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+# Pull Request Approval Requirements Policy
+
+| Field | Value |
+| --- | --- |
+| Document | `Governance/policies/APPROVAL_REQUIREMENTS.md` |
+| Status | Active |
+| Version | 1.0.0 |
+| Owner | Maintainer Team |
+| Last reviewed | 2026-09-28 |
+| Review cadence | Every 6 months, or after any change to branch protection |
+| Applies to | Every pull request opened against `rinafcode/teachLink_backend` |
+
+This policy is the single, versioned reference for **how many approvals a pull
+request needs**, **which automated checks must be green**, and **who may
+override a requirement when it cannot be met**. It makes the table in
+[`CONTRIBUTING.md` §4](../../CONTRIBUTING.md) explicit per change type, so that
+"it depends" has a written answer.
+
+It is governance only. It changes no application behaviour and is scoped
+entirely to the `Governance/` folder.
+
+## 1. How to read this policy
+
+Two numbers together authorise a merge:
+
+- **Approvals** — human reviewers who have read the change and approved it.
+- **Checks** — automated jobs that must report `success`.
+
+Both must be satisfied. An approval never substitutes for a required check, and
+a green check never substitutes for an approval. The merge button is disabled
+until both are met.
+
+Throughout this document:
+
+- **Code owner** means a maintainer responsible for the touched path, as mapped
+  in [`CONTRIBUTING.md` §9](../../CONTRIBUTING.md). That section shows the
+  intended `CODEOWNERS` mapping; **no `CODEOWNERS` file is committed to the
+  repository yet**. Until it is, treat the team named for the module in
+  `CONTRIBUTING.md` §9 as the code owner, and if no team is named, any
+  maintainer other than the author satisfies the code-owner approval.
+- **Maintainer** means someone holding the Maintainer GitHub role, the only role
+  that can merge ([`CONTRIBUTING.md` §11](../../CONTRIBUTING.md)).
+- **Governance change** means any change whose diff touches `Governance/`.
+- **Sign-off** means a `Signed-off-by:` trailer, as required by
+  [`DCO.md`](DCO.md).
+
+## 2. Minimum approvals per change type
+
+| # | Change type | Target `develop` | Target `main` | Code-owner approval required | Notes |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| 1 | Documentation only (Markdown, no `src/` or config) | 1 | 2 | No | `docs/`, `README.md`, and other prose changes follow this row. |
+| 2 | Governance document (`Governance/**`) | 1 | 2 | No | Also bound by [`SCOPE.md`](../SCOPE.md); at most two files per governance change. |
+| 3 | Test-only change (`*.spec.ts`, `test/`) | 1 | 2 | No | Approval must come from someone who can judge test design. |
+| 4 | Dependency or manifest change (`package.json`, `pnpm-lock.yaml`) | 2 | 2 | Yes (devops) | Also bound by [`domains/DEPENDENCY_APPROVAL.md`](../domains/DEPENDENCY_APPROVAL.md). |
+| 5 | Database migration or schema change | 2 | 2 | Yes | Includes `src/**/migrations/**` and entity changes that require one. See [`domains/DB_MIGRATION_GOVERNANCE.md`](../domains/DB_MIGRATION_GOVERNANCE.md). |
+| 6 | Configuration, environment, or secret handling | 2 | 2 | Yes (devops) | Includes `src/config/**`, `.env.example`, and CI workflows. See [`domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md`](../domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md). |
+| 7 | Security-sensitive code (auth, crypto, payments, web3) | 2 | 2 | Yes | The owning team from `CODEOWNERS` must be among the approvers. |
+| 8 | API contract change (route, DTO, response shape) | 2 | 2 | Yes | Also bound by [`domains/API_CHANGE_GOVERNANCE.md`](../domains/API_CHANGE_GOVERNANCE.md) and [`domains/API_VERSIONING.md`](../domains/API_VERSIONING.md). |
+| 9 | Ordinary application code (`src/**`) | 1 | 2 | Yes | The default row. |
+| 10 | Release / version bump | 2 | 2 | Yes | Also requires [`processes/RELEASE_SIGNOFF.md`](../processes/RELEASE_SIGNOFF.md). |
+| 11 | Hotfix straight to `main` | — | 2 | Yes | See §6. The change must be back-merged to `develop` afterwards. |
+| 12 | Revert of a merged PR | 1 | 2 | No | The revert must cite the PR it reverses. |
+
+When a PR spans several rows, **the strictest applicable row wins** — the
+approval count is the maximum, and every code owner implicated by any row must
+approve. For example, a migration that also changes a route needs the
+migration row's two approvals, plus approval from both the migration and API
+code owners.
