GuidesHow to2 min
How to ship an agent with a human lock
The lock is the product. The model is the clerk. Auth, keys, evals, a kill switch, and a person before money or a send.
If a vendor’s demo refunds, diagnoses, or emails a list without a named person, walk away. That is not ambitious. That is reckless. The lock is the product. The model is the clerk.
When SINLE scopes an agent, the job and the lock go into the statement of work: what it drafts, what a person still clicks, keys on the server, evals that can fail the release, a flag so Monday still runs if the vendor is down. You own the code on final payment. A notebook demo is not a product. We will not ship one.
The sequence below is production. Skip the lock and you bought an incident.
What production actually includes
The SOW names two lists: what the agent drafts, and what a person still clicks. Keys live on the server, metered, capped. Twenty real examples can fail a release. Money and sends stay human. A flag turns the clerk off and Monday still runs. The privacy policy names the processor. You own the repo on final payment.
A notebook demo has none of those lines. If a vendor will not write the lock, walk away. The lock is the product.
The sequence
Do these in order. Skip a line and you are back to a workshop.
- 01
Write the job and the lock into the SOW
What the agent drafts. What a person must still click. If either is missing, you are buying a demo.
- 02
Put the key on the server
Meter per tenant. Cap the bill. Never in the browser or a screenshot.
- 03
Collect twenty real examples
Anonymize them. Prompt changes re-run the set. Failures block the release.
- 04
Show the source or say you do not have one
B2B buyers forgive misses. They do not forgive confident lies.
- 05
Ban unsupervised money and sends
Refunds, bookings the calendar does not have, emails to a list — a named person still approves.
- 06
Ship behind a flag
The rest of the product stays up if the vendor is down. You can turn the clerk off on Friday and Monday still works.
- 07
Name the processor in the privacy policy
Vendor changes are a change order, not a silent swap.
Keep these
- Production means a logged-in user, a versioned prompt, and a switch.
- A notebook demo is not a product.
Do this before you spend
- 01Write the draft list and the click list before you pick a model.
- 02Collect twenty real examples and mark which misses are unacceptable.
- 03Name who can turn the feature off without stopping the company.
Invent is the scope for this: $10–25k, fixed, an agent on a named job, a human lock, evals that can fail the release. Nothing is billed before the page is signed.
Questions
- What is agentic AI with a human lock?
- An agent that does a job in software you own, with a person required before money moves or a message sends. The lock is the product. The model is the clerk.
Next how-to
- How to pick the first AI jobCircle work that is frequent, textual, and cheap to get wrong. Publish the truth first. Then a clerk — not a strategy.
- How to tell AI is the wrong toolA filter you can run in a meeting: undo-by-Friday, named job, owned source of truth. Fail any line and you are buying an incident.
- How to go from prototype to productionProduction means auth, real data, a kill switch, and a URL the company can send. The path in between, without a two-year programme.
Next
Put the lock in the statement of work.
Invent is $10–25k for one job: the agent, the lock, the keys, the kill switch. Code transfers on final payment.