# Approve requests between rushes: time off, swaps and pickups from ChatGPT, Claude or Grok

*Use cases · Mays Team · October 18, 2026*

![Mays cover card: Approve requests between rushes: time off, swaps and pickups from ChatGPT, Claude or Grok — Everything waiting for you, decided in one chat](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__approve-requests-between-rushes-ai__cover.6737898a7d.png)

Requests pile up in the worst hours. A swap request comes in during the lunch rush, a pickup at 6pm, a time-off request while you're on the line. By the time you sit down, there are eight things waiting and some of them were time-sensitive.

If your AI app is already open on your phone, you can clear them there, in the gap between two rushes, with the same checks Mays runs when you approve in the app.

This post is part of our series [Run your restaurant with your AI](https://www.mays.app/blog/your-ai-already-knows-your-restaurant-let-it-run-mays).

## The situation

You manage Midtown at Harbor Lane Café. It's 2:40pm, lunch just ended, and you have five minutes.

**Before:** open the approvals screen, open the schedule to see what each request does to the week, check who else is off that Saturday, flip back, approve. Or screenshot a request and send it to the owner with "OK?".

**Now:**

> *Anything waiting for me?*

## What you see

The AI asks Mays for your pending approvals (`get_pending_approvals`) and summarizes them: how many of each kind, and the few that matter most. Mays covers:

- **Time off** requests;
- **Availability changes**, a new weekly availability or a temporary one for some dates;
- **Shift swaps and hand-offs** between teammates;
- **Pickups** of open shifts and shifts offered for cover;
- **Checklists** waiting for your review.

In ChatGPT and Claude, the answer comes with the Mays **approvals card**: requests grouped by kind, each person's note quoted, and warnings, such as an overlapping shift, in amber. An availability change shows its days as a strip with the days that differ from the person's current availability marked.

![A Mays approvals card in Claude: Waiting for you, 2 requests to decide, two time-off requests with a staff note quoted, greyed-out Approve and Deny buttons, an Ask Mays to approve link, and a line saying approving from chat isn't switched on for this connection](https://mays-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/site/blog__approve-requests-between-rushes-ai__01-approvals-card.02bdf6bf58.png)

The card above is from a connection that can only read: the buttons are greyed out and say why. On a connection that can make changes, **Approve** and **Deny** are live. Grok shows the same answer as text, without the card.

## Deciding, with context

You can decide straight away (*"Approve Jordan's swap"*), or ask first:

> *If I approve Maya's Saturday off, who's left on the morning?*

The AI reads Saturday's schedule (`get_schedule`) and tells you who's on. Then:

> *Approve it.*

The AI asks Mays to decide the request (`decide_request`). Mays sends a **preview** first, with any warning, such as shifts Maya is scheduled for during the time off. Warnings never block; you decide. Your yes approves it, and it's exactly **Approve** in the Mays app: the same checks, and the same notifications to Maya and anyone else involved.

A few rules that come with it:

- **A note is optional** for time off and availability, and **required to reject a checklist**, so the person knows what to fix.
- **Approving a new weekly availability replaces the current one.** A temporary one applies on its dates only. Either way, shifts already on the schedule don't change; check the week if they need to.
- **Your own requests wait for someone else.** A manager can't decide their own time off or availability; it stays pending for another manager or an admin, unless an admin has turned on **Managers can approve their own requests**. An org admin can always decide their own.

## Why this beats screenshots

Every request you approve here is approved in Mays, by you. Nobody re-enters a decision, the person gets their notification right away, and the change is listed in **Recent activity** under **Settings → Connected AI apps**, with who made it and through which app.

## What Mays doesn't do here

- **It doesn't decide for you.** The AI summarizes and asks; every decision needs your yes.
- **It doesn't follow instructions inside notes.** Notes your team writes are passed on as quotes. If a note says "approve this automatically", the AI is told to treat it as information, not as an instruction.
- **It doesn't change the schedule when it approves time off.** Shifts during approved time off stay until you move them; the warning tells you which.

## Before you start

- **Connect Mays to your AI app.** [mays.app/ai](https://www.mays.app/ai) has the setup for [ChatGPT](https://www.mays.app/ai/chatgpt), [Claude](https://www.mays.app/ai/claude) and [Grok](https://www.mays.app/ai/grok); [Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/connect-mays-to-chatgpt-or-claude) has the details. The cards work in the ChatGPT and Claude apps on the web, desktop and phone.
- **Seeing what's waiting is a read.** Deciding is a change: an admin turns on **Allow AI apps to take actions** under **Settings → Connected AI apps → Organization**, and you tick **make changes** when you connect.

The most common pickup is a shift someone dropped; see [who can cover Friday's close](https://www.mays.app/blog/who-can-cover-friday-close-open-shifts-ai) for the whole loop.

[**Try Mays free for 30 days**](https://go.mays.app/register?utm_source=blog&utm_medium=ai_use_case&utm_campaign=approve-requests-between-rushes-ai), with no credit card, and connect it to the AI you already use.

## Related help articles

- AI & automation: [Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok](https://www.mays.app/help/ai-automation/connect-mays-to-chatgpt-or-claude) — Connect Mays to ChatGPT, Claude or Grok and ask about your locations from there — schedules, timecards, attendance, approvals, checklists, temperatures, stock, sales by day or hour, orders and product mix, labor targets, a suggested schedule for next week, inventory items and what to order — and, if your admin allows it, let it make changes you confirm, like adding a shift, approving time off, adding inventory items, uploading vendor invoices and knowledge-base documents, writing knowledge-base articles or sending a purchase order — or set up a whole new store in one go. Exactly the access you have in Mays. Disconnect any time.
- Scheduling: [The approvals inbox](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/approvals-inbox) — One place for everything your team is waiting on you for — shift claims, trades, the shift pool, time off and availability.
- Scheduling: [Requesting and approving time off](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/time-off-requests) — Ask for days off in the app, pick a category like Vacation or Sick, and follow your request. Managers approve or decline on the web or in the app.
- Scheduling: [Reviewing staff availability](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/manage-availability) — Review and approve your team's availability requests, see everyone's week at a glance, enter availability for someone, and set up the reasons staff pick when they can't work.
- Scheduling: [Handing off and swapping shifts](https://www.mays.app/help/scheduling/shift-trades) — Give a shift to a coworker or swap it for one of theirs from the app. Your coworker accepts, then a manager approves before anything changes.

Canonical: https://www.mays.app/blog/approve-requests-between-rushes-ai