+
+An approval from the PR author never counts toward the requirement, even if the
+author is a maintainer. A maintainer may approve their own PR only to satisfy the
+"one maintainer has seen it" spirit; it does not count as one of the required
+approvals.
+
+## 3. Required checks
+
+### 3.1 Always required
+
+The following must report `success` on every pull request, regardless of change
+type. They correspond to the jobs in
+[`.github/workflows/ci.yml`](../../.github/workflows/ci.yml):
+
+| Check (workflow job) | What it enforces |
+| --- | --- |
+| `No build artifacts in git` | `dist/`, `*.tsbuildinfo`, and `compliance/reports/` are not tracked. |
+| `validate` | Lint (`pnpm run lint:ci`), TypeScript (`pnpm run typecheck`), build (`pnpm run build`), migration hygiene (`migrations:check`), migrations apply, schema-drift check, and migration revert. |
+
+A failing `validate` job blocks merge on **every** row of §2, including
+documentation-only changes. There is no change type exempt from these two.
+
+### 3.2 Conditionally required
+
+| Check | When it is required | Current gate status |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| `security-scan` | Every PR; blocks only once the inherited audit backlog is cleared | Advisory — `pnpm audit --audit-level=high` runs with `continue-on-error: true` during the phased rollout described in issue #529. The licence scan is always evaluated. |
+| Unit tests (Jest, coverage ≥ 70 %) | Every change to `src/**` | See §3.3. |
+| E2E tests (Supertest, Postgres + Redis) | Every change to `src/**` that touches a route, guard, or migration | See §3.3. |
+
+### 3.3 Checks documented in `CONTRIBUTING.md` but not yet in CI
+
+[`CONTRIBUTING.md` §4](../../CONTRIBUTING.md) lists unit and E2E runs and an
+aggregate `CI Passed` gate. The current `ci.yml` does not define them. This
+policy does not invent them: until they exist, a reviewer approving a `src/**`
+change **must** either (a) confirm the author ran the relevant suite locally and
+recorded the result in the PR, or (b) treat the absence as a blocking gap and
+request it. When those jobs land, this section is replaced by their job names and
+they become unconditionally required.
+
+## 4. Review validity
+
+- **Stale approvals are dismissed.** Pushing any new commit to a PR under review
+  invalidates all existing approvals
+  ([`CONTRIBUTING.md` §9](../../CONTRIBUTING.md)). The reviewers must re-approve
+  the new state.
+- **Conversations must be resolved.** Every review thread must be marked resolved
+  before merge. Authors do not resolve reviewer threads; the reviewer does.
+- **The branch must be current.** The head branch must contain the target
+  branch's tip, or be mergeable without conflict.
+- **Approvals expire with the base.** If the target branch moves and the PR is
+  rebased or merged-up, approvals stand only if the diff is unchanged; if the
+  rebase resolved a conflict, treat the approvals as stale and re-request.
+- **Sign-off.** Every commit must carry a `Signed-off-by:` trailer
+  ([`DCO.md`](DCO.md)). A missing sign-off is a blocking review comment, not an
+  override.
+
+## 5. Override rules
+
+An override is the authorised relaxation of a requirement in §2 or §3. Overrides
+are exceptional, must be recorded, and may never relax a rule marked
+**non-overridable** below.
+
+### 5.1 Who may override what
+
+| Requirement | May be overridden by | Conditions |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| One of two required approvals (target `main`) | Project lead | The second reviewer is unreachable for ≥ 5 business days, the PR is not security-sensitive, and the override is stated in a PR comment. |
+| Code-owner approval | Project lead | The code owner is inactive (see [`INACTIVITY.md`](INACTIVITY.md)) or unreachable for ≥ 5 business days. |
+| Documentation-only, on `main`, second approval | Project lead | The change is inside `Governance/` or `docs/` and modifies no code, config, or dependency. |
+| `security-scan` audit failure | — | Advisory today under #529; becomes non-overridable when the flag is removed. |
+| Revert of a clearly broken merge | Maintainer | May merge with **1** approval and without code-owner approval, provided the revert is a clean `git revert` of exactly one merge and the incident is linked. |
+
+### 5.2 Requirements that may never be overridden
+
+The following are non-overridable. If they cannot be met, the change does not
+merge — it is reworked, split, or withdrawn:
+
+1. **No build artifacts in git** (`no-build-artifacts`).
