Modes and rules for connected assistants

A connected assistant runs in one of three modes. In Ask, the default, anything that sends to a customer or moves money waits for a person to approve it. In Plan, it can only look and show what it would do. In Auto, set only by the owner, a short list of requests can run at once under a capped rule the owner wrote. Everything else still waits for a person.

The three modes

Mode	Who sets it	What happens to a request
Ask	The person connecting, owner or admin	Drafts and edits are saved. A send, a payment or another action becomes a pending request for a signed-in person to approve.
Plan	The person connecting, owner or admin	Nothing is written, not even a draft. The assistant sees only read tools, and a write it tries gets a dry run marked as planned.
Auto	The owner only, not offered on the consent screen	As Ask, except that a request matching an owner rule runs at once, within its limits.

Change a mode

1. Open Connections, find the connection under Connected apps and press Edit access.
2. Under How it works, choose a mode. You can untick access but not add it: more access is a new connection.
3. Press Save. It takes effect on the assistant's next call.

Only the owner can choose Auto, with the rules on, a plan that includes them, a recent sign-in and the second sign-in step. If one is missing, the save is refused and says which.

The owner's rules

The owner sees an Auto-approve rules card on the Connections page. Each kind has an Allowed switch and limits: an amount per request, and a count and an amount per day, in your currency and time zone. Switch on Rules are on, then Save rules. Saving needs a plan that includes the rules, a recent sign-in and your second step.

A connection can run only these under a rule (kinds marked Agent only are never run by a connected assistant):

• Send an invoice, send an estimate, send a reminder.
• Capture an already authorised card payment, for the authorised amount.
• Renew a payment link that has expired or was revoked.
• Delete a time, expense or mileage entry that this same connection created and that is not yet billed.

Open a bill and Bill unbilled work are in the list, but a connection's request of those kinds still waits for a person today.

With a rule, a request still waits for a person if:

• The rules are off, the stop switch is on, or it is over a limit.
• A send goes to a client with no verified contact. See Verified contacts.
• An assistant or API key changed the invoice or client recently.
• A reminder carries text the assistant wrote, or its note holds a link, an email address or a long number.

You are told after each automatic run.

What always needs a person

For a connected assistant this list is fixed, and no setting changes it:

• Refunds, voids, credit notes and write-offs.
• Card or bank entry, and charging a saved card.
• Autopay, and changes to a recurring schedule.
• Recording a payment, and resolving a dispute or a returned payment.
• Any other send to a customer, such as a receipt, a second email of an invoice, a statement or a payment link, and anything the assistant wrote itself.
• Merging clients, publishing a template or theme, attaching a document, other deletes.
• Every admin request: people, roles, keys, webhooks, settings and the workspace itself. These also need your second step to approve.
• Changing its own mode or limits.

Brakes

• Stop everything on the rules card stops automatic runs, and connected software cannot record or refund payments, until you press Resume.
• If three of a connection's requests are rejected within a day, it drops to Plan and the owner is told. Only a person can put it back.

Pending requests appear under Approvals and on your phone: see Approve requests on your phone.