PowerExecutor Docs
← Console

Operating guide

Your day-to-day job as the supervisor.

Approvals

Anything at Recommend level, and every irreversible action at any level, waits in Approvals. Each row shows the capability, the situation that motivated it, and the exact parameters. Click Approve to execute it now, or Reject to discard it.

If the kill switch is on or the system is in degraded mode when you approve, execution is refused and the approval stays pending — nothing is silently lost.

Autonomy levels

On the Autonomy view you set how much freedom each capability has. The recommended path for any new capability:

  1. Shadow — watch it in the reports for several cycles. It touches nothing.
  2. Recommend — it proposes; you approve each action. You see exactly what it wants to do.
  3. Autonomous — it acts on its own, once you trust it.

PowerExecutor also promotes automatically after three consecutive clean outcomes, and demotes on any failure. You can override either way at any time with the level selector.

Irreversible capabilities (e.g. send_broadcast) always require an approval, even at Autonomous — by design.

The Supervisor PIN

The PIN is the console's protection against unauthorized consequential actions. It is a shared secret defined on the server (environment variable POWEREXECUTOR_PIN in the deployment compose file) — it is not created in the UI.

What requires it: approving/rejecting actions, changing autonomy levels, saving Configuration, the kill switch, and clearing degraded mode. Reading (reports, approvals list, status) never requires it.

Where to enter it: the console's Settings → Supervisor PIN field. It is stored only in your browser and sent with each protected request as the X-Approval-PIN header.

SymptomMeaning
"PIN missing or wrong — set the Supervisor PIN in Settings"The server has a PIN configured and your entry is empty or doesn't match. Ask the server admin for the value of POWEREXECUTOR_PIN, enter it in Settings, retry.
Actions work without any PINThe server has no POWEREXECUTOR_PIN set (development mode). Set one before operating in production.

The kill switch

On Overview, Engage the kill switch to deny every action immediately — the loop, the approval endpoints, and the scheduler all stop acting (observation continues). Disengage to resume. Use it whenever something looks wrong.

Degraded mode

PowerExecutor trips into degraded mode automatically when an irreversible action fails, pausing all acting. Investigate the cause, then click Clear on the Overview to resume.

The daily cycle

The server runs each enabled product once per day (configured by ENABLED_PRODUCTS and CYCLE_HOUR_UTC). You don't have to press anything — just check the report and the approvals queue. Run cycle now is for on-demand runs.

Recommended rollout

WeekPosture
1Everything at Shadow. Read every report. Confirm the reasoning is sound.
2Promote low-risk reversible capabilities to Recommend. Approve deliberately.
3+Promote proven capabilities to Autonomous. Keep irreversible ones on approval.