Use cases
Eight problems a company hires a Copyboy to solve.
A Copyboy is an AI employee you hire by email for $30 a month: invite his address into your software like a new colleague, and your team gives him work there. The eight problems below start where AI agents usually stop: software nobody built a connector for, a bill nobody can read, work nobody can see. Each comes with what it costs you and what a Copyboy does about it.
- 1Our main software isn't supported by any AI bot
- 2The AI bill grows and nobody knows what it bought
- 3We can't see what the agent did
- 4The agent said “done”. Nothing changed
- 5Every change needs a developer
- 6Browser-only agents cost a fortune
- 7The auditor asks what the agents saw
- 8Who answers for the agent's mistakes?
1 · Unsupported software
“Our main software isn't supported by any AI bot.”
AI agents work where someone wrote an integration, mostly the same few dozen popular apps. A business runs on the rest: a carrier's portal, a supplier's ordering site, an old ERP with a web login, the admin panel a contractor built. No connector, so the work stays with people: hours every week retyping orders, rates and invoices from one screen into another.
- There is no list of supported products. If a person can be invited and work in it in a browser, so can a Copyboy: type his address into the invite form.
- He signs himself up. In a real browser, under his own name. Then he looks for the door the product built for software, an API or an MCP server, and makes his own key.
- No door? He works through the screen instead, like a person. The console shows how each system is reached.
What you getThe work that never had a bot gets one, without an integration project.
- Invitedby email, from [email protected]8:12 AM
- Signed upown account, own password, the emailed code42 s
- Looked for a door for softwareAPI or MCP: none in this portal1 m 56 s
- Ready to workthrough the browser8:15 AM
- Sign-in recordingowners and administrators can play it▶ 2:48
How each system is reached · all Copyboys
| System | How | Found |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | API | by Milton Reyes, Sep 29 |
| Help desk | MCP | by Milton Reyes, Sep 24 |
| Accounting | API | by Milton Reyes, Sep 22 |
| Team chat | API | by Jared Okafor, Sep 23 |
| Carrier portal | Browser | no API: works through the screen |
API, MCP: doors built for software. Browser: the screen, like a person.
2 · The AI bill
“The AI bill grows every month, and nobody knows what it bought.”
At month end the company sees one charge from its AI provider and a count of tokens. How much went to finished work, how much burned on failed attempts, how much on an agent checking every half hour for work that isn't there: the invoice does not say.
- Every task a receipt. Who asked and where, what came of it, how long it took and what it cost at the AI provider's price, with a link to the result.
- Where the money went, in one bar. The tasks people asked for, with the part spent on failed and retried attempts in red, and the cost of keeping connected: sign-ins and checks for new work.
- Spend with no tasks behind it is spelled out. A Copyboy with no tasks who keeps spending on checks gets one line and one button: “Check less often”.
What you getAI spend reads as work done, Copyboy by Copyboy, not as tokens.
Where the money went
| Copyboy | Spend | Where it went |
|---|---|---|
| Milton Reyes51 tasks · 2 failed | $57.40tasks $55.10keeping connected $2.30 | |
| Jared Okafor38 tasks · 3 failed | $31.20tasks $29.40keeping connected $1.80 | |
| Ines Okorono tasks yet | $3.10tasks $0.00keeping connected $3.10 |
Suggestion
Ines Okoro had no tasks in October and spent $3.10 keeping connected to the carrier portal.
Check less often3 · The black box
“An AI agent works in our live systems, and we can't see what it did.”
When a person gets something wrong, you can look at what they did. When an AI agent does, you get silence, or a page of logs only a developer reads. So nobody lets it near prices, orders or documents.
- Where recording is on, every step is a screenshot. The page he opened, what he typed (passwords and codes blacked out), the button he pressed, the error he hit.
- Screenshots sit under their task. The task's time and cost are on top, and failed tasks come first.
- You choose which systems are recorded. In a recorded system he works through the browser, even where a faster door exists: the browser tax. Only owners and administrators can open the screenshots.
What you getWork you can check afterward is work you can hand over.
Update the fuel surcharge in the carrier portal from the new rate PDF
from Team chat · dispatcher → worked in Carrier portal · done · 3 m 40 s · $0.42 · 4 screenshots
4 · The “done” that wasn't
“The agent said ‘done’. Nothing changed.”
The most common AI failure is cheerful success. The system answers “permission denied”, the sign-in expired a week ago, and the agent still reports “done”. Dozens of tasks fail quietly before a customer complains.
- The outcome goes by the system's reply. The Copyboy records what the system answered, not the AI model's own account. A refused change, an expired sign-in, a page that showed an error: the task shows as failed.
- One plain line says why. The fix sits next to it when there is one: “Reconnect with write access”, or “Reconnect” after an expired sign-in.
- Done tasks link to the result. It opens inside the product, so you can check it in one click.
What you getA refused change or an expired sign-in shows up the day it happens, not the week a customer notices.
| When | Task and reason | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28Jared Okafor | Export last week's invoices from the carrier portalFailed. Carrier portal answered “Export failed”. | $0.61 |
| Oct 27Milton Reyes | Match the October carrier payments to the open invoicesFailed. Accounting refused the change: the key has no permission to write. Reconnect with write access | $0.48 |
| Oct 24Jared Okafor | Book pickups for the 12 pallets on shipment SH‑88120Failed. Sign-in to Carrier portal had expired. Reconnect | $0.09 |
Outcome is what the Copyboy recorded; a change counts only when the reply it recorded from the system said so.
