How autonomy works
Overview
You decide how much Setell does on its own. There are three modes — Watch, Trust, and Auto — and you pick one per kind of action. Everyone starts on Watch: Setell drafts the work and asks you before anything goes out to a customer. Nothing sends behind your back.
One setting per kind of action
Autonomy isn't all-or-nothing. You set it per action class, so you can keep your guard up on the things that matter and let go of the routine stuff. Today there are two: Sending a quote and Following up on a quiet quote. More get added over time, and they'll show up here when they do.
Following up offers Watch or hands-off — either Setell suggests the nudge and waits for you, or it sends it in your voice on its own, two per quote at most.
| Mode | What Setell does | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Watch | Drafts and asks before anything goes out. You confirm. | Everyone, to start |
| Trust | Handles routine work on its own, with a note telling you what it did. Still asks before sending a quote that looks off. | Once you trust Setell with the everyday stuff |
| Auto | Handles routine work quietly, then sums it up in your morning brief. Still asks on anything that looks risky. | Owners who'd rather check in once a day |
Watch is free for everyone. Trust comes with any paid plan — Solo, Business, or Pro. Auto starts at Business. Watch still gives you Setell's pricing check — it just pauses and asks instead of moving ahead.
One exception worth knowing: hands-off follow-ups need Business or Pro. Even on Trust, Solo keeps follow-ups in Watch — Setell queues them and asks. See docs/studio/follow-up.
Setell can offer to graduate you
You don't have to hunt for these settings. When your own behavior earns it — you've approved the same routine action several times without changing anything — Setell offers to switch that action to Trust or Auto for you. It shows its evidence, asks plainly, and only flips the mode if you say yes. See docs/autonomy/trust and docs/autonomy/auto.
The safety floor never moves
No matter which mode you pick, the safety checks stay on. A quote always goes through a preview-then-confirm step under the hood, sends are single-use, and your data stays yours. And one rule never changes: if Setell's pricing check thinks a quote is way off, Setell asks you first — in every mode. Speeding things up never means skipping the important question.
How to change it
Go to Settings, find the Autonomy card, and pick a mode for each action. The change takes effect on Setell's next action — no restart, no setup.
You can also ask in Studio — "let follow-ups go out on their own" — but Studio can only turn autonomy down, or up along a step you've already earned. If Setell has offered you the next mode (after five confirmed sends it flagged, or ten Trust-mode sends you let through without regret), asking for it in chat works. Otherwise Studio points you at Settings, where one click does it.
That asymmetry is deliberate. Turning autonomy down should never have friction. Turning it up is the one change worth making you do by hand, so that nothing Setell reads — an email, an attachment, a web page — can talk it into acting on its own.
Related
docs/autonomy/watch · docs/autonomy/trust · docs/autonomy/auto · docs/autonomy/pricing-analyst · docs/studio/meet-studio
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