AI setup

How to connect the AI assistant to your company's own AI account: choose a provider, paste an API key, choose a model, test the connection and tell the AI about your company.

What it is for

The AI assistant in FSMCore does not run on an FSMCore account. There is no FSMCore AI key. Your company brings its own account with an AI provider (for example OpenAI or Anthropic), and every AI request of your company goes out with your own provider, model and key.

AI setup is the page where you connect that account. Open Settings, then AI setup.

The page has no Save button. Every step saves itself, and its result is shown on the page beside the step and stays there until you change something. The page itself says so: "Everything on this page saves by itself."

Other ways to reach the page:

• On the AI assistant page, owners and admins have a grey AI setup button at the top. While the assistant is not set up yet, that page shows a card Set up the AI assistant with the button Open AI setup.
• In Settings, Company, section Features, the link Open AI setup sits under the AI assistant switch. While the switch is on, a second line is shown there: "AI setup: provider, key, model and instructions have their own page."
• An old bookmark to the AI section of Company settings (the address ending in #ai-settings) sends you to AI setup.

How to use the assistant once it is set up is on the AI assistant page.

Who pays for the AI

Your provider bills your company, not FSMCore. The page says:

"Your company's own AI account is used and billed by your provider. Chats and the files you upload are kept in FSMCore until you delete the chat; your provider's own retention rules apply to what is sent to it. An API key is billed by your provider per use. It is separate from a ChatGPT or Claude subscription."

So:

• An API key is paid per use. The more the assistant reads and writes, the more your provider charges.
• A ChatGPT or Claude subscription is a different product. It does not give you an API key and does not pay for the assistant in FSMCore.
• A web search made by the assistant is billed by your provider too.
• What is sent to your provider is kept there by your provider's own rules. Check them with your provider.

Who can use it

FSMCore checks the role again on every step, not only when the page opens.

The AI assistant switch

The assistant is a feature that can be switched off for the whole company. The switch is AI assistant in Settings, Company, section Features. It is on by default. Owners and admins can change it. See Features.

While the switch is off:

• AI setup is not in the Settings menu.
• An owner or admin who opens the page by its address sees only this: "The AI assistant is off for this company. Turn it on in Company settings, Features, then come back to AI setup." The words Company settings, Features are a link.
• No step can be done.

Switching the assistant off does not delete the saved provider, key, model or instructions. Remove key does not change the switch.

The steps

The top of the page shows a checklist of five steps:

1. Provider
2. API key
3. Model
4. Connection tested
5. Instructions (optional)

A finished step is green with a tick. The step to do now is highlighted. Later steps are grey.

A step counts as done when:

The assistant can be used once a provider, a key and a model are saved. Steps 3 and 4 share one box on the page, 3. Model: choosing a model tests it at once.

Choose a provider

1. Open Settings, then AI setup.
2. In 1. Provider, open the list Choose your AI provider and pick your provider.

The choice is saved as soon as you pick it. Picking the empty line Choose your AI provider again saves nothing: you see "Choose a provider." and the saved provider stays.

The providers offered, and what the assistant can do with each:

Web search is the provider's own search. FSMCore does not search the web itself, and each search is billed by your provider.

Base URL

OpenAI compatible is for a provider that is not in the list but works the same way as OpenAI. Only this choice shows the Base URL field. Type the address your provider gives you, in the form https://your-endpoint.example/v1. It is saved when you leave the field.

Without it the provider is not saved. You see "Enter the base URL of your provider to save it." or "An OpenAI compatible provider needs its base URL." The address must be a web address starting with http:// or https://.

Change the provider later

Picking another provider clears the chosen model, its test result and the list of models that failed, and loads the model list again. The saved key is not cleared. A key of one provider does not work at another, so paste the new provider's key next. See Add your API key.

Add your API key

An API key is a long code your provider gives you. It lets FSMCore use your AI account.

Get a key from your provider

Once a provider is chosen, a link Get an API key from followed by the provider's name shows under it. It opens the provider's own key page in a new tab:

OpenAI compatible has no link: ask your own provider where to make a key.

You make the key in your account with the provider. Billing for that account is set up with the provider, not in FSMCore.

Save the key

1. In 2. API key, click in the field Paste your API key here. The field is greyed out until a provider is saved.
2. Paste the key.
3. Press Save key, or press Enter. The button is grey until something is pasted.

