# HR and IT answers, quoted from your handbook. Handbook answerer is an AI HR assistant. Ask it up to three HR, IT or policy questions and it searches your handbook, quotes the section word for word and explains the answer in a line. When the handbook doesn't cover a question, it names who owns it. Asked in a Slack channel, it answers in the thread. ## Why do the same HR questions keep coming back? Because the answer sits in a long handbook that nobody searches, so people ask whoever they think knows. People Ops answers the same questions every week, the answers drift from what the policy says, and questions the handbook doesn't cover wait while someone works out who owns them. Without it: - The same five questions in People Ops' DMs every week. - Answers from memory that don't match the handbook. - A 40-page PDF nobody searches. - Questions with no clear owner that wait. With Handbook answerer: - Every answer quotes its section. - Uncovered questions go to a named owner. - Up to three questions in one message. - Asked in a channel, one answer in the thread. ## What can an AI HR assistant answer? Whatever your handbook covers, quoted. Whatever it doesn't, sent to the person who owns it. ### HR and leave Vacation carry-over, sick days, parental leave, public holidays and pay dates, from your handbook's sections. For example: Leave, Pay dates. ### IT and security Lost or stolen equipment, accounts, passwords and phishing: what to do and who to tell. For example: Laptops, Accounts. ### Expenses and travel What you can claim, approval limits, hotel caps and how to book, quoted with the numbers. For example: Approvals, Hotels. ### Not covered Anything the handbook doesn't answer goes to the owner your handbook names, never a guess. For example: Owner named, No guessing. ## How does an AI HR assistant work? Every run follows the same five steps. It only reads the handbook, then writes one message with every answer. 1. **Counts the questions** (Document search, reads): Up to three per message. More, and it says to ask the rest separately. 2. **Searches the handbook** (Document search, reads): Two or three wordings per question before it calls one uncovered. 3. **Quotes the section** (Document search, reads): Word for word, with its number, and only the sentences that answer. 4. **Names the owner** (Document search, reads): From the handbook's own who-owns-what list, when it doesn't cover a question. 5. **Answers in the thread** (Slack, posts): One message, one numbered block per question, under 250 words. When it runs: - @mention: @Arclyx @handbook-answerer how many vacation days carry over? - Webhook: Run when your intranet's question form calls its webhook with the question ## From one sentence to answers in Slack. Describe the job, let Arclyx draft the agent, ask it three real questions in a dry run, create it, then @mention it in #ask-people-ops and read the answer in the thread. Example output in #ask-people-ops, "Handbook answers · 3 questions · 2 answered, 1 not covered" (placeholder companies): - Question 1 · Stolen laptop · 3.3: Report it to IT right away: "Report a lost or stolen laptop or phone to IT within 1 hour at it-help@example.com or in the #it-help Slack channel, even outside working hours." Owner: IT help desk, Sam Ortiz, it-help@example.com. Source: example-a.com/handbook#3-3 - Question 2 · Hotel in London · 5.3: London is capped at 300 USD a night: "Hotels up to 220 USD a night (300 USD in New York, London and San Francisco)." Quoted from 5.3 Hotels and meals. Source: example-a.com/handbook#5-3 - Question 3 · Dogs at the office: The handbook doesn't cover this. For anything not covered: People Ops, people@example.com. Source: example-a.com/handbook#9 3 questions · 2 sections quoted · 1 not covered · answered from the handbook only ## One handbook, fewer interruptions. The same quoted answers help everyone who asks, and everyone who used to answer. - People Ops: The questions they answer every week, answered from the handbook. - IT: Lost laptops and account questions sent to the right place at once. - New starters: Answers in minutes, with the section to read. - Managers: Approval limits and leave rules, quoted, not remembered. ## How do you answer employee HR questions with AI? Give an AI agent your handbook, a rule to quote it and a list of owners for everything else. Each question gets two or three searches, a quoted section and a one-line answer, or the owner's name when the handbook is silent. In Arclyx that's five steps, starting with one sentence. 1. **Describe the job**: One sentence: which handbook, who it answers and where the answer goes. 2. **Share your handbook**: An org admin uploads it to Documents for everyone, so @mentions in a channel can read it. Include a who-owns-what section. 3. **Share it in Slack**: Share the agent with your org and invite the Arclyx app to #ask-people-ops. People ask @Arclyx @handbook-answerer and get the answer in the thread. 4. **Watch a dry run**: Optional. Ask three real questions; the answer is shown to you, not posted. 