# Autonomy

> Choose what Estelle may do without a review click, from read-only help to pull requests, branch writes and explicitly granted actions.

Autonomy is the ceiling on actions Estelle may take in your repositories and connected apps. **Read only** is the shipped default. Raise it only when a workflow needs the next level, and use the narrowest level that works.

Open **Settings → Sessions & agent → Autonomy** to see your current level. On a team, only an admin can change it, and each member's agents run under that member's own ceiling.

## Choose a level

| Level | Choose it when | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| **Read only** | You want answers, retrieval and advice without repository writes. | Estelle writes nothing. This is the default. |
| **Propose** | You want completed work delivered for review. | Estelle can commit and push its own branch and open a reviewable pull request. A person still merges it. This is the recommended setting for coding work. |
| **Branch** | Your workflow expects direct updates to a working branch and CI there. | Estelle can push to a non-main working branch and run CI. You must acknowledge the risk. |
| **Execute** | A specific task needs the highest available permissions. | Estelle can merge and take destructive actions in connected apps only when explicitly granted for that task. You must acknowledge the risk. Protected areas still require a person. |

Every level below **Execute** ends at a pull request a person merges. Raising the ceiling does not enable automatic deployment at any level.

### Read the current setting

Open **Settings → Sessions & agent → Autonomy** and compare the level with the work you actually need.

### Select the new level

Choose **Read only**, **Propose**, **Branch** or **Execute**. For Branch or Execute, read the confirmation and select **I accept the risk** only if you accept direct actions without a review click.

### Check the result

The selected radio button shows the saved ceiling. If the change is refused, the page explains why and keeps the previous setting.

## Allow verified fixes to merge

**Auto-merge verified fixes** is separate from the autonomy level and is off by default. Use it only when you are comfortable letting an eligible fix merge without your review click.

1. In **Autonomy**, turn on **Auto-merge verified fixes**.
2. Read the confirmation, then choose **Turn on auto-merge**.
3. Leave the switch off if every change should wait for a person.

When enabled, only a fix that passes all required verification can merge. A fix that does not qualify stays a reviewable pull request instead. Passing verification is strong evidence, not a guarantee that the change is correct.

Changes to **auth, billing, schema, security or deploy** always require a person, even with auto-merge enabled. If auto-merge is unavailable, the switch explains why.

You can turn your own auto-merge off at any time with the same switch.

## How automations differ

An automation can have a narrower effective ceiling than your account setting:

- Runs started by an outside event, such as a pull request, push, Slack message or webhook, are read-only. They report results and cannot comment, push, merge or deploy.
- Scheduled runs report and do not merge or deploy.
- A template that delivers a change needs **Propose** or higher. Below that, the run can still report, but its delivery step is refused with the reason.

Read the individual run receipt to see what completed and whether a delivery step was refused.

## Review autonomous activity

Open **Settings → Activity** to inspect agent runs, requests and the audit history. Use it to confirm what acted, what changed and whether a pull request needs your attention.

**Limit:**
Estelle does not deploy your application automatically. Your own CI/CD decides what happens after a merge. On-call proposes fixes but never merges, deploys or rolls back.

## Related

- [Automations](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/automations): See which starts report and which can deliver a pull request.
- [GitHub](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/github): Connect the repositories Estelle may work on.
- [Teams](https://docs.fatelabs.ca/teams): Manage admin permissions and session visibility.