The button shows "Saving..." and under the field you see "Loading the models from your provider...". FSMCore asks your provider which models this key can use and fills the list in step 3.

Above the field you see No key added yet in red, or, once a key is saved, Key ending ... followed by the last 4 characters of your key.

If the key is not saved, the reason is shown under the field:

Replace the key

Once a key is saved, the field reads Paste a new key to replace it. Paste the new key and press Save key. The new key takes the place of the old one.

A new key clears the earlier test result and the list of models that failed, because they were about the old key. The model list is loaded again with the new key. The chosen model stays: press Test again to test it with the new key.

Where the key is kept

The page says: "Stored encrypted. It is never shown again, only its last 4 characters. Saving it loads the models your key can use."

• The key is stored encrypted.
• After saving, nobody can read it in FSMCore again, not even an owner. Only Key ending ... with its last 4 characters is shown.
• The key is never written into the record of changes.
• The key is not in the company export. See Export.
• The assistant cannot read or change the key, the provider or the model. Only a person on this page can.

Keep your own copy of the key somewhere safe if you need it elsewhere. If you lose it, make a new key at your provider and paste that one.

Choose a model

A provider offers several models. A model is the AI itself: larger models answer better and cost more, smaller ones are cheaper and faster. Prices are your provider's.

Before a key is saved, 3. Model shows "Save your key first; then the models your key can use appear here."

1. In 3. Model, click in the box Search or type a model name. The list of models your provider gave for your key opens.
2. Type a few letters to narrow the list. The arrow keys move through it and Enter chooses the line you moved to. Enter without moving takes what you typed as the model's name, see A model that is not in the list.
3. Click a model.

The model is saved and tested at once. See Connection test.

Under the box you read "Choose from the list, or type a name that is not in it." The list shows up to 300 models at a time: type part of the name to find one further down.

The suggested model

FSMCore puts one model first in the list, marked Suggested. Under the box you see "Suggested:" with the model's name and "the newest general model your provider lists.", and a link Use followed by the model's name. Press the link to choose it.

The suggestion is picked from your provider's own list: a general chat model, never a special-purpose one, the newest version. A small, cheaper model is suggested only when the list has no larger one. A model marked not available for your key is never suggested. The line is not shown when the suggested model is already the one you chose, or when the list has no model to suggest.

A model that is not in the list

Type the model's name exactly as your provider writes it. The list then offers Use "the name you typed" as its last line, and that line is highlighted. Press Enter, or click it: the name is taken exactly as you typed it, also while other models in the list still contain what you typed.

Enter always takes what you typed, as you typed it. So when you typed only part of a name to narrow the list, do not press Enter straight away: click the model, or move to it with the arrow keys and then press Enter. When what you typed is exactly the name of a listed model, Enter chooses that model.

If your provider gave no list, the page says "Your provider listed no models. Type the model name exactly as your provider writes it."

Show all models and Refresh list

Two links sit under the box:

Models that are not available

A model that failed the connection test because your key may not use it is marked not available in red in the list. You can still pick it, for example after your provider has opened it for your account. A test that works takes the mark away. Saving a new key or changing the provider clears all the marks.

How much the model reads at once

Under the test result you see a line such as "Reads about 200 pages at once. Larger files and packs are read in parts." The number depends on the model. For a model FSMCore does not know, the line adds "(a cautious guess: FSMCore does not know this model's limit)".

Connection test

The test sends one very short message to your provider with your key and the chosen model, and waits for an answer. It is a real request on your account.

It runs:

• at once when you choose a model,
• when you press Test again,
• once when the page opens, for a saved model that has no test result yet.

While it runs you see "Testing" with the model's name, or "Testing the connection...". The result shows beside the model and stays until the next change:

The test result belongs to one model. Choosing another model tests that one and replaces the result.

Instructions for the AI

Step 5. Instructions for the AI (optional) is a text box where you tell the assistant about your company. The text goes with the assistant's requests to the AI (chat, reading files, the price list import with AI), so the assistant writes and prices the way your company does.

The page says: "Tell the assistant about your company: who you are, your brand, how you write and how you price. Safety rules are built in, you do not need to add them."

What to put in it:

• Who you are and what you do.
• The area you cover.
• Your brand: look and colours (hex codes).
• How you write: tone, words you use and avoid, paste one or two of your own emails.
• How you price: units, tax, usual assumptions.

