What she asks you first

You decide when she asks

Arachne works on her own until a step would act in your name. Then she stops, shows you one card and waits for your tap. You choose how often that happens, and a few actions always wait for you.

Every card offers Approve, Not yet and Always ask. When money is involved, the price comes first.

Choose how often she asks

1. Tap Arachne in the bottom bar.
2. Tap ⋯ and choose Tune.
3. Under When it asks you, tap a level.
4. Tap Save.

The + in her box holds the same setting under Approvals, with shorter names: Manual is Ask every step, Sensitive only is Ask when it matters, and the automatic choice is Trust me. Changing it in one place changes it in the other.

To see her plan before anything happens, open + and choose Plan first under Mode. She reads and thinks, then brings you the plan, and nothing runs until you say go. See Her brain, thinking and way of working.

What she always asks about

Whatever level you choose, she asks first before:

• Payments and purchases.
• Messages sent as you.
• Transfers and account changes.
• Deleting anything.

Her guard also checks what she reads for planted instructions. If a page or a plugin she read tried to give her orders, any step that would act on it, such as tapping inside a site where you are signed in, waits for a card that names the exact page or destination, at every level.

The approval card

The card says what she is about to do and why, with a short tag for what it touches, such as needs your card, leaves your name, books in your name or cannot be undone. A notification tells you when one is waiting, so you can lock your phone while she works.

• Approve lets that step go ahead, and the mission carries on. Your approval covers only what the card names: the next step that needs you gets its own card.
• Not yet declines it. She does not take the step and says so, and the card keeps a stamp of your answer.
• Always ask opens the Tune, so you can choose a level that asks more often.

Each face draws the card its own way. On the Board, Change… declines and opens her box so you can tell her what to do instead, and Always ask sits behind ⋯. On the Line, Something else opens her box the same way. The Terminal numbers its choices: 1 Yes, 2 Not yet, 3 No — tell her what to do instead, with Always ask after them.

Clips, promos and music show their price first on one card, and nothing is made until you approve. See Pictures, clips, music and voice.

Bookings and changes to your shop

When you ask her to book something, she fills in the form and stops at the button that would book it. One card names that button and what will be sent. Approve, and she presses it. Choose Not yet, and nothing is booked.

Book a table for two at 8 tonight, somewhere quiet near me

If she needs a choice or your details first, she asks on a card of tappable choices. When a site refuses automated visitors, she tells you, and that booking may not complete.

From her box she can also run your shop on The Line. While the shop is not published, every change is a draft and happens at once. Once it is published, each change visitors would see, such as adding, pricing or removing an item, waits for its own card that names it, such as adding a teapot to your shop at $24. Publishing the shop, replying to a visitor and declining an order wait for a card too.

Standing approvals

A standing task is a job she repeats for you. When you set one, she shows What I understood. Tapping Keep them is your approval, and each later run goes ahead without a card for what the task names, and nothing else. Payments and purchases are never part of it, and changes your page's visitors would see stay as drafts: the run stops there and tells you what is ready.

To take one back:

1. Tap ⋯ in Arachne and choose Tools › Standing tasks.
2. On the task's card, tap Pause to stop it for now, or tap Delete, then Confirm, to remove it.

Resume starts a paused task again, and Edit lets you change what it does.