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Frequently asked, plainly answered.

28 questions covering Operator end to end. Click a category to jump. If your question is not here, email hello@operator.fyi.

Product
What is Operator?
Operator is a doctor for your local business and the team that runs the treatment. A nightly-refreshed intelligence layer on 35.2M+ US business records, plus Your Operator: a team of AI agents that prospects customers, runs marketing, answers phones, schedules jobs, drafts review replies, chases collections, watches competitors, and handles every back-office task, scaling as you grow, while you focus on the craft.
Who is Operator for?
Solo operators and small local businesses: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, dental, med spa, restaurants, salons, contractors, auto repair. Anyone running a local service business where you are the CEO, the head of sales, and often still the technician.
What is the Health score?
A 0-100 composite score computed nightly from six components: Reviews (25%), Market Rank (20%), Financial Health (20%), Response Rate (15%), Jobs Flow (10%), Operator Activity (10%). Full methodology →
What is the AI Visibility score?
A 0-100 score measuring how findable a business is to AI answer engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Full methodology →
Does Operator integrate with my calendar?
Yes. Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and Outlook are all supported. When Your Operator books a call or schedules a follow-up, it lands directly on your connected calendar.
What integrations does Operator support?
Calendar (Google, Apple, Outlook), messaging (iMessage, SMS via Twilio), Google Business Profile, Stripe, QuickBooks, Slack, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and Zapier. Full list →
Pricing
How much does Operator cost?
Free: the Market Analyst agent, your Health score, market rank, saved markets, leaderboards, one user. Autopilot: $499/month, deploys Your Operator (a full team that scales with you), handles reviews, calls, quotes, routing, prospecting, market intel, unlimited users. Annual is $415/month, saving 17%. Pricing page →
Is there a free trial of Autopilot?
Yes. 14 days, full access, no credit card required. Cancel in one tap. Export your data in one click at any time.
How do I cancel Autopilot?
One tap from the account settings screen. No phone calls, no retention team, no dark patterns. Refund pro-rated within 30 days. Your data remains exportable for 90 days after cancellation.
Will the Operator price go up?
Your price is locked for the lifetime of your subscription. New customers may pay more over time. Existing customers keep the rate they signed up at, forever.
Data
Where does Operator get its data?
Primary source: Overture Maps Foundation (CDLA Permissive 2.0 license), 50M+ POIs. Enriched nightly with web crawls via Firecrawl, Google Places metadata, and structured extraction via Claude Haiku. Claimed businesses can edit their own data directly, which takes precedence.
How often is Operator's data updated?
Health scores, market ranks, and AI Visibility scores refresh every night at 2am HST. Enrichment re-runs weekly. Base-layer business data syncs monthly from Overture. Owner-verified edits apply within 24 hours.
Is my business already in Operator's directory?
Almost certainly yes. Operator covers 35,200,000 US local businesses across 1,398 cities. If you have a Google Business Profile, you are in the directory. Search yours at operator.fyi/markets.
Can a business pay to rank higher?
No. Rank is determined by the scoring model only. No paid placement, no promoted positions, no sponsored leaderboard slots. Autopilot subscribers rank by exactly the same formula as unclaimed businesses. Our principles →
Can I appeal a wrong ranking?
Yes. Email appeals@operator.fyi with the correction and supporting documentation. We publish a quarterly transparency report listing every correction made. Typical resolution time is under 5 business days.
AI agents
What is the morning brief?
Your Operator writes a 6am daily brief under 100 words, pattern-matching across reviews, calls, jobs, weather, competitor moves, and market shifts. The first thing you read each morning. 18 hours saved per week on average, 92% action rate on brief recommendations. Additional briefs land by lunch and at close.
Will Operator respond to my reviews automatically?
Yes, if you are on Autopilot. Your Operator drafts a personalized response to every Google review within minutes of posting, referencing the specific service, date, and reviewer name when available. You can set it to auto-publish or require approval.
Does Operator answer my phone?
Yes, if you are on Autopilot. Your Operator answers after-hours calls, weekend calls, and calls that go to voicemail during busy periods. It qualifies the lead, books the appointment on your calendar, and texts the caller a confirmation.
How do agents learn my business's voice?
During Autopilot onboarding, each agent is primed with your business's tone via a 4-question voice setup and a 3-month sample of your existing review responses and customer messages. You can tune voice at any time. All agent outputs run through a quality gate before going live.
Can I approve actions before they go live?
Yes. Every function has a strictness setting: Auto (acts immediately), Review (queues for your approval), or Off. You can set different strictness levels per function. Most customers start in Review for two weeks, then switch review replies to Auto.
Developers
Does Operator have an API?
Yes. REST API at operator.fyi/api/v1 with OpenAPI spec at operator.fyi/api/v1/openapi.json. Authentication via X-Operator-Key header. 100 requests per day free. Higher cadence is included with Autopilot after $499 of measurable value is delivered. Developer docs →
Does Operator have an MCP server?
Yes. Live since April 2, 2026 at operator.fyi/api/mcp. Exposes 9 tools: find_businesses, get_price_estimate, check_availability, book_job, search_local_businesses, get_business_details, book_appointment, list_cities, list_service_categories.
How do I get Operator to stop crawling my site?
Add OperatorBot to your robots.txt as a disallow. We respect robots.txt strictly. Note that this will likely lower your AI Visibility score because Operator's enrichment feeds downstream AI citations.
Company
Is my business data private?
Yes. Operator never sells customer data. Data you connect (calendar, email, call logs) is used only to run your agents. You can export everything and delete your account in one click. Infrastructure runs on Supabase with encryption at rest and in transit.
Who built Operator?
Operator was built by Brent, a solo founder based in Honolulu, HI. Principles: no VC ever, zero paid customer acquisition, no hiring until $20K+ MRR. Built on a Mac Mini in Kaimuki. About page →
What does 'zero CAC' mean in practice?
Operator does not run paid ads. Growth comes from programmatic SEO pages, MCP directory submissions, owner-led claim flows, word of mouth, and AEO citations. A deliberate constraint that forces product quality over paid reach.
Does Operator support businesses outside the US?
Not yet. The directory is US-only at launch. International coverage is on the roadmap but not committed. Canada is the likely first expansion market.
Is Operator hiring?
Not yet. Operator's stated principle is no hiring until sustained $20K+ MRR. Check back or follow the about page for updates.

Still stuck?

Email hello@operator.fyi. A real human replies, usually within 4 hours.