+2. **`validate` must pass** — lint, typecheck, build, migrations apply, schema
+   drift, migrations revert.
+3. **No secrets in the diff** — credentials, tokens, keys, or `.env` values
+   ([`domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md`](../domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md)).
+4. **`CODEOWNERS` approval for a security-sensitive path** on `main` (row 7) —
+   the owning team must actually approve; the requirement moves to the project
+   lead only if the team is itself inactive.
+5. **DCO sign-off** — every commit, no exceptions.
+6. **Branch protection** — no override may be implemented by disabling a
+   protection rule, adding a bypass actor, or force-pushing to `main` or
+   `develop`.
+7. **Direct push to `main` or `develop`** — never permitted, for anyone,
+   including repository admins.
+
+### 5.3 How to record an override
+
+Every override must be visible in the pull request itself, before merge:
+
+- a comment stating which requirement is being relaxed;
+- the reason it could not be met;
+- the name of the person exercising the override;
+- for approval overrides, the justification that the unavailable reviewer was
+  genuinely unreachable and the waiting period was observed.
+
+An override that is not recorded in the PR did not happen. If the merge already
+occurred, the maintainer must post the record on the merged PR and note it in
+[`DECISION_LOG.md`](../DECISION_LOG.md).
+
+### 5.4 Emergency overrides
+
+During a declared incident, the on-call maintainer may merge a fix with **1**
+approval and without code-owner approval. The constraints are:
+
+- only the non-overridable list in §5.2 still applies in full;
+- the change is the minimum needed to stop the harm;
+- the record required by §5.3 is posted within **24 hours**;
+- a follow-up review by the owning code owner is completed within **5 business
+  days**, and any resulting change lands as its own PR.
+
+Emergency override authority does not extend to dependency additions, secret
+rotation policy, or branch-protection changes.
+
+## 6. Hotfixes to `main`
+
+A hotfix may target `main` directly, bypassing `develop`, only when:
+
+- the change fixes a production outage, a security vulnerability, or data loss;
+- it is scoped to the smallest possible diff;
+- it meets row 11 of §2 — **2 approvals** including a code owner — or the §5.4
+  emergency override applies;
+- it carries a DCO sign-off and passes `validate`.
+
+After merge, the hotfix is back-merged to `develop` immediately
+([`CONTRIBUTING.md` §11](../../CONTRIBUTING.md)). A back-merge is not optional,
+and opening the follow-up PR is the merging maintainer's responsibility.
+
+## 7. Relationship to other documents
+
+| Document | Relationship |
+| --- | --- |
+| [`CONTRIBUTING.md`](../../CONTRIBUTING.md) §4, §9, §11 | States branch protection and the review policy. This document refines §4 into a per-change-type table. Where they differ, the stricter requirement applies; `CONTRIBUTING.md` remains authoritative for branch protection settings. |
+| [`CONTRIBUTING.md` §9](../../CONTRIBUTING.md) | Names the code owners this policy requires; the `CODEOWNERS` mapping it shows is not yet committed. |
+| [`policies/REVIEW_SLA.md`](REVIEW_SLA.md) | Response and completion timescales for the reviews this policy requires. |
+| [`policies/DCO.md`](DCO.md) | The sign-off requirement referenced throughout. |
+| [`policies/STALE_PRS.md`](STALE_PRS.md) | What happens to a PR that never reaches the required approvals. |
+| [`domains/DB_MIGRATION_GOVERNANCE.md`](../domains/DB_MIGRATION_GOVERNANCE.md) | Extra requirements for migration changes. |
+| [`domains/DEPENDENCY_APPROVAL.md`](../domains/DEPENDENCY_APPROVAL.md) | Extra requirements for dependency changes. |
+| [`domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md`](../domains/SECRETS_MANAGEMENT.md) | The non-overridable no-secrets rule. |
+| [`processes/HOTFIX.md`](../processes/HOTFIX.md) | The operational hotfix procedure that §6 summarises. |
+| [`DECISION_LOG.md`](../DECISION_LOG.md) | Where overrides and emergency merges are recorded. |
+
+## 8. Change log
+
+| Date | Version | Change |
+| --- | --- | --- |
+| 2026-09-28 | 1.0.0 | **Initial release.** Minimum approvals per change type (§2), required checks and their current gate status (§3), review validity (§4), override rules including the non-overridable list (§5), and hotfix requirements (§6). |