FAQ

Questions and direct answers.

Each answer has a stable link. Core is free and coming soon. Open source status has not been announced.

Product

What is SayeOS Core? #

SayeOS Core is a free, governed workspace for persistent intelligent work. It is model, system, and connection agnostic, and public distribution is coming soon.

Is SayeOS free? #

Yes. SayeOS Core is free.

Is SayeOS open source? #

SayeOS Core is free. Open source status has not been announced.

Is Core available for download? #

Not yet. Core is approaching public availability. Join the preview for release updates and access information.

How do I join the preview? #

Enter your email in the signup on the homepage. It opens a message to hello@sayeos.org.

Which platforms are supported? #

Supported environment details are being finalized. Preview members receive environment updates first.

Can I use local models? #

SayeOS is model agnostic and is designed to work with local models.

Can I use cloud models? #

Yes. You can connect cloud model providers.

Do I pay SayeOS for model tokens? #

No. You connect and pay your model or token provider separately where applicable. SayeOS does not resell model access.

Agnosticism

What does system agnostic mean? #

SayeOS coordinates work around your existing systems rather than requiring one application to become the source of everything. Systems of record keep their authority.

What does model agnostic mean? #

The work is not owned by one model provider. Different models can contribute, and changing providers does not force the work to restart.

What does connection agnostic mean? #

SayeOS does not assume one universal way to reach systems, models, tools, or workers. Connections can include APIs, local tools, files, databases, approved services, and Edge mediated access.

Why does agnosticism matter? #

Models, systems, and connections change. When the work does not depend on any one of them, it keeps its context and history through the change.

Does SayeOS replace my existing systems? #

No. Your systems of record keep their authority. SayeOS coordinates work around them.

Does all data move into SayeOS? #

No. SayeOS references authoritative systems rather than absorbing their full datasets.

What happens if I change model providers? #

The workstream keeps its context, state, and history. Changing providers does not restart the work.

Can local and cloud models participate in the same environment? #

Yes. Different models can contribute according to task, cost, capability, privacy, environment, and policy.

Work

What is a workstream? #

A persistent unit of work that carries intent, context, state, evidence, decisions, and history across sessions and contributors.

How is a workstream different from a chat? #

A chat resets. A workstream continues, preserves its sources and decisions, and can be reviewed later.

What are Context, State, and Evidence? #

Context is what matters for the work. State is what is currently true. Evidence is what supports a conclusion or action.

What is a Skill? #

A bounded, executable capability with defined inputs, allowed tools, permitted actions, and review. It is not a saved prompt.

Why Python? #

Models reason. Python executes defined work. Python is a first class execution layer, bounded by security, dependencies, and permissions.

Can people and software workers collaborate? #

Yes. People, models, Python workers, APIs, software services, and reviewers can contribute to one workstream.

How does review work? #

Worker output is draft and pending review. A human review determines whether work is accepted.

Constitution and governance

Why does SayeOS have a Constitution? #

So the rules governing consequential work are visible and versioned, and behavior can be checked against them.

Can AI make binding decisions? #

No. Intelligence may analyze, simulate, and propose. It may not decide, approve, or substitute for human judgment.

What is pre-authorization? #

A person can delegate scoped authority in advance. Systems execute inside that scope while it is valid and not revoked.

Why can refusal be correct? #

When an instruction is ambiguous or would require guessing intent, halting and escalating is safer than a confident wrong action.

What happens when SayeOS is uncertain? #

Uncertainty is surfaced and escalated to a person, not resolved silently.

What is the difference between user data and governance records? #

User data belongs to the user and is governed by standing protections. Governance records document decisions and actions and are retained for auditability.

Continuum

What is Continuum? #

Continuum preserves understanding over time without stripping away where it came from, what it meant, how well it is supported, or who has permission to share it.

Is Continuum memory? #

No. It preserves understanding with source, context, confidence, and sharing boundaries, not a running log of everything said.

What are Continuum scopes? #

Individual, family and friends, entity, and public. They are sharing and publication boundaries.

How does sharing work? #

An Understanding stays in its scope until it is moved outward through an explicit gate.

Can private understanding become public automatically? #

No.

What is Entity scope? #

Understanding shared within an organization or group, under that entity's own boundaries and review.

Knowledge and Continuum

What is the difference between the Knowledge Engine and Continuum? #

The Knowledge Engine works with documented knowledge. Continuum preserves human understanding. Facts are validated against sources or deterministic proof. Understandings preserve lived experience with source, context, confidence, disagreement, and permission attached.

Can a Fact and an Understanding refer to the same event? #

Yes. A documented fact and a human Understanding may describe the same event from different perspectives. SayeOS can link them without silently treating them as the same thing.

Does SayeOS treat personal experience as fact? #

No. Personal experience can be preserved as an attributed Understanding without being promoted into universal fact.

Can documented evidence change an Understanding? #

Yes. Evidence may support, contradict, narrow, or refine an Understanding. The history of that change stays visible.

Packs and ecosystem

What is a Context Pack? #

Governed domain or organizational knowledge with known provenance and scope.

What is a Skill Pack? #

A bounded, executable capability packaged for reuse.

What is a Combined Solution? #

Context plus Skills plus configuration assembled for a class of problem.

What does tested mean? #

A pack has been evaluated against defined criteria.

What does Saye Certified mean? #

A higher, defined trust level, applied when applicable and not by default.

Can builders publish Packs? #

Yes. Builders, domain experts, and organizations can publish eligible offerings, and Saye publishes first party offerings.

Are all Packs certified? #

No.