Your first week after connecting an AI agent
The first week with an AI agent sets the tone for everything after it. Rush it, and a wrong price or an odd reply can knock your confidence and your customers'. Take it in steps, and by day seven the agent is answering routine questions on its own while you only see the chats that need you. This guide gives you a day-by-day plan, the checks to do each day, a sample first-day conversation with your agent, and what to do if something goes wrong along the way.
Before day one
This plan assumes you have connected at least one account to Spaces and connected your AI agent, such as Claude, ChatGPT or an always-on agent like OpenClaw. If not, the agents page has the steps for each one, and connecting takes a few minutes: WhatsApp by scanning a QR code, and Instagram, LinkedIn, Messenger, X and email through a secure sign-in link.
The trial needs no card, so there is no pressure to rush. A card is only asked for when the 14-day trial ends, which gives you this first week to set things up properly and a second week to see it running.
Day 1: the brief and drafts
Start with two things: tell the agent about your business, and make sure nothing goes out without you seeing it first.
- Ask your agent to set up your business brief. It will ask about your hours, locations, prices and links, common questions, tone, languages, what it must never promise, when to hand a chat to you and who to contact if something is urgent.
- Ask your AI agent to hold replies as drafts. Nothing goes out until you approve it, so you can see every answer before a customer does.
- Ask the agent what is still missing from the brief. It can tell you which parts are empty.
Here is how that first conversation might start. Names and details are examples.
| Who | Message |
|---|---|
| You, to your AI agent | I run a dog grooming salon. Help me set up my business brief, and hold every reply as a draft for now. |
| AI agent | Done: replies will wait as drafts until you approve them. Let's start with your opening hours. Which days and times are you open? |
| You | Tuesday to Saturday, 9 to 5. Last groom starts at 3. |
| AI agent | Got it. Next, your prices. Do they depend on the size of the dog? |
Our guide on what to tell your AI agent covers the brief in depth. On day one, aim for complete rather than perfect.
Day 2: test with your own phone
Message your own business account from another phone, or ask a friend to, and work through the questions customers really send, in the way they really send them.
- Your three most common questions, typed quickly with no punctuation.
- A price question for something that is not on your list. The agent should say it will check.
- A complaint. It should apologise and hand the chat to you without promising anything.
- "Can I speak to someone?" It should hand over straight away.
- A question in another language, if your customers write in one.
Because replies are held as drafts, you will see each answer before it is sent. Approve the good ones, reject or edit the weak ones, and ask the agent to fix the brief each time something is missing.
Day 3: go live on one channel, still with drafts
Pick the channel where most customers write, often WhatsApp or Instagram, and let real customer messages come through, still as drafts. Check them two or three times during the day.
If you use a chat app such as ChatGPT, Claude or Grok, remember that it acts when you ask it in a chat and does not watch the inbox on its own. Decide when you will ask it to check, such as every hour while you are open. An always-on agent can watch continuously.
New accounts go through a warm-up in their first weeks, which limits how many new chats can be started. On WhatsApp, a reply to someone who wrote in is never held back by the daily limits, so customers get answers from the first day. The limits page shows each stage.
Day 4: hand-overs and alerts
By now you will have seen a few chats the agent passed to you. Check two things: that you heard about each one quickly, and that the agent stayed out of the chat afterwards.
- Ask the agent to email you whenever it hands a chat over, with the customer's name and a one-line summary.
- Consider a routine that emails you a summary of unread messages each morning. Routines send set replies or alerts on triggers you choose. They are not an AI.
- When you finish with a handed-over chat, ask the agent to hand it back so it can answer that customer's next simple question.
When a chat is handed to a person, Spaces refuses every message the agent tries to send there, including scheduled messages and routines, until it is handed back. That is what stops you and the agent talking over each other.
Day 5: let routine replies go out
If the drafts have been right for two days, you can let the agent send on its own. Many owners do this in stages: first only replies, then everything. You can ask your agent to hold only posts and comments as drafts and send chat replies on their own, or to stop holding anything.
| If the drafts over the last two days were | Then |
|---|---|
| Almost all right first time | Let replies send on their own |
| Mostly right, with small wording changes | Add two of your own replies to the brief as examples, then let replies send |
| Often wrong on facts | Keep drafts on and spend another day on the brief |
| Wrong on hand-overs | Fix the hand-over list before anything else |
Day 6: add a second channel
With one channel running, connect the next one, such as email or Messenger. Ask your AI agent to hold replies as drafts again for the first day on the new channel, because the same agent can need small changes for each place. Email usually needs a greeting and a sign-off. Instagram usually needs shorter, more casual replies.
Add a short "on each channel" section to the brief rather than writing a new brief. One set of facts for every channel keeps the answers consistent.
Day 7: your first weekly review
End the week with a fifteen-minute review. Ask your agent for the chats that were handed over, anything unanswered, and five chats it handled alone. Note what you changed in the brief this week and what is still missing. Our guide to the weekly review has a sheet to copy.
Write down a few numbers too: how many customer conversations came in, how quickly the first reply went out in a handful of chats, and how many you handed over. Next week you will have something to compare with.
If something goes wrong in week one
| What happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| The agent sends a wrong price | Correct it with the customer yourself, then fix the brief |
| Several odd replies go out at once | Pause all sending in Settings with Pause everything, then look |
| An account is signed out | Reconnect it with a new sign-in link or QR code from your agent |
| A message is held back | Usually a limit or warm-up stage. The agent is told to wait, and you rarely need to do anything |
| A customer asks if they are talking to a bot | Answer honestly. Our article on telling customers they are talking to AI has wording |
Common mistakes in the first week
- Connecting every channel on day one, so problems appear everywhere at once.
- Letting replies send before testing a complaint and a request for a person.
- Using a chat app and forgetting to ask it to check messages, so customers wait.
- Fixing replies by hand without updating the brief.
- Starting new chats with people who have not written to you. Spaces is for people who write to you and those who expect to hear from you.
Who you message
Summing up
Brief and drafts on day one, tests on day two, one live channel on day three, hand-overs on day four, sending on its own on day five, a second channel on day six and a review on day seven. By the end of the week you will know what the agent does well, where the brief needs work, and how much of your day it has given back.
Pricing
FAQ
Should I hold replies as drafts at first?
Yes, for the first few days. Ask your AI agent to hold replies as drafts, and nothing goes out until you approve it. Once the drafts are reliably right, let replies send on their own.
How many channels should I connect in the first week?
Start with one, usually the one where most customers write. Add a second once the first is running smoothly, which for most businesses is around day five or six.
Will customers notice anything has changed?
They keep messaging the same number, profile or email address. What they usually notice is faster replies.
Why was one of my agent's messages held back?
Usually because of a sending limit or a warm-up stage on a newly connected account. Spaces tells the agent to wait rather than send. On WhatsApp, replies to people who wrote in are never held back by the daily limits.
Do I need a card to try this?
No card is needed to start. The trial lasts 14 days, and a card is only asked for when it ends.
What if I am too busy to approve drafts all day?
Check them at set times, such as mid-morning, lunch and late afternoon, or test on a quieter day. If drafts wait too long, customers wait too, so move to sending on its own once the answers are right.
Can I undo everything if I change my mind?
Yes. You can pause all sending at any time, disconnect an account, or stop using the agent. Your WhatsApp, Instagram and email accounts stay yours throughout.