# List approval policies

Operation ID: `approvalPolicies`

Group: Base › Approval Policies

[Open in the interactive reference](https://docs.api.lensing.ai/lensing/v1/endpoints/approvalPolicies)

`GET /base/approval-policies`

Read-only: Reads and returns; changes nothing.

Lists approval policies, each as its header only. For the rule lines, approvers, and notification settings, use GET base/approval-policies/:id or POST base/approval-policies/search.

## Parameters

| Name | In | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `Api-Version` | header | string · v1 | yes | The API version this request targets, named by its public identifier. Required on every request; omitting it, or naming a version this company does not have, is answered with 400. This document describes version `v1`. |

## Query surface

- `id` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between, like
- `policyHeaderNumber` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between, like
- `businessObject` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between, like
- `status` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between, like
- `isAllEntities` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between
- `startDate` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between
- `endDate` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between
- `lastModifiedDate` — filter by eq, ne, gt, gte, lt, lte, in, notIn, between
- Orderable: id, policyHeaderNumber, businessObject, status, startDate, endDate, lastModifiedDate
- Selectable: id, policyHeaderNumber, businessObject, status, isAllEntities, entityName, startDate, endDate, submitterCannotApprove, useSubstitute, approverCommentEnabled, lastModifiedDate
- `page[size]` — Page size
- `page[cursor]` — Opaque continuation cursor

## Response

`200` Success

Under `data`, an array of approvalPoliciesRow:

| Field | Type | Required | Filter | Sort | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `id` | string | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`), Pattern (`like`) | yes | The unique identifier for the approval policy. |
| `policyHeaderNumber` | string \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`), Pattern (`like`) | yes | The policy number, assigned when the policy is created and stable across edits. |
| `businessObject` | string \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`), Pattern (`like`) | yes | The code of the business object the policy governs, for example 'VendorBill', 'ExpenseReport' or 'PurchaseOrder'. |
| `status` | string \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`), Pattern (`like`) | yes | The lifecycle status of the policy. Possible values: 'active', 'inActive'. Only active policies are matched against new documents. Documents already in flight keep approving against an inActive policy. |
| `isAllEntities` | boolean \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`) | no | Whether the policy applies to every legal entity rather than the one named by entityName. |
| `entityName` | string \| null | no | no | no | The name of the legal entity the policy applies to. Absent when isAllEntities is true. |
| `startDate` | date \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`) | yes | The first date the policy is eligible for matching. Format YYYY-MM-DD. Absent when there is no lower bound. |
| `endDate` | date \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`) | yes | The last date the policy is eligible for matching. Format YYYY-MM-DD. Absent when there is no upper bound. |
| `submitterCannotApprove` | boolean \| null | no | no | no | Whether the document submitter is stopped from approving their own document. When true, their approval does not count toward fulfillment and they are not notified as an approver. |
| `useSubstitute` | boolean \| null | no | no | no | Whether an approver who is absent today (approved absence, or a weekend/public holiday running into one) is routed to the substitute on their employee record. The original approver can still approve. |
| `approverCommentEnabled` | boolean \| null | no | no | no | Whether approvers are prompted for an optional comment at approve time. The comment is stored on the approval trail. |
| `lastModifiedDate` | date-time \| null | no | Exact (`eq`, `ne`), Range (`gt`, `gte`, `lt`, `lte`, `between`), Any of (`in`, `notIn`) | yes | The date and time the approval policy last changed, in UTC. Format YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ. |

```json
{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
      "policyHeaderNumber": "<policyHeaderNumber>",
      "businessObject": "<businessObject>",
      "status": "<status>",
      "isAllEntities": true,
      "entityName": "<entityName>",
      "startDate": "2026-01-15",
      "endDate": "2026-01-15",
      "submitterCannotApprove": true,
      "useSubstitute": true,
      "approverCommentEnabled": true,
      "lastModifiedDate": "2026-01-15T09:30:00.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "pagination": {
    "hasMore": true,
    "nextCursor": "<nextCursor>"
  }
}
```

## Statuses

- `400` — Invalid request or business failure
- `401` — The request carries no valid access token.
- `403` — Not authorized
- `404` — Not found
- `429` — Too many requests from this client address. The response has no body and no `Retry-After` header.
- `500` — Internal server error