Getting started with the Cedros assistant

The Cedros assistant helps you write content, find information, and work on your site through chat. Start with a small, specific request, review the result, and then ask for the next change.

What you can ask for

• Writing help: draft a page introduction, shorten an announcement, or turn notes into an email draft.
• Answers about your site: find a named page or record, summarize available information, or explain a setting.
• Site changes: create or update content and settings when the assistant has the necessary access.

The available actions depend on your site's setup, enabled features, and access rules. Be clear whether you want advice, a draft, or a change saved to the site.

AI requests use your site's configured provider and may incur usage charges. If you are unsure which service or allowance your site uses, ask your site owner before starting a large task.

Open your personal chat

1. Sign in to your Cedros workspace.
2. Select the assistant orb in the lower-right corner to open Personal assistant chat.
3. Select Chat if the panel is showing Recommendations.
4. Type your request and select Send message, or press Enter. Use Shift+Enter for a new line.
5. Read the reply and continue in the same chat with a correction or follow-up.

Use Expand personal assistant if you need more room. You can close the panel and reopen it as you move around the workspace.

If the orb is missing or you can see Recommendations but not Chat, ask your administrator to check your workspace view and assistant access. See Why can't I see or edit a feature?.

Try a small first request

For a first writing task, paste a short piece of text and ask:

Rewrite the text below as a welcoming introduction for first-time customers. Keep it under 80 words, preserve the prices and dates, and show me the draft here without saving or publishing anything.

Then add your source text. Once you have reviewed the reply, you might follow up with “Make it shorter and use simpler language.”

For a site task, name the item you want the assistant to use:

Find the page titled “About us” and summarize its current content. Tell me which page you found before suggesting changes.

If it finds the wrong item, give the correct title or URL before asking it to edit. Asking the assistant to show text in chat is different from asking it to save a draft or publish a page.

Give it the context it needs

A useful request includes:

• The goal: what you want to achieve and who the result is for.
• The source: the exact page title, URL, record name, or text to use.
• The limits: length, tone, facts to preserve, and anything it should leave unchanged.
• The finish point: an answer in chat, a saved draft, or an explicitly requested live change.

Name the page or record even if you already have it open. If the assistant cannot find a source, provide the relevant text or ask your administrator to check access.

You can use Attach files when available. Wait for uploads to finish and check for errors before sending. Selected files upload to your site's media library immediately; removing a file from the message does not delete an already uploaded copy. Only attach material suitable for that library, and keep passwords, API keys, and verification codes out of chat.

Manage a request while it runs

Read the progress and any action results before sending the same request again. A long reply or a task with several steps may take time.

• Queue message: a message sent while the assistant is busy waits for its turn. Queued messages send automatically when the assistant is connected and ready.
• Edit queued message or Delete queued message: change or remove a request that has not been sent yet.
• Stop generating: request a stop while the assistant is working. Check what has already happened afterward; stopping does not undo completed changes.

Closing the personal panel does not stop the assistant or cancel queued messages. If you change your mind, use the stop or queue controls.

Review the result before moving on

1. Check that the assistant used the right page, record, recipient, or source.
2. Review names, dates, prices, links, and any claims in the result.
3. If it saved a change, open the affected item in Cedros and check it there. For a page, use the preview and publishing workflow in Understanding drafts, previews, and publishing.
4. Give a specific correction if needed, then review the revised result.

When an approval card appears, read the proposed action and affected items before choosing Approve or Deny. Wait for the decision to be confirmed and the action result to arrive. An approval allows the proposed action; it is not proof that the action succeeded.

Some permitted actions run without a separate approval card. State your limits in the request, and have your administrator set the assistant's permissions to match how you want it to work.

If the assistant is unavailable or gets stuck

• Chat is missing or disabled: ask your administrator to check your access and whether the feature is available in your workspace.
• A setup or provider error appears: an administrator can review Settings → Assistant and resolve the reported connection or model issue.
• A message stays queued: check the connection message and whether an earlier request is still running. Edit or delete an unwanted queued request instead of adding another copy.
• A request fails after it may have made changes: open the affected item and check its current state before retrying. A failed reply does not always mean nothing was saved.

For an unresolved problem, include the task, visible error, approximate time, and affected page or record when asking for help. Remove sensitive information from screenshots and copied messages.