deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness · error

sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but the c

Error message

sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but the call has no agent to route it through

What it means

Error "sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but the call has no agent to route it through" thrown in deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness.

Source

Thrown at packages/sandbox/sandbox/src/escalation.ts:169

 * the throw into the call's isError result, and nothing has run. A
 * non-widening request never prompts a human.
 * @param request - the escalation to judge (see {@link EscalationRequest}).
 * @param approval - the approval ingredients the tool holds (see {@link EscalationApproval}).
 * @returns the granted mode, consumed by the one call that asked.
 */
export async function approveEscalation<A, C>(request: EscalationRequest, approval: EscalationApproval<A, C>): Promise<SandboxMode> {
  const { requestedMode: mode, effectiveMode, justification, subject } = request
  // Strict widening is an EXECUTION check against the call's effective mode —
  // deliberately not a schema constraint (the enum is the closed target
  // vocabulary; the effective mode is per-call truth).
  if (!(WIDER_MODES[effectiveMode] ?? []).includes(mode as SandboxMode)) {
    throw new Error(`sandbox escalation to "${mode}" is not strictly wider than this call's current "${effectiveMode}" mode`)
  }
  if (approval.approver === undefined) {
    throw new Error(`sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but no approval service is composed`)
  }
  if (approval.agent === undefined) {
    throw new Error(`sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but the call has no agent to route it through`)
  }
  // Self-contained for the audit trail: approval/asked stores this reason,
  // and the target mode is part of the grant's identity.
  const outcome = await approval.approver.request({
    agent: approval.agent,
    toolName: approval.toolName,
    callId: approval.callId,
    reason: `escalate sandbox to ${mode}: ${justification}`,
    ...approval.signal ? { signal: approval.signal } : {},
  })
  switch (outcome) {
    // The schema enum already pinned `mode` to the closed target vocabulary;
    // the check above proved it is strictly wider.
    case 'allowed-once': return mode as SandboxMode
    case 'rejected': throw new Error(`the user rejected escalating this ${subject} to "${mode}"`)
    case 'cancelled': throw new Error(`approval for escalating to "${mode}" was cancelled`)
    case 'unavailable': throw new Error(`sandbox escalation to "${mode}" requires approval, but no approval channel is available`)
    default: return assertNever(outcome, 'EscalationOutcome')

View on GitHub (pinned to b150a551b8)

Solutions

1. Route the call through an agent that carries an approval channel, or start the session in the required mode.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/sandbox/sandbox/src/escalation.ts:169 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of deepseek-ai/deepseek-harness@b150a551b8 (2026-08-24). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3740b3efbf388eb8. Report an issue: GitHub.