds a one-hour pass and refreshes it for up to 30 days of inactivity. Reconnect, expire, revoke covers what happens after.
What an agent can never do
Section titled “What an agent can never do”- Outrank you. On every request the agent gets your current role in that workspace and nothing above it. Get demoted and so does it, on its next request.
- Leave its workspace. A connection is bound to the workspace you picked. No tool accepts a different one.
- Manage people or credentials. Members, invitations, ownership, keys and connections are browser-only. So are named-agent ownership and bylines.
- Grant itself Playbook access. Agents start read-only in the Playbook. Only the workspace Owner can give them more.
- Outlast you. Leave the workspace, or get removed, and every key and connection you granted there stops immediately. Rejoining doesn’t bring them back.
Assigning an issue to a named agent is a label. It grants no access and starts nothing.
If it goes sideways
Section titled “If it goes sideways”- “Sign-out didn’t confirm.” Consent stays locked. Use Try sign-out again before approving; the screen cannot assume the account changed.
- You approved read only and now every write fails. Revoke the connection under Settings › Agents › Access and approve again with read and write.
- You picked read and write and it’s still read only. The client only asked to read. Hydrant can’t grant more than the client requests. Check the client’s settings, remove it and connect again.
- “…is saved, but this request went stale.” The request expires about 10 minutes after this screen appears. The workspace you made is kept. Start again from the client and it’s on the list.
- “Already approved.” You pressed Approve twice, or reloaded. Go back to your client. If it’s still waiting, start again from there.
- “Approval didn’t confirm.” The network dropped the answer. Check Settings › Agents before approving again, so you don’t end up with two connections.
- “…every slot is taken.” The plan’s limit. Revoke a connection or key you don’t use, then start again from the client.