Authoring: change what the assistant knows and does

How do I open authoring?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat

1. If a chat is open, press New chat.
2. At the top, choose Authoring. The other choices are Store assistant (your back-office helper) and, for Owners and Admins on a plan with authoring, Shopping assistant, which shows what your shoppers get.
3. The chat greets you with Describe the capability you want to add or change. Write what you want in your own words, in any language.

The choice is fixed once the chat starts. To switch, press New chat.

How do I read what the assistant follows?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

Ask to see it. The assistant shows the full text in a code card; it does not summarise instead.

• “Show me the shopping guideline”
• “Which guideline decides how products are recommended?”
• “Show me the returns rules”

The names of every guideline your assistant runs are listed under Assistant › Guidelines, each with a short description.

How do I change what the assistant tells shoppers?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

1. Describe the rule as you would to a new colleague. For example:

   YOU WRITEWhen a shopper asks about delivery, always mention that shipping is free over the amount in our shipping note.

2. The assistant finds the guideline that governs delivery questions, makes your store’s copy of it, and changes only that passage. Everything else in the guideline stays word for word.
3. It checks the change (the build) and tells you whether it is ready. This takes seconds.

   YOU SEE (EXAMPLE)I added the rule to your copy of the shop guideline, under delivery. The build is green. Try it here: ask “How much is delivery?” the way a shopper would. When you are happy, say “publish it”.

4. Try it, then publish it.

More things you can ask for:

• “Never promise a delivery date; say when the order usually ships instead.”
• “Offer gift wrapping when the basket is over 50.”
• “When you show more than three products, end with one question that narrows the choice.”
• “Keep product answers to two sentences plus the cards.”

If a request is unclear, the assistant asks once, with concrete options, before it writes anything. It refuses rules that would need a tool your shop does not have, or that would change permissions, plans or other stores.

How do I add a new guideline?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

Use a new guideline for something your team does that no Codexta guideline covers. New guidelines are for the Store assistant (your back office); their names start with merchant_, which the assistant adds for you. For shoppers, change your copy of the shopping guideline instead (above).

YOU WRITEAdd a guideline for my team: when someone asks for the weekly summary, list last week’s orders that are still processing, the coupons that expire this week, and any open return requests, in that order.

1. The assistant checks first whether an existing guideline already covers it, and if so offers to change that one.
2. It writes the new guideline with a short description, so the Store assistant knows when to use it, and builds it.
3. Try it in a new Store assistant chat after publishing: “weekly summary”.

A new guideline can use only what the Store assistant can already do in your shop (orders, customers, products, coupons, tickets). The assistant tells you when something would need a new tool.

How do I test a change?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

1. Wait until the assistant says the build is green (the change passed its check). Until then, the chat still uses the live version.
2. In the same chat, ask a question the change governs, the way a shopper or colleague would, for example “How much is delivery to Zagreb?”. This chat uses your draft; your shoppers never see it.
3. If the answer is not right, say what to change: “Mention the free-shipping amount only once”. The assistant edits, builds again, and you try again.

To see exactly what changed, ask “Show me the diff”. Lines added are marked +, lines removed −.

The assistant calls a change working only after it has really checked or tried it. Shoppers keep getting the live version the whole time.

How do I make a change live?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

1. Say “Publish it” (or “merge it”). Saying yes to a draft is not enough: the assistant waits for you to ask.
2. A guideline change goes live for your store at once, from each conversation’s next message.
3. The assistant says what it checked and how to undo it. The change is listed under Assistant › Changes › Who changed what.

You can also publish from the Code tab: Merge or send for review, then Merge in the dialog. The dialog explains: Guideline changes go live for your store from its next message.

How do I go back?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan (switching off: any plan)

Codexta › Assistant › Chat › Authoring

• Go back to Codexta’s version: “Remove my copy of the shop guideline and use Codexta’s again”. Deleting your copy brings back Codexta’s guideline. Publish it like any other change.
• Undo one rule: “Take out the free-shipping rule I added”. Every earlier version is kept in the history.
• Stop it right away: switch your own guideline off under Assistant › Guidelines (below). This takes a few seconds and needs no build.

How do I switch a guideline off for my store?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: any

Codexta › Assistant › Guidelines

1. The page lists every guideline your assistant runs, grouped by where it is used (Store assistant, Shopping assistant), each with its description and an On / Off switch.
2. Untick the switch. If other guidelines that are on still use it, you are asked first: These guidelines are on and still use “…”. Turn it off anyway?
3. The switch saves in a few seconds and applies to your store only. No guideline text changes.

A guideline you have switched shows default: on (or off) and a Reset link, which removes your switch and goes back to the default.

What happens when Codexta improves a guideline I copied?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: any

Codexta › Assistant › Changes › Updates from Codexta

Your copy does not change by itself. When Codexta changes the original, the guideline shows update available in this panel (copies you edited are marked edited by your store).

1. Press View changes to see what Codexta changed since your copy was made.
2. Choose one:
   • Take the update: your copy becomes Codexta’s new version. Your own edits in it are replaced; your on/off switch is kept.
   • Use Codexta’s version (remove my copy): your copy is removed and the switch goes back to Codexta’s default.
   • Keep mine: keep your text and dismiss this update.

If you took an update and want your rule back, ask the Authoring chat to add it again to the new version.

Can I edit the files myself?

• Who: Owner, Admin
• Plan: not on every plan

Codexta › Assistant › Code

Yes. The Code tab is an editor with your store’s branches and folder. Most people never need it: the Authoring chat does the same work. It is useful to read a change line by line.

• Left bar: Explorer (files), Search, Source Control and Problems.
• Status bar (bottom): the branch name (press it to switch, or to create one with Create branch from main), test mode on a branch, the build state (head green, head red or head not built, and last green) and Build.
• Source Control: Commit with a message, Changes since the last commit, Changes vs main (what publishing would bring; click a file for its diff), Merge main into branch and Merge or send for review.

main is what your shoppers run; it is read-only and changes only by publishing a branch. On main you see: main changes only by merge. Create a branch from the status bar to make changes.