How it saves

• The box holds at most 8,000 characters. A counter above the box shows how many you have used.
• It saves by itself about 1.5 seconds after you stop typing, and when you click out of the box. Above the box you see "Saving..." and then Saved.
• The instructions save at any point of the setup, also before a provider is chosen and after Remove key. You can write them first and do steps 1 to 4 later.
• The box stops taking text at 8,000 characters. Text that is too long is not saved: "Instructions for the AI can be at most 8,000 characters. Not saved."
• Every change to the instructions is recorded: who changed them, and when.

Wait for Saved before you leave the page.

See an example

Under the box, See an example opens the instructions of a made-up company (a painting contractor): who they are, their brand, their voice, their emails and their pricing habits.

Use this example as a start copies the example into the box and saves it, so you can change it into your own. It "Fills the box only when it is empty." If the box already holds text you see "The example only fills an empty box, so nothing you wrote is replaced."

What the instructions can and cannot change

They can change how the assistant behaves: the tone of its texts, the words it uses, how it lays out an estimate, which units and tax it assumes.

They cannot change the rules:

• The instructions come after FSMCore's own rules, never above them.
• They cannot give the assistant a new ability.
• They cannot give the assistant or a person a right they do not have. The assistant still does only what the signed-in person may do.
• They cannot skip an approval. Every change the assistant makes still waits for a person to approve it.

So a sentence such as "do not ask before sending invoices" has no effect.

Remove your key

Remove key deletes the key from FSMCore and starts the AI setup again from step 1. Use it when the key has leaked, when the person who owned the AI account has left, or when your company stops using the assistant.

Who: owners and admins. The red Remove key button sits beside Key ending ... in step 2. It is only there while a key is saved.

1. Press Remove key.
2. A window Remove your API key? opens: "FSMCore deletes your key and resets the AI setup: provider, key, model and connection test. The assistant stops working until you set it up again. Your key still exists at your provider; delete it there too if you no longer need it."
3. Tick Also delete the instructions for the AI if you want them gone too. It is not ticked: the instructions are kept unless you tick it.
4. Press Remove key. Cancel closes the window and changes nothing.

What Remove key resets

The page then reloads at step 1 with a green line: "Key removed. Follow the steps below to set up the assistant again."

The removal is recorded: who removed the key and when, which provider and model were set, and whether the instructions were deleted. The key itself and its last characters are not in that record.

No email and no notification is sent.

Warning: Remove key ends the chats of everyone in the company, not only yours. Tell your colleagues first if they have chats they still need.

What happens after

• Once provider, key and model are saved, the assistant on the AI assistant page is ready for owners, admins and supervisors.
• Every AI request of your company uses the provider, model and key saved here, and is billed by your provider.
• A change of provider, Base URL, model or instructions is recorded: who changed it, and when. The key is never part of that record.
• Changing a step sends no email and no notification.
• The settings of this page (without the key) are part of the company export.

Common mistakes

AI setup is not in the Settings menu. You are not an owner or admin, or the AI assistant switch is off. An owner or admin turns it on in Settings, Company, section Features.

The API key field is greyed out. No provider is saved yet. Choose the provider first. For OpenAI compatible, fill in the Base URL too.

"Could not load the models with this key: ... Check the key and the provider, or paste another key." FSMCore could not get the model list from your provider. The reason is in the middle of the line:

I have a ChatGPT or Claude subscription but no key. A subscription is not an API key. Make an API key in the provider's developer account (the link Get an API key from ... opens it) and add credit or billing there.

I changed the provider and now the key is refused. The old provider's key is still saved. Paste a key of the new provider in step 2.

I want to see the key I saved. You cannot. Only its last 4 characters are shown. Make a new key at your provider and paste it over the old one.

The model I want is not in the list. Press Refresh list, or Show all models. If it is still missing, type its name exactly as your provider writes it and choose Use "...".

The test says the model is not available. Your key may not use that model. Choose another one, or ask your provider to open the model for your account, then press Test again.

The example did not fill the instructions box. The box already holds text. The example only fills an empty box. Clear the box first if you want the example.

I wrote a rule in the instructions and the assistant still asks for approval. That is on purpose. The instructions cannot switch off an approval or give a right. See What the instructions can and cannot change.

After Remove key my colleagues' chats are gone. Remove key ends every open chat of the company and deletes its messages and uploaded files. They cannot be brought back.