Operator is the assistant at /operator-ai. It answers questions about your business from your current Trades Operator records, answers questions about how to use Trades Operator, and prepares actions for you to review. Only owners and administrators can open it.
Ask a question
- Open
/operator-ai. - Type in the message box, or pick a suggested question such as "What needs my attention today?" or "Who owes me the most right now?"
- Press Enter to send. Use Shift + Enter for a new line.
- Check "What this answer is based on" beside the answer. "Records used" lists the records behind it, each with "Open record". Some answers are marked "General knowledge" or "Product guide" instead, which means company records were not used.
Past chats are under "Recent conversations". Use "New conversation" to start fresh.
Under the message box, Answer effort offers Standard (fast answers for everyday questions) and High effort (more thorough, slower, and uses more Operator Credits).
What Operator will not do on its own
Analysis is read-only. Operator can prepare actions, but records, communications, schedules, and money change only after you review and approve them. If a task approval cannot be confirmed, use "Retry this approval" and check Tasks before creating a replacement.
Add company knowledge
- On
/operator-ai, choose "Company knowledge" (or open/operator-ai/knowledge). Use "Manage documents" to review saved files. - Under "Add company information", choose a text document or spreadsheet export (.txt, .md, or .csv, up to 2 MB). To add a PDF or Word document (.pdf or .docx, up to 5 MB), use Upload under "What Operator knows" in Settings > Operator (
/settings/operator); Operator keeps the document's text, and a scanned PDF with no selectable text can't be added. - Choose the button that adds the file. The file appears under "Saved company information" as "Ready" or "Finishing up".
- Use the search box under "Ask about your saved information" and "Find it" to see matching passages and which document they came from.
Credits
When an answer finishes, Operator shows how many Operator credits it used, for example "1 Operator credit used" or "No Operator credits used". Operator Credits billing is managed by the owner at /settings/billing.
If it is not working
- "Operator is not available yet": Operator is not turned on for your company. Use Today and Reports meanwhile.
- "Operator is turned off for your company": it was turned off or paused in Settings · Operator (
/settings/operator). Turn it back on there. - A permission message: you need owner or administrator access.
- "Response unconfirmed" or "The response took too long.": choose "Retry this question".
- "Could not add that file": choose a PDF or Word document with selectable text (not a scan), a text document or a spreadsheet export, and try again.
- "Nothing found yet" or "Try a shorter question": ask about one topic in a few words.
Last updated 2026-10-09. Questions? Email support@tradesoperator.com.