Gavel.
The decision desk for the Renkara fleet

Every decision, on the record.

Agents make hundreds of decisions a week and hit a handful of questions only the owner can answer. Gavel records the first and routes the second, so nobody digs through lane logs to find out who decided what, and nothing waits on a person who is not at the keyboard.

See how a decision flowsTour every screen
Gavel's Needs You page: open asks ordered by default-by time, each with a recommendation, a gate badge when it is held, and a Decide button.Gavel's Needs You page: open asks ordered by default-by time, each with a recommendation, a gate badge when it is held, and a Decide button.
Needs You: every open ask, soonest default first.

Internal to Renkara. Gavel is a tool Renkara Media Group builds and runs for itself. It is not offered for sale, and there is nothing to buy or join. This site shows what it does and how it is built.

A Gavel ask: the question, a highlighted recommendation with its reasoning, and three options each listing consequences and cost.A Gavel ask: the question, a highlighted recommendation with its reasoning, and three options each listing consequences and cost.
An open ask: three options, a recommendation, and what each choice costs.
Asking the owner

The factory keeps moving while the owner is away.

An agent that needs a person does not stop and wait. It files an ask with its own recommendation and a default-by time, and keeps working on the recommendation. If the owner is there, he picks an option. If he is not, the ask closes on the recommendation, and he can still reverse it later.

The exception is deliberate: an ask that would deploy to production without an order, spend $20 or more, or delete generated data is held, never defaulted.

How asks work
The record

Rulings, reversals, and supersession, all in the history.

When the owner rules, Gavel records how: direct on the web, or relayed through a session with his verbatim words and the time he said them. When a newer decision replaces an older one, the old record stays, marked superseded, and points at its successor.

How a decision flows
A decision detail page showing an owner ruling relayed through a session, with a banner that carries the verbatim quote, and the revision and event history below it.A decision detail page showing an owner ruling relayed through a session, with a banner that carries the verbatim quote, and the revision and event history below it.
A relayed ruling, with the owner's words, the session, and the time on the record.
Gavel's ADR register: a list of numbered records in three series, and the selected record shown with its status badge reading superseded.Gavel's ADR register: a list of numbered records in three series, and the selected record shown with its status badge reading superseded.
The ADR register: series, numbers, status, and revision history.
Architecture decisions

ADR numbers that cannot collide.

Plans used to claim the same ADR number. Gavel allocates numbers centrally, per series, and lets a plan reserve one before the record exists. Bodies are PubMark, revisions are kept, and a superseded record links to its replacement.

About the register
Features

One place for the decisions that used to live in lane logs.

Gavel keeps agent decisions, owner asks, rulings, waivers, and architecture decision records in Postgres, with MCP tools for the agents and a web desk for the owner. These are the jobs it does today.

What Gavel does

Six jobs, all running today

01

Records every decision

Agents log what they decided, why, how to undo it, and the evidence: commits, Docket cards, artifacts, and the session that made the call. The owner can confirm or reverse any of them later.

02

Asks without stalling

An ask carries options, a recommendation, and a default-by time. The agent proceeds on the recommendation at once; the owner confirms or reverses. Hard-gated actions hold instead.

03

Keeps ADRs first-class

Numbered per series, revisioned, linked by supersession, with one allocator so two plans can never claim the same number again.

04

Links decisions to what the agent was doing

A forwarder on each machine ships redacted, structured events to Chronicle. Gavel ties each decision to its session and time window and pulls bounded excerpts on demand.

05

Exports to git every night

Every record is written as a PubMark file to a ledger repository, so the history stays readable and restorable without Gavel running.

06

Append-only, owner-only

Records are never edited in place or deleted. Every change is a new revision in a hash chain, and only the owner can decide an ask.

Screens

See it in light and dark

Real captures of the running tool, with fictional StrataForge Robotics data. They follow your theme.

Gavel's review page listing the decisions agents made, ready for the owner to confirm or reverse.Gavel's review page listing the decisions agents made, ready for the owner to confirm or reverse.
Review: what agents decided, ready to confirm or reverse.
Gavel's decision log: a searchable list of every recorded decision with its state.Gavel's decision log: a searchable list of every recorded decision with its state.
The log: every decision, searchable.
Gavel's machines page listing the workstations enrolled to send agent context.Gavel's machines page listing the workstations enrolled to send agent context.
Machines: the workstations that send agent context.
How it works

From a decision to the ledger

  1. Record or ask

    An agent records a decision, or files an ask with options, a recommendation, and a default-by time.

