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In settings under “How independent?” you choose one of three levels. “Balanced” is the recommended default: Otto handles by itself what stays on your device, and asks about anything that leaves it. An individual channel or contact can be set more finely and then overrides this default.

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Approvals · The three autonomy levels

One lever, three positions

The lever shows how far you let Otto run: all the way back it asks before every step, in the middle it handles everything that stays on your device, all the way forward it also sends things by itself.

The three levels, verbatim

  1. Always ask

    “I ask before every step — even before I so much as look at a file, your inbox, your screen or a page on the web. Nothing happens without your yes.”

  2. Balanced — recommended

    “What only happens on your device, I handle: files, folders, contacts, sorting your inbox. As soon as something leaves — mail to people, money, permanent deletion, a command — I ask.”

  3. Autopilot

    “I also send things on my own. I only still ask where no setting turns it off: money, permanent deletion, commands on your device, and anything whose trigger sits in a message from someone else. Your working hours don’t apply here: I work and send around the clock — nights and weekends too.”

An individual channel or contact can be set more finely than this default — and then overrides it.

The approval in the app re-enacted Re-enacted approval card from the app, with invented names: a prepared email “Appointment confirmation for Tuesday” to kern@kanzlei-kern.de is waiting for approval. Below it, why OCTOVO is asking, next to it the Confirm and Decline buttons. Nothing leaves before you say yes.

The first week’s grace period

Right after setup, Otto really puts everything to you first, whatever level is chosen above — even where autopilot would otherwise send by itself. This eases automatically after a week; you can loosen it yourself at any time, or stay permanently at “show me everything first”.

The four switches

Permanently delete without asking
Some things really are gone afterwards — a contact with everything learned about them, a cancelled appointment, a permanently deleted email. Files and cloud files still go to the trash. Uploading, publishing and deploying are NOT included — there is a separate switch for that.
Publish without asking
Releases things to the outside without asking: submitting a web form, generating a public link to a file, deploying a build to a server. Until recently it was accidentally bundled into the delete switch — 17 tools share the same risk class, but only 5 of them actually delete anything.
Payments without asking
Then moves real money without asking. One thing never happens even with this switch on: paying because it says so in a message from someone else.
Allow commands with admin rights
Off by default for everything normal. Switched on, Otto may propose a command that needs admin rights — it is still presented for approval every single time, and the operating system itself asks for the password. Otto never gets to see it.

Next: Hard limits, log & emergency stop Back to the approvals overview