---
title: Assistant mode: what it asks permission for
summary: The mode says how the assistant asks permission. In one mode it asks about everything, in the other only about what matters. Some things it asks about in either mode.
tools: []
related: [staff-assistant, confirmation-cards, chat-topics, feedback-to-team]
search: [permissions, ask before acting, autonomy]
---

# Assistant mode

The assistant does the work itself. The mode decides when it stops and asks the
person first. Reading is never asked about. What it asks about, it shows first,
without doing it, and does it only after the person says **Allow**.

## Two modes

Under the input line, **How the assistant works** offers two choices:

- **Approve every action:** "I do it myself and ask you to approve every action."
  Even what can be undone is shown to the person first.
- **Ask what matters:** "I do it myself and ask only about what matters." The usual
  it does on its own. It asks before what reaches clients or money, gives someone
  access, deletes or changes a lot at once. This is the mode a new person starts with.

## Asked about in either mode

- **A message to a client.** It goes exactly as written, and the assistant adds
  nothing.
- **A change to the knowledge.** Clients get answers from the knowledge.
- **Anything that reaches outside Talemo**, for example the quick questions in
  Messenger and Instagram, or the languages the business serves clients in.
- **Giving someone access.**
- **A change of many records at once**, such as laying out a schedule for a
  long period, moving several contacts to another category, or deactivating
  a resource that has days ahead in its schedule. The card says how many days or
  contacts it touches.
- **Deleting.** It cannot be undone, and the person confirms it twice, in both modes.

A request to Talemo's team about something it cannot do goes out without a
question (see [Request to the Talemo team](feedback-to-team.md)).

## What the choice applies to

- It belongs to the person, in one business. A role has nothing to do with it, and
  the assistant itself cannot change it.
- It is one choice for the web version and the app. The choice made in the app
  applies on the website, and the other way round.
- It works from the person's next message.

## The online admin

The online admin has no such mode. It acts by its own rights, and what it cannot do
by itself it asks the people of the business about, for example a visit
cancellation, even when the client asks for it. The mode of a chat (**On its own**,
**Only drafts**, **Off**) is set separately (see [Built-in agents](../runs/built-in-agents.md)).