Private AI assistant · WhatsApp · Your own hardware

Margot, the assistant that lives in WhatsApp.

Margot is a private AI assistant for a business owner who runs several companies, a home and a busy diary from their phone. She works inside WhatsApp, runs on the owner's own hardware, and keeps every person she deals with in their own lane.

Ask about Margot → See what's live
No app to installAllowlist onlyConfirms before acting on moneyNothing crosses lanes
Lives in WhatsApp
Runs on your own hardware
What she is

Private by design. Practical by default.

Four things that make Margot different from a chatbot bolted onto a cloud.

💬

A WhatsApp number

The owner, family, partners and store managers simply message her. No app to install, nothing new to learn.

🏠

Your own hardware

She runs on a Raspberry Pi 5 at the owner's home, inside Home Assistant, not on a shared cloud service.

🧠

Claude, on your key

Powered by Anthropic's Claude through the owner's own API key. Routine work like reports and reminders uses fixed rules with exact arithmetic and no AI, so it costs nothing to run.

🏪

In daily use

Running across a vehicle rent-to-own business, four retail stores, a household and a new partnership venture.

Live today

What she does right now.

Grouped by who she helps. Tags show status, and only the items marked Live are available today.

LiveIn setupIn progressPlanned

Team and operations

Keeps the group honest without ever joining the conversation.

Silent team-group tracker

Live

Reads the team's WhatsApp group without ever posting in it. Logs every task, question, payment and approval with who asked, when, and a short quote of the source message, then closes each item when it's done.

Daily summary

Live

Every weekday morning the owner gets what's open, what's overdue and who it's waiting on. A partner gets a read-only copy and can ask "what's waiting on me?"

Reads photos, PDFs and voice notes

Live

Invoices, proofs of payment and screenshots are read on the Pi, and voice notes are transcribed on the Pi too. Long account and ID numbers are hidden before anything is stored.

Standing instructions

Live

The owner can say "from now on, the driver handles collections" and she remembers it and applies it.

Retail stores

Every store reports to its own owner. Nobody gets copied in by default.

07:30 morning note per store

Live

Yesterday's sales against last week and last month, the cash-up, the stock take, deliveries and the top seller. Below that she flags only issues that need action. It goes to the owner and to that store's manager.

Cash pickups, start to finish

Live

Staff log "R5 000 ready" on the store dashboard. The collector gets a WhatsApp with a one-tap "I have it" link, and the record closes itself. She sends reminders until the pickup is collected and raises a flag if the counted amount differs.

Weekly profit ideas

Live

Every Monday, up to three ideas per store: restock the items that earn most before they run out, small price rises on busy low-margin lines, a value on stock that hasn't sold in 30 days, and missing cost prices to fill in. Every rand figure is calculated, never guessed.

Public holiday nudges

Live

A week before each South African public holiday, each store owner gets a reminder to plan a special. Long weekends like Easter come as one message.

Each store reports to its own owner

Live

Stores are kept separate. Each owner hears about their own shops, store managers see only their store, and nobody gets copied in by default.

Personal assistant

The diary, the inbox and the people, handled from one chat.

Messages people for you

Live

"Send the store manager the proof of payment and the invoice" and it's sent, signed as the owner's assistant. Replies come back to the owner as one-line relays with the time they were asked.

Calendar and availability

Live

Adds events to the owner's calendar. A partner can ask "is he free Friday night?" and gets free or busy, never the details.

Email, read-only

Live

She can answer questions from a digest of the owner's inbox. She can't send, delete or change anything.

Restaurant bookings

Live

Finds the restaurant and sends a one-tap booking link, then adds the booking to the calendar once it's made.

Venture notebook

Live

A business partner gets their own lane for a shared project. She keeps decisions, ideas and next steps in a dated log.

Home

The house listens to the same chat.

Lights, climate and music by message

Live

"Something for dinner, volume 40" picks a matching playlist on the speakers. Lights and air conditioning work the same way.

Away mode

Live

When everyone leaves, every light and AC switches off straight away, and she keeps checking while the house is empty.

Sleep climate

In setup

The bedroom cools for sleep and warms gently before waking. Each night is tuned from Apple Watch sleep data.

A real morning note

What a store manager gets at 07:30.

Rosebank Store · Sun 11 Oct Sales R4 120 (card R3 310, cash R810). Last 7 days R33 600, down 6% on the week before. October so far R55 900, on track for R152 000 (September: R147 000). Cash-up: 1 shift closed, R10 short in total. Stock take: 5 items counted, all matched. Deliveries booked in: none. Top on the till: Sam, R4 120 from 21 sales. ✅ No issues to flag today.

Real format. The store, name and figures are made up.

Trust and privacy

Built so nothing crosses a line.

She is useful because she is careful. These rules are not settings, they are how she is built.

✓
Allowlist only

She talks to approved numbers and nobody else, and she never posts in team groups.

✓
Separate lanes

Family, partners and store managers each get their own scope. Nothing crosses from one person's chat to another's.

✓
No sensitive numbers kept

ID, bank account and card numbers are never written down.

✓
Messages are data, not orders

Only the owner can give instructions. Text in a group, a PDF or a website can't redirect her.

✓
The AI never sees passwords

Logins and keys sit with small helper programs that do one job each.

✓
No third-party add-ons

Every piece is custom-written and reviewed before it goes live.

✓
Confirms before acting

Anything that commits money or a booking needs a "yes" first. Anything uncertain is logged as unsure, not guessed.

Coming next

On the roadmap.

Not available yet. Listed so you know where she's going.

Book the table directly

In progress

"Book a table for two on Friday at 7." She checks availability, offers the open times, books on "yes", and adds it to the calendar. Works for the owner and their partner.

Booking emails into the calendar

Planned

A restaurant or travel confirmation arriving by email goes into the calendar automatically, and everyone involved gets a note.

One-tap specials

Planned

A Monday profit idea or holiday nudge comes with a ready-made bundle, so you can put it on the online store with one reply.

Managers ask their own numbers

Planned

Store managers can ask "how are we doing today?" or "how many of X do we have?" and get answers for their store only.

Cash-up nudges

Planned

A gentle reminder to the person on shift when a shift closes without a cash-up.

Supplier payments

Planned

Once a supplier is paid, the proof of payment goes to the right person automatically.

Retail calendar beyond holidays

Planned

Reminders before payday weekends, Black Friday and other big trading days.

More stores and owners

Planned

Onboard a new store in minutes. Its owner gets their own morning notes, pickups and profit ideas.

Want Margot for your business?

Tell us what you run and who she'd need to talk to. We'll show you what she'd handle first, and what she'd never touch.

Ask about Margot →