Permissions and limits
The AI assistant is an AI model that reads and replies to messages on your number. Each switch on this page is one permission. With a switch off, the assistant cannot use it, and it tells the person which part it cannot help with. Any request outside a permission or a limit is refused, and the refusal is written to the Ledger, the system’s record of every request and response.
All permissions
9 of 20 switched on
Location is off, so it says nothing about where you are. Calendar is on, so it knows when you are free.
Approved prices is off, so it refuses to invent a number. Calendar and booking are on, so it offers real slots.
Store orders is off, so it promises a person, not an answer it does not have.
With these switches
It may read Calendar, Messages. It may reply, book, missed call text-back. It may reply to family, leads, customers, you.
The conversations are illustrations; the people are made up.
May read
Each switch lets the assistant read one kind of information. With a switch off, it cannot see that information.
What is next, and which hours are open
On: the assistant can read your calendar, to see what is booked and which hours are free. It reads the calendar you already use.
ExampleA customer asks to move the 3pm. The event moves to 4:15, and the other person gets a text about it in your words.
The threads you choose, not all of them
On: the assistant can read and reply in the message threads you choose on your own number, not all of them. You choose person by person.
ExampleIt sends only prices you approved, and passes the conversation to you at the point you set.
Search and read, tracked sends
On: the assistant can search and read your email, and send emails that report when they are opened.
ExampleYou learn that invoice 118 was opened at 8:41, because it was sent as an email that reports opens.
Only for the people you name, only on the triggers you set
On: the assistant can know where your iPhone is when it arrives at or leaves places you set. It shares this only with the people you name.
ExampleA family member asks “Did you land?” and gets a true answer, because location is on for that one person.
The store or the carrier, read only
On: the assistant can read orders and delivery tracking from your online store and the delivery company. It cannot change them.
ExampleOrder 4821 shipped yesterday, arriving Thursday. Tracking is in the thread above this one.
Invoices and subscriptions
On: the assistant can read invoices and subscriptions in your payment account (for example Stripe).
The price list it may quote from
On: the assistant can quote prices from the price list you approved, and only those. Off: it never states a price.
ExampleNo reply and no ad states a price that is not on your list.
The folders you point it at
On: the assistant can read, write, list and search the folders you choose on your Mac.
ExampleA brief saved to a folder is used to make ad variants.
May do
Each switch lets the assistant take one kind of action. Every action it takes is written to the Ledger.
In your writing style, within your permissions
On: the assistant sends replies on your number, written the way you write, within these permissions. Off: it reads, but never sends.
Only into the hours you opened
On: the assistant can create calendar events, only in the hours you marked as open, and send the invitation.
ExampleA customer texts “2:30 works”; a calendar event is created and the invitation is sent.
From your number, within a minute
On: when you miss a call, the caller gets a text from your number within a minute, and the assistant carries on the conversation to book the job.
ExampleMissed call at 2:18. A text from your number at 2:19. The job booked at 2:21.
Day 2, 5 and 10, with something useful to say
On: a quote with no reply gets a follow-up text on day 2, day 5 and day 10, each with something useful in it. The texts stop as soon as the person replies.
ExampleA quote sent on Monday with no answer gets a text on Wednesday, on Saturday and ten days after it was sent, unless they reply first.
30, 60, 90 days, with a reason to return
On: customers who have not been back for 30, 60 or 90 days get a text with a reason to return, such as the dish they usually order. The texts stop when they reply.
Send, finalize, refund within a limit
On: the assistant can create an invoice, send it in the text thread the customer already has with you, and refund up to the limit you set without asking you.
ExampleA refund to one customer, up to $500, allowed for ten minutes. After that the permission expires.
Unlock for the cleaner at 10, lock at 10:15
On: the assistant can lock and unlock a smart door lock and turn lights on and off, only inside the time window you set.
ExampleThe door unlocks at 9:55 for the cleaner and locks at 10:15, and you get a text both times.
May reply to
Each switch lets the assistant reply to one group of people. Messages from anyone else wait for you.
Answers you using the same information
You can text the assistant instructions from your own phone: move a meeting, tell someone you are running late, send a file, unlock a door. It does the parts that are switched on and says which parts are off.
It says which parts it cannot do, and why: home is off.
Limits
A limit is a maximum amount, a time window or a number of uses attached to an action. A request outside it is refused, and nothing runs.
The Ledger is a database table that stores every request and every response, in order and in full. Each entry includes a fingerprint (a SHA-256 hash) of the entry before it, so an entry changed afterwards can be detected. Below are seven example entries.
7 entries, not checked yet
Each entry’s fingerprint is computed from the fingerprint of the entry before it plus the entry’s own contents. Change one entry, then check again: from that entry on, the fingerprints no longer match. The requests are made-up examples; the SHA-256 fingerprints are real, computed in your browser.
sent from your number
Text sent 52 seconds after the missed call. They replied. Diagnostic booked for 4:30 today.
fingerprint of the entry before aeebad4athis entry’s fingerprint 4cdc7072
sent in the thread
Sent by iMessage to Bright Roofing. Opened 41 seconds later.
fingerprint of the entry before 4cdc7072this entry’s fingerprint cd3f1bc1
uploaded, paused
36 files in the ad account, 12 ads created and paused. Nothing is spent until you turn them on.
fingerprint of the entry before cd3f1bc1this entry’s fingerprint 55086552
invite sent
“2:30 works” becomes a calendar event with the invite sent.
fingerprint of the entry before 55086552this entry’s fingerprint b717c014
$184 refunded
$184 refunded and the customer told. It was under the limit, so it did not need to ask you.
fingerprint of the entry before b717c014this entry’s fingerprint ef58b2fb
unlocked, locked at 10:15
Scheduled. Door opens 9:55, locks 10:15, you get a text at both.
fingerprint of the entry before ef58b2fbthis entry’s fingerprint 3e2f843c
refused · no permission for this
Refused. No permission allows a refund to many customers at once. Nothing ran, and the refusal is written to the Ledger too.
fingerprint of the entry before 3e2f843cthis entry’s fingerprint 981c4bdd
If no permission covers a request, nothing runs, and the refusal is stored in the Ledger.
A permission for one job
Example: a refund for one customer, up to $500, valid for ten minutes. Or a door code for a contractor, valid for one afternoon.
Never
Only people who contacted you or transacted with you. Opt-out in every thread.
WhatsApp is where a conversation continues, not where it starts. The assistant writes to people who have written first, on any channel.
“Stop” is honoured immediately, recorded, and never overridden.
Records come from the ad, Places, the licence board and the site. Nothing bought.
Created paused, budget set by rule, a loser paused and a winner duplicated from a text.
Day 2, 5 and 10. The follow-ups stop the moment they reply.
Says it is AI
Customers and leads are told it is an assistant when they ask, and it hands to a person the moment the conversation goes somewhere it shouldn't.
When they ask, yes, and it hands to you the moment it should. Pretending otherwise gets found out on the first visit and costs you the job.
Whom it may reply to
It replies from your number, in your voice, within the permissions you set, and says it is an assistant when someone asks. It books showings; it does not negotiate, quote commission or give legal advice. Those hand to you.
Send them. The assistant's rules are yours to set, and the transcript of every message is on the ledger for your broker to read.
Text the permissions you would switch on. I will reply with what the assistant would do with them, and what its Ledger entries would show.