AI features (bring your own key)

Almanac's AI can draft replies for you to check and send, and can answer customers by itself when you're busy, handing over to a person when it isn't sure. It learns your business from a short description and a knowledge base of your FAQs, prices and policies.

It works on your own API key from OpenAI or Anthropic. This is called bring your own key (BYOK):

• You pay the AI provider directly, at their price. No per-seat AI fee, no markup. With the suggested fast models, each reply costs a tiny fraction of a rupee; the provider's pricing page has exact rates.
• Your conversations stay yours. Almanac sends each request from your own server straight to the provider. Nothing passes through us.
• You stay in control. Set a monthly spending limit with the provider, switch models, or remove the key at any time.

1. Get an API key (pick one provider)#

OpenAI#

1. Sign in at platform.openai.com.
2. Settings → Billing: add a card and buy a small amount of credit (e.g. $5). Keys don't work without credit.
3. Settings → Limits: set a monthly budget so you're never surprised.
4. API keys → Create new secret key. Name it almanac, copy it (starts with sk-). It's shown only once.

Anthropic (Claude)#

1. Sign in at console.anthropic.com.
2. Billing: add credit (e.g. $5).
3. Limits: set a monthly spend limit.
4. API keys → Create key. Name it almanac, copy it (starts with sk-ant-). It's shown only once.

Either works well. If you're unsure, start with whichever you already have an account with.

2. Add it to Almanac#

1. Open AI Agents → Setup in the left-hand menu. (Admins and owners only.)
2. Provider: OpenAI or Anthropic. Model: leave the suggested one; it's fast and cheap, which is what chat replies need.
3. API key: paste it and click Test key. You should see Key works. Almanac stores it encrypted and never shows it again.

4. Business context: a few lines about your business and how to talk. The better this is, the better the replies. For example:

   We are Sharma Textiles, a saree shop in Jaipur, open 10am to 8pm, Monday to Saturday. Be warm and brief. Reply in Hindi if the customer writes in Hindi. Never promise delivery dates or discounts; hand over to a person for those. Payment is by UPI to sharmatex@upi.

5. Turn on Enable AI assistant and Save.

3. Teach it your business (knowledge base)#

On the same page, Knowledge base → Add document. Add one document per topic: Price list, Delivery and returns, Store timings and location, Sizes and care. Plain text is fine; paste from a WhatsApp note or a Google Doc.

The assistant looks up the relevant documents before every reply, so it answers from your facts instead of guessing.

Optional, smarter search: add an Embeddings key (an OpenAI key; it can be the same one). The assistant then finds answers by meaning, so "how much for the blue one" matches your Price list even without the word "price". Click Reindex after adding it.

4. Try it before customers do#

Open AI Agents → Playground, type questions the way customers ask them, and read the answers. Adjust the business context or the knowledge base until you're happy.

5. Use it#

• Draft with AI: in any chat, tap ✨. The assistant writes a reply from the conversation and your knowledge base. Edit and send. Nothing goes out without you.
• Auto-reply (optional): turn on Auto-reply to inbound messages in Setup. The assistant then answers new messages by itself, but only when no chatbot flow is handling the chat and no person is assigned.
  • Max auto-replies per conversation stops it after a few messages.
  • Hand off to chooses who gets the chat when it can't help or hits the limit. It leaves a note explaining why.

AI Agents → Usage shows how many requests and tokens you've used, so you can match it against the provider's bill.

Good habits#

• Start with Draft with AI for a week before turning on auto-reply.
• Keep the knowledge base current. A wrong price in it becomes a wrong price in chat.
• Tell it what not to do (discounts, delivery promises, medical or legal advice).
• If a key leaks, delete it at the provider, create a new one and paste it into Setup.

Troubleshooting#