Symptom

READY=False, REASON=AwaitingApproval. The Message names the target version (and the pending migration count, when the transition carries migrations). status.pendingMigrations lists exactly what will run. Nothing is applied and status.version is not advanced — this is an intentional hold, not an error.

Cause

spec.version.approvalMode holds this transition until the target version is approved:

• OnMigrations holds only a transition that carries migrations, so destructive migrations don’t run unattended while a config-only version bump proceeds.
• Always holds every version advance — a fleet-managed StageSet sets this so a FleetRollout can pace its adoption wave by wave.

The whole rollout (app and migrations) waits until the target version is authorized.

Remediation

Review status.pendingMigrations (or stagesetctl diff / plan) to see what will run, then approve the target version by setting the annotation to it:

kubectl annotate stageset <name> \
  stages.metio.wtf/approved-version=2.0.0 --overwrite

For a fleet-managed StageSet the FleetRollout controller stamps this annotation when the StageSet’s wave opens; approving by hand is a break-glass override.

The controller proceeds on the next reconcile once the annotation equals the desired version. Because approval is tied to that exact version, a later transition to a different version holds again until you approve the new target — a stale approval never carries over.