---
id: 20261002_185037_faq-01-what-i
title: AGENT - FAQ - What is an Asker, in plain words?
category: FAQ
predicted_narrative_arc: definition and mechanism
sentiment: informative
emotions:
- practical
- clear
keypoints:
- Answers strictly from approved owner deposits, never the open web or invented responses
- Deposit shelf grows through the approve-answer-notice-gap loop
- Lives at a custom address with browser-stored conversations and optional public
  indexing
- Managed via desktop app or email with nothing live until owner approval
- Designed for experts who repeat answers or hold unwritten judgment
summary: An Asker is a question room that answers visitor questions only from a shelf
  of owner-approved plain-text deposits. It operates via an approval loop where gaps
  trigger new deposits, runs at a custom web address, and supports public or invitation-only
  access. The tool targets owners whose knowledge stays in their head, such as consultants
  and small-business operators.
tags:
- faq
- asker
- intelligent-netware
- what-is-this
- approval-loop
- deposits
- small-business
sycophancy: 1
truth_score: 9
entropy: 2
sample: false
consent: own_laptop
agent: gb
source_session: ''
created: '2026-10-03T01:50:37Z'
updated: '2026-10-03T04:03:57Z'
vault_stage: 07_CODEX
headwaters: FAQ
prefix: FAQ
enrich_status: ok
enrich_blockers: []
enrich_method: llm
pipeline_filename: FAQ_2026-10-02_01-what-is-an-asker.md
source_kind: faq_draft
proposed_topic: Work
lane: Work
voice: desk
active_voice: desk
voices:
- desk
corpus_topic: Work
faq_set: 2026-10-02_IN_Asker_FAQ
faq_number: 1
---

# What is an Asker, in plain words?

Title suggestion: AGENT - FAQ - What is an Asker, in plain words?
Shelf: Work
Tags: faq, asker, intelligent-netware, what-is-this, approval-loop, deposits, small-business

## Public answer

**Question people actually type:**
What is an Asker, in plain words?

An Asker is a question room for your business. A visitor types a question in ordinary words, the way they'd ask you across the counter or on a call, and the room answers from what you have already written down and approved. Nothing else. It doesn't pull from the open internet, and it doesn't make up a friendlier version of you to fill a silence.

Behind the room is a shelf of deposits. A deposit is one piece of your knowledge: an answer you give every week, a standard you hold, a story that explains how you work, or a transcript of you thinking out loud. Each one is a plain text file that you own. When you approve a deposit, it joins the shelf and the room can answer from it. When the shelf doesn't cover a question, the room says so honestly, and the visitor can send that question to you. Your answer becomes the next deposit. We call that the loop: approve, answer, notice the gap, deposit, approve again.

An Asker lives at its own web address, usually one you provide, such as ask.yourcompany.com. Visitors don't need an account. Their conversation stays in their own browser, so they can come back to it, and they can share it with someone else.

You choose how open the room is. A public room is built to be found and cited by Google and AI assistants. An invitation-only room is open only to the people you invite, and nothing from it is indexed.

You run it from your desk with Compa, our simple desktop app, or by email from the road. Either way, nothing reaches the room until you approve it.

Who is it for? Any owner whose expertise lives mostly in their head: consultants, advisors, coaches, trades, clinics, makers. If you answer the same questions over and over, or if your best judgment never gets written down, an Asker gives that knowledge a door that stays open when you're not in the room.

The easiest way to understand it is to try one. Put a real question to ask.intelligentnetware.com and watch what it does when it knows the answer, and what it does when it doesn't.

## Related questions

- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_02-asker-vs-chatbot-or-custom-gpt|How is an Asker different from a website chatbot or a ChatGPT custom GPT?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_04-the-approval-loop|What is the approval loop? Can anything go live without me?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_05-the-honest-empty-shelf|What happens when the Asker doesn't know the answer?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_07-what-is-a-deposit-and-where-to-start|What is a deposit, and what should I deposit first?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_24-what-is-compa|What is Compa?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_38-try-an-asker-before-you-commit|Can I try an Asker before I commit?]]
- [[FAQ_2026-10-02_00-INDEX|All Asker FAQs]]

_Written by Daniel Comp with GB, Director of Operations, Intelligent Netware._