5 · The developer queue
“Every change to the agent needs a developer.”
A typical agent is a script an engineer put together. When it starts failing in one system, costs too much or asks for a code from someone's phone, the manager files a ticket and waits. With no engineer on staff, it simply stops.
- An owner or administrator changes him from the console. No code: take one product away after a run of failures, switch the AI model, stop him taking tasks.
- He asks before changing anything. Unless you switch “Ask before changes” off, he asks for a yes or no in the product before he creates, changes, deletes, sends or pays for anything.
- A sign-in wants your company login (single sign-on), a hardware key or a code sent to a phone? He stops with his browser open. An owner or administrator takes over that window, signs in, and he carries on.
What you getNo developer between you and your Copyboy.
- Switch modelapplies to new tasksMid-price model
- Ask before changesa yes or no in the product before any change
- Stop taking taskstasks already started finish
- Take a product awayhe stops watching and working thereHelp desk
- Use your own AI accountyour AI provider bills you directly; your data policy
What changes Milton stops watching and working in Help desk; tasks already started finish. People there will get no answer from Milton, so tell them. Restore brings it back.
Written to the decisions log with your name.
The carrier portal asks Ines Okoro for a step in the browser. The browser is open and waiting.
6 · The browser tax
“Browser-only agents cost a fortune at volume.”
An agent that clicks through every screen spends minutes on a task, and the AI model reads every page it passes, at a price. Through the product's door for software the same task takes seconds. At a thousand tasks a month, the math stops working.
- The browser only where nothing else works. To get in like a person, and to work in portals with no API.
- Wherever there is a door for software, he uses it. An API or an MCP server: seconds and cents, not minutes.
- The trade is yours. Turn on screenshots for a system and he works there through the browser: slower and costlier, every step on the record. Before you switch, the console shows the price on your own account.
What you getThe fast door by default; the screen only where you want it on the record.
| System | How it connects | Screenshots |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier portalno API found | Browser | 96 |
| Team chatAPI found by the Copyboy on Sep 23 | API | off |
Record screenshots in Team chat?
Through the browser a task takes about 3 m 40 s and $0.42 on this account over the last 30 days, against 12 s and $0.03 through the API.
- Each step is kept as a screenshot.
- Pages may show other people's information; owners and administrators only, every full‑size opening logged.
This choice is written to the decisions log.
7 · The audit
“The auditor asks what our AI agents saw, and where they sent it.”
An agent with access to email, documents and the CRM can read personal data in one system and type it into another. When a security review, an internal investigation or a regulator asks what your AI agents touched last quarter, homegrown agents have nothing to show.
- Every task shows its route. Where the request came from and where the work was done.
- Screenshots show what he saw. In every recorded system: the screen, what he typed, and where.
- Any dates, back to the first day. Pick the period and export the receipts and the screenshots. Every screenshot opened in full and every export is logged with a name and a time; the log cannot be edited.
What you getLike employee monitoring, but for AI agents: the record is ready before anyone asks.
| When | Task and route | Spend |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4Jared Okafor | Update the fuel surcharge in the carrier portalfrom Team chat · dispatcher → worked in Carrier portal · 4 screenshots | $0.42 |
| Nov 3Milton Reyes | Add the 17 leads from the trade show to the CRMfrom Email · sales lead → worked in CRM | $0.11 |
Access log
| When | Who | What |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 · 9:14 AM | Owner (A. K.) | Opened screenshot 3 of “Export last week's invoices” in full |
| Nov 4 · 8:50 AM | Owner (A. K.) | Turned on screenshots for Milton Reyes in the CRM |
| Nov 3 · 6:02 PM | Administrator (P. N.) | Exported Sep 21 – Nov 3: receipts and screenshots |
Every full‑size opening, export and setting change is kept here and cannot be edited.
8 · Accountability
“If the AI makes an expensive mistake, who answers for it?”
Companies hold back on agents because responsibility blurs. Why did the agent act without a person's yes? Who gave it the finance system? Why did it keep that access after the first mistake?
- Every change to how he works is a line in the decisions log. Who switched “Ask before changes” off or back on, who turned screenshots on, who took a product away, who changed the AI model: each with a name and a date, kept for good.
- Each Copyboy's page shows the decisions made about him. The company sees all of them in one place.
What you getWhen something goes wrong, “who decided?” has an answer: a name and a date.
| When | Who | Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 4 · 8:50 AM | Owner (A. K.) | Screenshots turned on for the CRM: every step |
| Oct 28 · 2:20 PM | Administrator (P. N.) | Help desk taken away: he stops working there |
| Oct 21 · 9:05 AM | Owner (A. K.) | AI model switched to a mid-price one for new tasks |
| Oct 12 · 4:40 PM | Administrator (P. N.) | Ask before changes turned back on |
Start today
Hire your first Copyboy.
Start with the problem that costs you most: invite him into that system. $30 a month per Copyboy, starter AI model usage included. Nothing is charged per task. Cancel anytime.