Building a REST API Workflow for Approvals in Microsoft Teams

The approval request hits the pipeline and stops cold, waiting for a yes or no. You need that decision where your team already lives: Microsoft Teams. This is where a REST API workflow for approvals changes the game.

A REST API lets you trigger, track, and complete approvals without breaking flow. For Teams, this means integrating your workflow system so requests appear as actionable messages right inside a channel or chat. No email lag. No switching tabs.

Start by registering your app in Azure Active Directory and setting the right API permissions for the Microsoft Graph API. This is your link to Teams approvals endpoints. Use OAuth 2.0 for secure sign-ins and token handling. With Graph API, you can send adaptive cards to Teams, containing all approval details and buttons for approve or reject.

Your REST API receives the decision callback, updates your system of record, and moves the workflow to the next stage. Everything happens in real time, with Teams as the front end and your service logic running behind the scenes. You can map these approval steps into pipelines for DevOps, finance, HR, or any process that can be broken into discrete approvals.

To keep latency low, use webhook subscriptions for message updates and approval responses. This event-driven model avoids unnecessary polling. Store state in a fast-access database so you can handle multiple concurrent approvals without bottlenecks. Add role-based access controls so the API only lets authorized users approve within their scope.

Common integration patterns include:

• Creating approval requests automatically from a CI/CD job status
• Routing multi-step approvals across different Teams channels
• Attaching metadata from external systems directly in the adaptive card
• Logging every step via API for compliance and auditing

Testing in a sandbox Teams tenant ensures your adaptive cards render correctly and your callback URLs respond as expected. Once confirmed, deploy to production with monitoring hooks to alert on failures or missed SLAs.

An effective REST API workflow for approvals in Teams reduces context-switching, speeds decisions, and enforces process integrity without adding bureaucracy. It brings your decision points to the place work is already happening.

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