A Manual default means the remediation tool does not act on its own authority. A person has to switch a category on before any automated fix is proposed, and the same person decides whether each change is merged. It trades speed for control until your team has evidence to trust the tool.
Definition: modes in plain words
Remediation tools tend to offer a ladder of autonomy. The names differ between products, so ask what each one actually permits. A useful way to read any ladder is to ask two questions at each rung. Who starts the change? Who finishes it?
| Mode | Who starts the change | Who finishes it |
|---|---|---|
| Manual | A person, on request | A person reviews and merges |
| Assisted | The tool suggests | A person reviews and merges |
| Automatic with gates | The tool opens the change | Checks and rules decide, with humans on exceptions |
Treat this table as a reading aid, not a product spec. Your own tool may name or split the rungs differently.
Why start at the bottom rung
Fix generation touches code that runs in production. OWASP's guidance on excessive agency lists three root causes: too much functionality, too many permissions, and too much autonomy. Its prevention advice includes requiring a human to approve high-impact actions before they happen. A Manual default is that advice applied as a starting position.
There is also a practical reason. A team that has never seen the tool's output cannot judge its quality. Starting in Manual lets you read the first proposals, learn what the pull requests look like, and find the failure patterns before they cost you a deploy.
What Manual does not mean
It does not mean the tool is idle or useless. Findings, prioritization and evidence can still flow while change authority stays with people. It also does not mean slow forever. Manual is a state you leave on purpose, one category at a time, when you have a reason.
It is also not the same as turning the feature off. Off means no change path exists. Manual means a path exists and a human holds the key.
How to move one category off Manual
- Pick the category with the lowest consequence, such as patch-level dependency updates in a service with strong tests.
- Write down the exit criteria before you start: how many proposals, what acceptance rate, what revert rate.
- Run in Manual for a fixed period and record every proposal and its outcome.
- Review the record. If the numbers meet your criteria, change that one category and nothing else.
- Set a review date to confirm the change still looks right, and keep a one step way back to Manual.
Changing a setting like this is itself a change. Record who made it, when, and why.
How Safeguard handles the default
Safeguard offers autonomous remediation with fix PRs. They are off by default, and every category is set to Manual until your team changes it. You can try a free scan to see findings before deciding anything about automation.
Try it yourself
Click through it at your own pace, or open it full screen. Watch how a change moves from finding to a gated decision.
Quick check
Is a Manual default the same as having the feature disabled?
No. Disabled means there is no automated path at all. Manual means the path exists, but a person must act before anything is proposed or merged.
Should every category move off Manual at the same time?
No. Move one category at a time, starting with the lowest consequence, so any problem has one obvious cause.
Who should be allowed to change the mode?
A small named group, with the change recorded. The setting controls how much the tool can do, so treat it like any other production change.
Sources
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
