# Modes and rules for connected assistants

> What Ask, Plan and Auto mean for a connected assistant, who can change them, what the owner's capped rules can cover, and what always needs a person.

Source: https://support.billingmart.com/connections/modes-and-rules-for-connections
Updated: 2026-10-17 · Applies to: Web · Section: Connections: AI assistants and API

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- Renew a payment link that has expired or was revoked.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](https://support.billingmart.com/clients/verified-contacts.md).
- 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](https://support.billingmart.com/phone-apps/approve-on-your-phone.md).