  2. Proceed

    The agent keeps working on its recommendation. A hard-gated ask holds instead of proceeding.

  3. Rule

    The owner confirms or reverses on the web desk or from Chirp, or the ask closes on the recommendation.

  4. Export

    Every record and revision is written as a PubMark file to a git ledger each night.

Accessibility

Built so everyone can use Gavel.

Gavel's web desk is built on the Renkara design system and checked with axe-core in light and dark at phone and desktop widths. Here is what the product supports today and what we have actually checked. We do not claim a WCAG conformance level for the product.

  • Keyboard operation Partly supported

    In the desk, dialogs keep Tab focus inside them and close on Escape, and focused controls show an indicator with at least 3:1 contrast.

  • Screen reader landmarks and labels Partly supported

    axe-core, which checks names, labels, and landmark structure, finds no serious or critical violations in the desk. It has not been tested with a screen reader.

  • Contrast in light and dark Supported

    Text and controls are checked for contrast in both the light and dark themes.

  • Reduced motion Not yet tested

    Gavel's interface uses the Renkara design system's motion presets, which are designed to honor the reduced-motion setting. Gavel's own tests do not check this yet.

  • Text resize and zoom Not yet tested

    Resizing text to 200 percent has not been tested.

  • Mobile and touch Supported

    The desk fits a 375 by 667 phone screen with no sideways scrolling, and its controls are at least 44 by 44 pixels.

Read the accessibility statement and evidence
Tech specs

Under the hood

Gavel technical specification
Backend
  • FastAPI on Python, with REST under /api/v1
  • PostgreSQL through SQLAlchemy (async) and Alembic migrations
  • Append-only records: every change is a new revision in a hash chain
  • Secret redaction before anything is stored or shown
Agent interface
  • FastMCP server with 18 tools, relayed to agents on every machine by Roost
  • A stdio bridge for Roost, authenticated per machine
  • A forwarder on each machine ships redacted agent events (Claude and Codex sessions) to Chronicle
Web desk
  • React 19 and TypeScript, built on the Renkara design system
  • Light and dark themes, tested at 375 by 667 and 1440 by 900
  • Owner-only deciding; agents can record and ask but never rule
Records and export
  • ADRs numbered per series by one central allocator, with reservation
  • Every record exported nightly as a PubMark file to a git ledger
  • Restore tooling rebuilds the database from the ledger
Replaces

What it stands in for

  • Decisions buried in lane logs
  • Hand-numbered ADR files
Works with

Part of the Renkara fleet

  • Chirp

    Asks post to the #decisions channel as a decision card, and the owner's choice from Chirp comes back as the ruling.

  • Chronicle

    Receives the forwarder's redacted agent events; Gavel pulls bounded excerpts to show what the agent was doing.

  • Vigil

    Gavel ships a Vigil monitor for its service health.

  • Roost

    Relays Gavel's MCP tools to agents on every machine.

MCP tools

Built for agents as well as people

Agents record decisions, ask the owner, search the record, and manage ADRs through Gavel's MCP tools. They can record and ask; only the owner's answer decides.

Decisions and asks

  • record_decision
  • request_owner_decision
  • decide
  • supersede_decision
  • withdraw_request
  • add_evidence

Reading the record

  • search_decisions
  • list_pending
  • get_decision
  • list_outcomes
  • get_decision_context

ADRs

  • create_adr
  • reserve_adr_number
  • update_adr
  • get_adr
  • list_adrs

Operations

  • check_service_health
  • get_diagnostics
FAQ

Questions people ask

Is Gavel available to other teams?

No. Gavel is internal to Renkara and is not offered for sale. This site shows what it does and how it is built. Write to contact@renkara.com with questions.

Is the data in the screenshots real?

No. Every screenshot is a capture of the running app against fictional StrataForge Robotics data.

What happens if the owner does not answer an ask?

The ask closes on the agent's recommendation at its default-by time, and the owner can still reverse it later. An ask that would deploy to production without an order, spend $20 or more, or delete generated data is held instead, never defaulted.

Contact

Questions about this tool?

Write to Renkara Media Group and a person will answer.

Email contact@renkara.com