Operator

Operator checks in on your workspace every so often while Cerevisor is open, makes one small, bounded move, and then goes back to waiting. It's meant for the moments you're not at your desk — a lunch break, an overnight stretch, a weekend — when there's real work it could be quietly pushing forward instead of sitting idle.

Plan requirement: working on its own is part of Founding membership, and is included in the 7-day trial. On Free and Pro the panel, the journal, objectives and the review queue stay open and you can still run a tick yourself — Operator just does not wake up on its own. If it was already switched on when your plan changed, it stops at its next wake and the panel says so: Operator stopped working on its own because it is part of Founding membership. Nothing it had already started is interrupted. See Plans & licensing.

What it does while you're away

Every check-in, Operator looks at what's going on in your workspace and does exactly one of three things:

• Moves an objective forward. If you're already tracking something it can help with, it advances it by one small step — the same kind of step you'd approve if you were driving it yourself through chat.
• Starts tracking something new. If the evidence clearly points at something you're working toward that nothing is tracking yet, it can start tracking it. This uses the paid request that chooses the next move, but does not start a separate build or run. Operator states in plain language what finishing the thing would actually mean.
• Makes itself more useful for next time. If there's nothing to move forward, it builds a workflow on your canvas, an improved copy of one you already have, or a skill, each marked "Built by Operator" (skills appear in your skills list), or refreshes a memory note or workspace summary that waits for you to accept it.

If it runs into a question it can't answer on its own, it stops and flags it for you rather than guessing. And if the last few real attempts in a row didn't go anywhere, it turns itself off automatically and tells you, rather than continuing to spend on something that isn't working — see When it turns itself off below.

Operator only checks in while Cerevisor itself is open. Closing the app pauses it completely. There is no separate service checking in while your computer is asleep or the app is closed.

It spends real money

Operator uses the same connected AI provider account as everything else in Cerevisor — there's no separate meter. Before turning it on, you set two limits in Settings → Operator:

Setting	What it controls
Daily budget	Once today's recorded spend reaches this amount, Operator makes no more paid requests until the next day. You'll get a notification when that happens.
Per-check limit	Bounds the work used to move an objective forward, or to build a workflow, an improved copy, or a skill, after Operator chooses it. The initial paid choice sits outside this particular limit.
How often it checks	From every 5 minutes up to every 12 hours. Thirty minutes by default.

A check that starts while budget remains is allowed to finish. Its final cost can take the recorded total past the daily amount; that wall prevents the next paid check. If you lower the daily budget below what you've already spent, the new limit blocks the next paid check. Cerevisor also lowers any per-check setting that is higher than the daily budget.

Reach: how much it's allowed to touch

Reach is the safety setting for what Operator builds on its own. It has two positions, and you change it in Settings, not on the Operator panel itself:

• Sandboxed (default). A new workflow lands on your canvas in its own folder beside the world file, marked "Built by Operator." Improving a workflow you already have is done on a copy beside it, so the original is never touched; a workflow Operator is growing toward one of your goals keeps growing in place. A new skill lands in your skills list. Operator's runs follow each workflow's own saved permissions.
• Full access. Operator is told to treat its runs exactly as if you had launched them yourself, so it is asked to be more careful. Where things land and what each run may do stay the same as Sandboxed. This is a meaningfully bigger trust decision, so switching to it requires an explicit confirmation in Settings. If that confirmation was never recorded, Cerevisor treats the setting as Sandboxed. Full access cannot turn itself on silently.

Work on an objective you're already tracking always runs with that project's own normal permissions, the same access it would have if you ran it yourself, regardless of the reach setting.

What lands where

A workflow or a skill Operator builds appears right away and does not wait for a click from you. A new workflow shows up on your canvas, marked "Built by Operator," in its own folder beside the world file. Improving a workflow you already have is made on a copy beside it, so the original stays exactly as you left it; a workflow Operator is growing toward one of your own goals keeps growing in place. A new skill shows up in your skills list.

A memory note or a workspace summary is different: it still lands in a review queue where you can read it, see what it's based on, and choose Accept or Discard before anything sticks. If one is based on evidence Cerevisor couldn't fully verify, the queue flags that clearly so you can weigh it before deciding.

When it turns itself off

After three unsuccessful attempts in a row — failures or times it has to stop and ask you for information — Operator turns its own autonomy off and tells you. A budget pause or a skipped check because something else is running does not count and does not clear that streak. You'll see why in the journal, and you can turn it back on once you're ready.

Reviewing what it did

Open the Operator panel to see:

• The journal — a plain-language, most-recent-first log of every check-in: what it did, and what it cost. This is the place to build trust in what Operator is doing while you're not watching.
• Objectives — what it's currently tracking, with status and any question it's waiting on you to answer.
• The review queue: memory notes and workspace summaries it has drafted, waiting for Accept or Discard. Workflows and skills it builds show up directly on your canvas and in your skills list, marked "Built by Operator," and don't wait here.
• Stop — turns autonomy off immediately.

Checking in from your phone

If you've connected the Cerevisor Companion app, your phone shows a lighter version of the same picture: the journal feed, any question Operator is waiting on you to answer, today's spend, and a Stop button. Reviewing and accepting drafts stays a desktop-only step for now.

Turning it off (the kill switch)

You can stop Operator from either the desktop panel's Stop button or your phone. Either one turns autonomy off right away — no more check-ins will start.

One thing Stop can't do: cancel a check that's already in progress at the moment you press it. If one was mid-way through when you stopped it, it finishes on its own, and you may see a small charge from that last check even though Operator is now off. Everything after that stays off until you turn it back on.

Cost expectations

The cost of a check depends on your provider, model, and the work chosen. Choosing what to do is itself a paid request; advancing work or creating a draft can add more paid requests. A check blocked before that choice — for example because the daily budget is exhausted or another run is active — makes no provider request and costs nothing. Set the daily budget to an amount you're comfortable letting Cerevisor spend on its own in one day. You can raise or lower it later.