5. **Let people ask**: Anyone who has linked Slack to Arclyx can ask in the channel, or a form can call its webhook. The sentence that built it (@mention, When someone asks): > When someone asks, answer HR, IT and policy questions from our shared handbook, quote the section, and say who to ask when the handbook doesn't cover it. Answer in the thread where you were asked. ### Or start from one of these sentences - IT only: "When someone asks, answer IT questions from our IT policy in Documents, quote the section, and post the answer to #it-help." - Expenses desk: "When someone asks, answer expense and travel questions from our finance policy, quote the limit, and name the approver." - For new starters: "When a new starter asks, answer from the handbook and the onboarding guide, quote both, and DM them the answer." - Benefits: "When someone asks, answer benefits questions from our benefits guide and say who in People Ops to contact for anything else." ## AI HR assistant vs asking People Ops. Asking a person and searching Slack each cover part of the job. Here is what each one does, and doesn't, do. | What you need | Asking People Ops | Slack search | Handbook answerer | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Answers from | Someone's memory | Old messages and files in Slack | Your current handbook | | Quotes the policy | Sometimes | Only if someone quoted it before | Yes, word for word, with the section | | When it isn't covered | They find out who knows | You keep searching | Names the owner from your handbook | | Takes someone's time | Yes, every question | Yours | No | | Where you get it | A DM, eventually | Search results | One Slack message | Source: [Slack help: search in Slack](https://slack.com/help/articles/202528808-Search-in-Slack), checked 24 October 2026. ## Is it safe to let an AI agent answer HR questions? It reads one handbook you upload and writes one message. It can't change records or approve anything. Every run is recorded and has a spend ceiling by default. ### Every run is recorded - Every step, in order: Each run keeps a trace: what it searched for, which sections it found and what it posted. - Every question, accounted for: Each numbered block says answered, partly covered or not covered, so nothing is silently dropped. - What each run cost: Tokens and cost are recorded per run and per agent, next to your plan's limits. - A spend ceiling, on by default: Each run has a dollar ceiling unless you remove it. A run stops before it goes over it, and tells you. ### It can - Search the handbook shared in Documents - Reply in the Slack thread it was asked in, message you, or email you ### It can't - Change records or approve requests - Read Notion, Google Drive or other documents - Give legal, medical or tax advice - Email anyone but you ## AI HR assistants, answered. ### What is an AI HR assistant? Software that answers employees' HR questions for the people team. Handbook answerer is one built in Arclyx: it answers HR, IT and policy questions from your own handbook, quotes the section it used and names who to ask when the handbook is silent. ### Is it an HR chatbot? Not a chat widget. It's an agent people ask in Slack, or that another tool calls. Each time it answers up to three questions in one message, quoting your handbook, and keeps no conversation going. ### Does it make up policy? Its instructions forbid it. It answers only from the handbook, quotes the section word for word and never presents a paraphrase as a quote. If no section answers the question, it says the handbook doesn't cover it instead of guessing. ### What if the handbook doesn't cover a question? It says so and names the owner from your handbook's own who-owns-what list, with the name and email exactly as written there. When a section covers part of it, it quotes that section and names the owner for the rest. ### Which handbook does it read? The document you upload to Arclyx's Documents and name in its sentence. A channel @mention reads shared data only, so an org admin uploads it for everyone and the agent is shared with the org. It doesn't read Notion or Google Drive. ### Does it answer IT questions too? Yes, when your handbook covers them: lost laptops, accounts, passwords, approvals for equipment. It answers from the same handbook, so it's only as complete as that document. ### Can it give legal, medical or tax advice? No. It's instructed to point to the right owner in your handbook instead. It also can't approve requests or change records: it only reads the handbook and posts the answer. ### Do I need to write code? No. Describe the job in one sentence and upload your handbook. Arclyx drafts the agent and picks its tools, and you can watch a dry run before you create it. ## Agents that work well with it - [Onboarding planner](https://arclyx.ai/agents/employee-onboarding): A new hire's first week, planned and dated - [Inbox triage](https://arclyx.ai/agents/inbox-triage): Know which emails need you, every morning - [Weekly ops brief](https://arclyx.ai/agents/weekly-business-review): Last week's numbers compared, big moves flagged [AI for business operations](https://arclyx.ai/solutions/operations): AI for business operations and HR: the inbox sorted, Monday's numbers flagged, handbook questions answered, new hires planned and renewals tracked. ## Early access Build your handbook answerer. One sentence in, a working agent out. Join the beta and we'll set you up. Join at https://arclyx.ai/#join or write to hello@arclyx.ai. Last updated 24 October 2026.