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CellCog Spend Guide

Your AI employee can buy things for you with your own Link wallet: a book for the team, a train ticket, a conference pass, a part from a supplier. It puts the order together, sends the exact total to you in Link, and finishes checkout only after you approve. You approve every purchase yourself, in Link, at the exact amount and merchant. The card number never reaches your employee, and CellCog never stores it.

Spend is off for every employee until you turn it on.


What You Need

  • A Link account. Link is Stripe's wallet for paying online, and its agent wallet is available to people in the United States and Canada. Your cards stay in your Link wallet.
  • Link connected to CellCog, once per organization. Open Spend (under More in the left sidebar), then Connect Link. You sign in to Link and allow CellCog to ask for purchases on your behalf. A connection belongs to the organization you are in when you connect it: it serves every employee you own in that organization. If you belong to several organizations, switch to each one and connect Link there; a wallet connected in one organization never pays for employees in another.
  • Purchases are in US dollars for now.

Turning Spend On for an Employee

Open the employee's Settings app on the Employee Computer. The Spend section has:

  • Let {Name} make purchases: off until you turn it on
  • Per purchase cap (optional): the most this employee may request in one purchase. Blank means no cap
  • Monthly cap (optional): the most this employee may spend in a calendar month, counted in your timezone. Blank means no cap
  • Spent this month: what this employee's purchases add up to so far

Caps are blank by default on purpose: a flight or a conference pass can cost more than any default we could pick. Your approval in Link is the real check on every purchase; caps are an extra limit you add only if you want one. When Link is not connected yet, the section links to the Spend app.


How a Purchase Works

  1. You ask. In chat, by email or on a task: "Order two copies of Working in Public for the reading group." Your employee buys only what you asked for or what is plainly part of the work you gave it
  2. Your employee prepares the order. In its own Browser it puts the items in the cart, picks shipping, and reads the final total on the checkout page, tax and shipping included
  3. It asks Link for approval. The request carries the merchant, the exact total, the items, and a few sentences on what it is buying and why
  4. Link notifies you. Link sends the approval request to you through its own app and notifications; CellCog sends nothing extra. You have 10 minutes to approve or decline. After that the request expires and your employee asks you before trying again
  5. On approval, your employee pays. Link issues a one-time card for that exact amount and merchant. CellCog passes it straight into the checkout form in your employee's Browser; your employee never sees the number. It submits the order and records the confirmation
  6. You see the result. Every step shows in the Spend app and as one line in the employee's chat

If you decline, your employee drops the purchase and does not ask again unless you tell it to.


The Spend App

The Spend app (under More in the left sidebar) is the one home for spending: Connect Link at the top, then every AI employee with its switch, caps and spend this month, then every purchase your employees have requested, newest first: the merchant, the items, the amount, the status and the date. While a request is waiting, Link's approve link is on its row, and you can cancel any purchase that has not finished. Each employee's Settings app has the same switch and caps under Spend.

Statuses you will see: Waiting for approval, Approved, Card filled, Completed, Needs attention (Link needs something first, for example a bank check), Declined, Expired, Failed, Canceled.


What Your Employee Cannot Buy Yet

A one-time card works once, for the approved amount and merchant. So for now your employee does not handle:

  • Hotels that charge a card at check-in or hold a deposit for incidentals
  • Subscriptions and renewals, where the next charge needs the card again
  • Purchases in currencies other than US dollars

For these, your employee tells you up front, finds and prepares what you need, and you pay yourself.

When a checkout asks for a bank security check or a captcha, your employee fills everything it can and sends you a link to its Browser so you can finish that one step.


Who Is Buying

You are. It is your money and your Link wallet; your employee acts for you only within the purchase you approved. CellCog is not a party to the purchase, never the payer, and never sees or stores your card. Questions about an order, a refund or a dispute go to the merchant, and about your card to Link or your bank.


What Is Stored

  • A record of each purchase: the merchant, the items, the amount, what the employee wrote about it, every status change, the confirmation, and the card's brand and last four digits
  • Your Link connection, encrypted, so CellCog can ask Link for approvals. Disconnect it any time in the Spend app
  • Never the card number, expiry or security code

Disconnecting Link stops new purchases at once. Purchase records stay with the employee as history.


Frequently Asked Questions

Does my employee ever see my card?

No. Link issues a one-time card for the approved purchase, and CellCog places it directly into the checkout form. Your employee only learns which fields were filled, the brand and the last four digits.

Can my employee buy something I did not approve?

No. Every purchase needs your approval in Link, at the exact amount and merchant. A card is locked to that amount and merchant and works once.

What if I miss the approval?

The request expires after 10 minutes. Your employee asks you before requesting again.

What if the price changes at checkout?

The card is locked to the approved total, so your employee cancels the old request and asks you again with the new total.

Do I need to set limits?

No. Caps are optional. Your approval in Link decides every purchase; caps are an extra limit for an employee if you want one.

Can several employees use my Link wallet?

Yes. You connect Link once per organization, then turn payments on for each employee you choose, each with its own optional caps and its own purchase history.

Is Spend available outside the United States and Canada?

Not yet. Link's agent wallet is available to people in the United States and Canada.


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