Phone console

The phone console lets you work with your team from your phone. You message askTheodor on a messenger Channel you’ve connected, and it answers there. You can talk to Theodor, one worker, or a Company’s CEO, on this machine or on a paired VPS. You can see what’s waiting for you, approve or reject it by a short code, and get results and a daily report sent to your phone.

It works over WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram and e-mail. You set it up in Settings → Channels → 📱 Phone console. See Channels settings for the step-by-step.

Owners: who can command

The console only listens to the addresses you register as your own. These are the owners:

a WhatsApp or Signal phone number;
a Telegram chat id;
an e-mail address.

A message from an owner address skips the routing rules and goes to the console. Everyone else on that channel is handled as before. On WhatsApp that means the number’s mode for other people’s messages. On the other channels it means the routing rules.

Phone numbers match with or without the country code, so 0151 23456789 and +49 151 23456789 are the same owner.

What you can write

You write	What happens
`hi, what's on today?`	Theodor answers. He delegates, starts Plans and follows up.
`@Sarah draft the offer for Weber`	A 1:1 with that worker. Your next plain messages go to Sarah too.
`@Sarah@vps …`	A worker on a paired machine. You get ”📡 Sent to …”, and the answer comes later.
`#Acme find 20 leads in Wien`	Briefs the CEO of that Company, who delegates to the team.
`#all weekly status please`	Briefs every CEO, on this machine and on paired machines.
`list`	Your Companies, CEOs and workers, including those on paired machines.
`tasks`	Everything waiting for you, each item with a short code (see below).
`show 3f2a9c`	The full text of one item.
`approve 3f2a9c` (or `ok`, `ja`, `yes`)	Approves it. A draft is sent or queued, a Plan starts, or a tool call goes ahead.
`approve 3f2a9c 81bd04`	Approves several at once. Each one is still its own approval.
`reject 3f2a9c` (or `no`, `nein`)	Rejects it.
`edit 3f2a9c <new text>`	Replaces the text of a draft or a campaign. Approve it afterwards.
`reply 3f2a9c <your answer>`	Answers someone who wrote to you (secretary mode), on the channel they used.
`done 3f2a9c`	Marks a lead reply as handled, or files a message someone sent you.
`report`	The report now. Per Company: new leads, messages sent, replies, drafts waiting and Plans running.
`status`	Autonomy on or off, workers, routines, failing routines and paired machines.
`pause` / `resume`	The kill-switch for all unattended work, on every paired machine.
`end`	Closes a 1:1 and takes you back to Theodor.
`help`	The command list.

A few German words work too, for example hilfe, aufgaben, bericht, weiter and erledigt.

Short answers come back straight away. When a worker needs more than about 25 seconds, you first get ”⏳ … is working on it…”, and the answer follows in a separate message. Long answers are split into several messages.

What `tasks` lists

tasks groups everything that needs you:

✍️ Drafts to approve: outreach e-mails, ✉️ letters, 📣 posts and 🏛 bid plans from lead-gen;
📰 Campaigns;
🔐 Tool approvals: a worker waiting to run a flagged tool;
🗺 Plans waiting for a go;
💬 Lead replies to answer;
📥 Messages people sent you, in secretary mode.

Each line starts with a short code, usually 6 characters. Use it with show, approve, reject, edit, reply or done. If a code matches more than one item, you’re asked for a longer one.

Threads: `@`, `#`, `#all` and `end`

@name opens a 1:1 with that worker. Plain messages keep going to them until you write end or @theodor. The thread closes by itself after 3 hours without a message. @name on its own, with no text, just switches you to that worker.
@name@machine reaches a worker on a paired machine. It runs there, and the answer is pushed to you when it’s ready.
#company briefs that Company’s CEO. It doesn’t open a thread, so your next plain message goes back to Theodor (or to your open 1:1).
#all briefs every CEO. Answers come back one by one.

Pushes and the daily report

With Push results, replies, failures and new drafts to my phone turned on, the console checks for news once a minute and sends it in one message:

finished Plans;
answers from paired machines;
lead replies;
failures;
counts of new drafts, campaigns, tool approvals and Plans waiting for you. Reply tasks to see them.

Routine reminders, such as due-soon nudges, stay in the app. You also get a daily report at the hour you choose, or never if you pick off. Pushes and the report go to the first address in your list.

Remote workers

The console reaches workers on your paired machines through Fleet. You don’t need a messenger on every machine. Connect each bot or number on one machine only, ideally the one that’s always on. Two machines polling the same Telegram bot or WhatsApp number would take each other’s messages.

Secretary mode: messages from other people

On a WhatsApp number, you can let askTheodor take messages from other people, like a secretary. Each one becomes a request with a code. It shows in Theodor’s Inbox and under tasks, and it’s pushed to your phone if pushes are on. Answer it with reply <code> <answer>, or file it with done <code>. The sender can’t command anything, and nothing is acted on. See Channels settings for the options.

Security

Only owners can command. The console answers the addresses you registered and nobody else.
Approving from your phone is the same approval as clicking in the app. Every outreach message is still approved one by one, and nothing is sent on its own.
E-mail commands need the passphrase. Without it, the e-mail is ignored silently.
Telegram’s Allowed chat ids can also limit who may write to your bot at all.
WhatsApp runs through an unofficial bridge. It can get a number banned, so use a number you control. Telegram uses the official Bot API and is the safer choice.
Everything goes into the security log: console commands, answers and requests.

🎓 Learn it hands-on: Run your team from WhatsApp · Your own Telegram bot in 5 minutes

Terms in this page

Phone console: commanding your workforce from a messenger or e-mail on your phone.
Owner: an address you registered as your own. Only owners can command the team.
Short code: the first characters of an item’s id, shown by tasks. You use it to show, approve, reject, edit, reply or done.
Thread (1:1): an open conversation with one worker, started with @name and closed with end or after 3 hours of quiet.
Push: news the console sends you without being asked, batched once a minute.
Daily report: a summary per Company, sent at the hour you choose.
Secretary mode: a WhatsApp setting where other people’s messages become requests for you to answer.
E-mail passphrase: a word that must appear in e-mail commands, because e-mail senders can be faked.
Kill-switch: pause stops all unattended work on every paired machine, and resume starts it again.