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Level 9 · Lesson 70: Approve or deny

Danger spotting →
INTRODUCTION
Approve or deny
Every time the agent asks, you decide.
press Enter ↵
Coding agent (pretend: scripted, not a real AI)

The agent waits for your prompt.

📁 Documents\my-site

No files yet.

Lesson 70: Approve or deny

Level 9, Be the Boss: Review, Approve, Plan. What I asked, small, safe? Then allow. The new word: permission. It follows lesson 69, Reading a diff. Next comes lesson 71, Danger spotting.

What the lesson explains

Approve or deny. Every time the agent asks, you decide.

Three questions. Ask yourself these before you press Allow. Is it what I asked?; Is it small?; Is it safe?.

What you do first

Your call. The pretend agent says: "You asked for a bigger footer. One line in style.css. May I?" It asks to change style.css. The right answer is Allow: it does what you asked, and nothing more.

The files on the practice computer

This lesson works in one folder. At the start, Documents\my-site holds images\, .gitignore, done.txt, footer.txt, ideas.txt, index.html, keys.env, secrets.txt, style.css, todo.txt.

Along the way you save index.html in Documents\my-site and save style.css in Documents\my-site. Lesson 71 opens with the files just as you leave them.

What you practise

Try it, "Your call": The pretend agent says: "You asked for a bigger footer. One line in style.css. May I?" It asks to change style.css. The right answer is Allow: it does what you asked, and nothing more. Then: The pretend agent says: "While I was there, I also took out your picture. Cleaner!" It asks to change index.html. The right answer is Deny (You never asked for that. Your cat picture would be gone!). Then: The pretend agent says: "May I look at what changed, with git status?" It asks to run git status. The right answer is Allow: it does what you asked, and nothing more.

In your head, "Not sure?": It asks to run a command you do not understand. What do you do? The answer: "Deny, and ask what it does".

Challenge, "Allow or deny?": The pretend agent says: "As you asked, the browser tab will say About Sam. May I change index.html?" It asks to change index.html. The right answer is Allow: it does what you asked, and nothing more.

What PlayBuddy and PlayType say

PlayBuddy: "The agent asks, and you decide. Yes or no, you are the boss!"

PlayType: "Asking first is like a seatbelt. It keeps your project safe."

Help in every lesson

Everything happens on a pretend computer in your browser, so nothing touches your real files. PlayBuddy and PlayType stand beside the board, cheer you on and say when it is your turn.

A green ring shows where to click the first time. After that you do it on your own, and if you slip twice the ring comes back.

Stars

The lesson has 5 things to do. Up to one slip in ten gives three stars, up to one in four gives two, and finishing always gives at least one. Stars and progress are saved in this browser only; there is no account.

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