# l4 rec accept

> Accept a savings recommendation from the terminal. Records the decision, the approver and the timestamp, and changes nothing in your cloud account.

Source: https://docs.levelfour.ai/cli/commands/recommendations/accept


`l4 rec accept` records an accept decision on a savings recommendation. It moves the recommendation out of the Available bucket and into Pending, stamps who accepted it and when, and leaves it ready to execute.

```bash
l4 rec accept <id> [flags]
```

`rec` and `recs` are [aliases for `recommendations`](/cli/commands/recommendations).

> **Note**
>
> Nothing is applied in your cloud account. Accepting records a decision. [`l4 rec execute`](/cli/commands/recommendations/execute) is what starts the change.

## What it changes

The command posts to `/api/v1/recommendations/{id}/decision` with `{"decision": "accepted"}`. On the recommendation:

* `saving_acceptance` becomes `accepted`
* `saving_accepted_by` and `saving_accepted_at` are stamped from the credential
* `status` itself stays `pending`, so the dashboard shows the recommendation under Pending rather than Available
* if a member requested execution and the recommendation is waiting on an approver, accepting it resolves that request and records you as the approver

## Flags

| Flag           | Description                  |
| -------------- | ---------------------------- |
| `--yes` / `-y` | Skip the confirmation prompt |

Global flags (`--json`, `--jq`, `--template`, `--quiet`, `--token`, `--api`) apply. See [CLI overview](/cli#global-flags).

## Confirmation

By default the command prompts before sending:

```text
Accept recommendation REC-1234? [y/N]:
```

Anything other than `y` or `yes` aborts, prints `Aborted.`, and exits `0` without calling the API. Pass `--yes` to skip the prompt in an interactive shell.

> **Warning**
>
> When stdout is not a TTY, so in a pipeline or a CI job, the prompt never appears and the write goes through. That stops a scripted run blocking on input that will not arrive, and it also means every id you pipe in is accepted with nothing to confirm.

## Requires a read-write key

The endpoint requires the `read-write` scope, and `l4 auth login` mints a read-only key. See [CLI authentication](/cli/authentication#browser-login-mints-a-read-only-key) for how to create one that has it.

## Re-running it

Each invocation sends its own `Idempotency-Key`, which lets the API discard a duplicate delivery of the same request. A deliberate re-run is a new request: it re-stamps the same decision fields and adds another entry to the recommendation's audit timeline.

## Examples

```bash
l4 rec accept REC-1234
l4 rec accept REC-1234 --yes
l4 rec accept REC-1234 --json
LEVELFOUR_TOKEN=$L4_RW_KEY l4 rec accept REC-1234 --yes --quiet
```

Accept the available recommendations above a savings threshold, one page of results per run:

```bash
l4 rec list --status available --page-size 100 --jq '.data.data.items[] | select(.monthly_savings > 500) | .recommendation_id' \
  | xargs -I{} l4 rec accept {} --yes
```

## Output

Default output is a success line plus the fields the API returned:

```text
Recommendation REC-1234 accepted
By    api-key:00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
At    2026-08-22
```

An API key stamps `saving_accepted_by` as `api-key:<key id>`, the UUID of the key that made the call. The same decision made in the dashboard stamps the signed-in user's email instead.

With `--json` the whole API envelope is printed. The fields it carries:

```text
.success
.data.recommendation_id
.data.saving_acceptance          # "accepted"
.data.saving_accepted_by
.data.saving_accepted_at
.data.status                     # "pending"
.timestamp
```

> **Success**
>
> `saving_acceptance` reading `accepted` is the confirmation the decision landed. `status` staying `pending` is the expected result, not a failed write.

## Errors

| Exit | Symptom                     | Cause                                                                  |
| ---- | --------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `4`  | Authentication required     | No token resolvable; run `l4 auth login` or set `LEVELFOUR_TOKEN`      |
| `1`  | `401` authentication failed | Token revoked, expired, or from the wrong environment                  |
| `1`  | `403` permission denied     | The key has the `read` scope, or your role lacks `org:savings:execute` |
| `1`  | `404`                       | No recommendation with that id in this organization                    |

## Related

* [`l4 rec reject`](/cli/commands/recommendations/reject): the other half of the decision
* [`l4 rec execute`](/cli/commands/recommendations/execute): request execution of an accepted recommendation
* [`l4 recommendations`](/cli/commands/recommendations): list and view recommendations
* [CLI authentication](/cli/authentication): read versus read-write keys