Every change your company makes goes through a proposal: someone asks, a member approves, and only then does the platform record it on the ledger. To follow one, open it in Approvals. Under its summary, the review panel shows How it gets executed: each step, when it happened and who did it. In the list, an approved proposal sits in the In progress tab with a short tag such as "Step 3 of 5 · Signatures" and one line saying what it is waiting for; once recorded it moves to Completed, and a rejected, expired or failed one to Didn’t go through.
The five steps
- Requested: who asked for it and when. That can be a member, the assistant, an AI tool, an integration, an automation, A-REX operations, or the platform itself when it prepares a step another proposal needs.
- Approved: the member who approved it and when. If it was rejected, or it expired after 72 hours without a decision, nothing else happens.
- Signatures: only for changes to your company's administration account: software updates, allowing a receiver, trusting a certificate issuer, letting a party process its own lots, and changes to lot rules. Most deliveries, registrations and certificates skip this step. The step shows how many signatures it has and how many it needs, who already signed and who still has to.
- Recording on the ledger: the platform writes the change to the ledger, usually in under a minute. When it is done, View the record opens it.
- Outcome: Executed or Failed, and when it happened. A proposal that was rejected or expired shows "Not executed" and the reason.
What each waiting state means
| The proposal says | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting for a member with approval rights to approve it. | Any member with approval rights, except the one who asked, can approve. |
| Waiting for your company’s owner to approve it. | Changes prepared by A-REX operations, handovers and lot rule changes can only be approved by the company owner. |
| Waiting for your signature: sign with your passkey to continue. | You hold the passkey that signs for your company. Select Sign with your passkey and confirm on your device; you may also be asked for a code from your authenticator app. The proposal then continues on its own. |
| Waiting for ‹name› to sign with their passkey. | That person holds your company's passkey and has to sign from their device. |
| Waiting for your company’s approver to sign with their passkey. | The same, when the panel cannot show the approver's name. |
| Waiting for A-REX operations to co-sign; this usually takes a few minutes. | Your company has signed. A-REX adds its signature; you have nothing to do. |
| The platform is preparing it for signatures. | The platform is preparing what has to be signed. |
| Waiting for the recipient to be allowed to receive lots; the platform has prepared that approval. | Another proposal, which allows the recipient, needs approval first. This one resumes by itself once that one is executed. See waiting states. |
| Waiting for the issuer to be trusted; the platform has prepared that approval. | Another proposal, which trusts the issuer, needs approval first. This one resumes by itself once that one is executed. |
| Waiting for the processor to be allowed to record its own processing; the platform has prepared that approval. | Another proposal, which lets the processor record its own lots, needs approval first. This one resumes by itself once that one is executed. |
| The platform is sending it to the ledger. | Nothing to do. |
| Sent to the ledger, waiting for its confirmation. | It has been sent; the ledger confirms it, usually within a minute. The step shows how long it has waited. It reads Executed only once the ledger has confirmed it. See when the ledger is busy. |
| Recording costs more than your plan allows right now because the ledger is busy; it will be sent when fees come down. | Nothing to do, and nothing was sent yet: recording it costs more than your plan allows for one action while the ledger is this busy. It goes ahead by itself once fees come down. See when the ledger is busy. |
Who signs
- Your company's approver signs with their passkey: the one registered in Settings → Security as your company's approval key.
- If A-REX holds administration keys for you (managed custody), the panel says "A-REX operations signs too, but never completes a change alone."
- With keys your company holds itself (user-held custody), the panel says "A-REX never signs for your company." This is mandatory in the EU, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and New York (US). Either of your company's two passkeys, the approver's or the recovery passkey, is enough. See custody.
If it failed
The panel says why in plain words and what to do next. The technical detail stays in the collapsed Technical details section.
- "The platform can’t reach the service that records this change; A-REX has been told.": select Contact support.
- "A required signature was missing, so it was not recorded. Propose it again and sign when asked.", "Another change to your administration account was recorded first, so this one can no longer run. Propose it again." or "This approval was closed before it was recorded. Propose it again if you still need it.": select Propose it again. For a software update this opens the update page; sign when you are asked.
- "The ledger refused the change. Contact support so A-REX can check why.", "This update is not allowed for your ledger. Contact support." or "This software version has not passed its audit yet, so it was not installed. Contact support.": select Contact support.
- "The platform could not confirm whether it was recorded. Contact support before trying again.": select Contact support and do not propose it again until support confirms.
For any other reason the panel also offers Contact support. A failed proposal shows only these two actions: Contact support or Propose it again. Contact support opens a support request with the proposal already attached. A failed proposal changes nothing on the ledger.
When the ledger is busy
Sometimes the ledger takes longer to confirm, for example when many changes are recorded at the same time. After a while the panel says so: “The ledger is busy right now; this usually takes a few minutes. Nothing is lost.” If it takes much longer: “It is taking longer than usual. The platform keeps checking and sends it again if the ledger dropped it; nothing is lost and it is never recorded twice.” You don’t need to do anything, and you don’t need to propose it again.
When the ledger stays busy, the platform sends it again with a higher fee, up to five times and never above what your plan allows for one action. Until the ledger confirms it, the recording step keeps reading “Sent to the ledger · waiting for confirmation”, however long that takes: a proposal that was sent is never marked failed only because its confirmation is late.
If recording it would cost more than your plan allows for one action, usually because the ledger is very busy, nothing is sent yet. The proposal waits and says: “Recording costs more than your plan allows right now because the ledger is busy; it will be sent when fees come down.” The platform tries again after 5 minutes, then after 10, 20, 40, 80 and 160 minutes. If fees are still too high six hours after the first try, it stops and the proposal fails: “Recording it would cost more than your plan allows for one action right now, usually because the ledger is very busy. Nothing was sent. Propose it again in a little while.”
The daily allowance of your plan does not wait: “Your plan’s recording allowance for today is used up, so nothing was sent. Propose it again tomorrow, or change the plan.”
Rarely, another change from your company takes the same place on the ledger first. This one can then never be recorded, and nothing changed: “Another change from your company took its place on the ledger, so this one was not recorded and nothing changed. Propose it again.” Select Propose it again.
A proposal that failed before 26 October 2026 may still show this: “The ledger did not confirm it in time, even after several tries. It may still be recorded, so don’t propose it again: contact support and A-REX checks the ledger first.” For those, contact support: A-REX checks the ledger first.