An AI operations manager in your ops chat.
It reads your orders, shipments and tickets every morning and tells you what broke, before anyone asks. It checks the work against your SOPs, chases the vendors who are late, and answers in the WhatsApp group where your team already talks.
300 free credits to start. Live in two minutes.
What is an AI operations manager?
An AI operations manager is an agent that watches the daily running of a business and tells you what needs a person. Cicada's reads your orders, shipments and support tickets on a schedule, sends the ops report at the time you set, and surfaces the exceptions: the late order, the stuck shipment, the ticket nobody answered. It checks work against your SOPs, drafts the vendor chase for your yes, and sits in your ops group on WhatsApp, Slack or iMessage, speaking only when it is named. Every step it takes is in the Activity tab.
What your AI operations manager does.
Sends the ops report on a clock
"Every weekday at 8" becomes a report that lands on the minute: orders in, shipped and stuck, open tickets, and the three things that need a person. Built from Shopify, ShipStation and your helpdesk.
Surfaces the exceptions
Reads orders, shipments and tickets as they change and flags what broke the pattern: the order past its ship-by date, the label with no scan, the ticket that waited a day.
Checks work against your SOPs
Give it your SOPs as documents or Notion pages. It checks orders, returns and tickets against them and tells you where a step was skipped, with the step and the record.
Chases vendors
Drafts the follow-up to the late supplier or carrier from your Gmail or Outlook, with the order and tracking numbers in it, and sends it after your yes. Tells you when they reply.
Sits in the ops group
Add it to the team's WhatsApp, iMessage or Slack group. It stays quiet until someone names it, then reads the photo, the invoice or the voice note and answers in the thread.
Keeps the trackers current
Updates the shared sheet, the Notion page or the Airtable base after each run, so the status your team reads is the status that is true.
Who hires an AI operations manager.
An ops lead before the headcount
Someone watching orders, shipping and support every day while you sell.
The morning sweep done before you sit down
The report is waiting, the exceptions are listed, and you spend the morning fixing instead of finding.
Orders, labels and tickets in one message
Shopify, ShipStation and Gorgias read together, so a late order and the ticket about it show up as one problem.
Production and purchasing on one page
MRPeasy orders and stock read every morning, with the late purchase orders chased after your yes.
Jobs that don't fall through
Bookings, jobs and follow-ups tracked, with the overdue ones flagged to the person who owns them.
One place for the status
Ask in the group what's late and get the answer from the apps, not from whoever remembers.
Set up in three steps.
Say what the job is
Describe the role in a sentence when you sign up, or tell the agent in the chat. It writes its own brief, which you can read and change any time.
Connect the apps it needs
One click for most apps. Each one can be Full, Ask first or Read-only, for every agent in the workspace.
Link your phone, or don't
Scan a code and it's in your iMessage or WhatsApp. Or keep it in the app, Slack and email. Hand it the first job in the same message.
Nothing goes out without your yes.
Nothing goes out without your yes
Anything that can't be undone, and any message to another person, waits for your OK. Approve with a 👍 in the chat, or set a role to full autonomy once you trust it.
Read-only is a real lock
Make any app read-only and the agent can look but never change a thing. It applies to every agent in the workspace, from their next run.
Every step on the record
Each run shows what it read, what it did and what it sent, step by step, in the Activity tab. Corrections you make stick.
What it won't do.
Won't pretend
If it couldn't confirm something, it leaves it out and says so. A number without a source doesn't go in a message.
Won't go around you
It never messages anyone on your behalf unless you asked, never spends money, and never makes a judgement call about money on its own.
Won't read what isn't shared
Teammates' agents work only through the apps the workspace shares. Your inbox and your personal apps stay under your own login.
Three ways to run the daily ops check
| Task | By hand | A dashboard tool | An AI operations manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| The morning report | Twenty minutes across five tabs | A chart you have to go and look at | A message at 8:00 with what needs a person |
| Finding exceptions | When a customer complains | If someone set the alert up | Flagged from orders, shipments and tickets as they change |
| Checking the SOP | Spot checks when there's time | Not covered | Checked against your documents, with the step that was skipped |
| Chasing a vendor | An email you mean to send | Not covered | Drafted with the order numbers, sent after your yes |
| Where the team asks | Someone's DMs | A login nobody has | The WhatsApp or Slack group, when it is named |
| Keeping the tracker current | Whoever remembers | Only the data it was wired to | Updated after every run |
Things to ask your AI operations manager.
- 01
"every weekday at 8 send the ops report to the ops group: orders, shipments, open tickets, anything stuck"
You get: A recurring report that lands in the group at 8:00, with the exceptions listed first.
- 02
"which orders are past the ship-by date and why"
You get: A list of late orders with the reason from each record: out of stock, address problem, no label yet.
- 03
"check last week's returns against the returns SOP and tell me where we skipped a step"
You get: The returns that missed a step, which step it was, and the order record for each.
- 04
"Ridgeway still hasn't picked up the Thursday pallet. chase them"
You get: A draft to Ridgeway with the booking reference, sent after your 👍, and a message when they answer.
- 05
"put every exception from today in the ops tracker with an owner"
You get: One row per exception in the shared sheet, with the owner and the record it came from.
Frequently asked questions.
Where do I talk to it?
iMessage, WhatsApp, Slack, email or the web app. Link your phone with a code at sign-up and it answers in the same thread you text it in. In a group chat it stays quiet until someone names it.
What does it need access to?
The apps your operation runs on: your store, your shipping app, your helpdesk, your sheets. Each one can be Full, Ask first or Read-only, and read-only is a real lock.
Can it follow our SOPs?
Yes. Upload them, or point it at the Google Docs or Notion pages. It checks records against them and tells you where a step was missed, quoting the step.
Will it email vendors on its own?
Only when you ask, and only from your connected inbox. Anything to another person waits for your 👍 in the chat unless you've set the role to full autonomy. It never places orders or spends money.
What if it can't tell why something is late?
It says so. It reports what the records show and leaves out what it couldn't confirm, rather than guessing a reason.
Can it read photos and voice notes from the floor?
Yes. Send a photo of a damaged box, a packing slip or a voice note, and it reads it and finds the order it belongs to.
Can it watch more than one area at once?
Yes. A coordinator can split the morning check between specialists, one for orders, one for shipping, one for support, that work at the same time, and you get one report back.
Can my team use it too?
Yes. Everyone in your workspace gets their own agents. The store, the shipping app and the shared sheets are connected once for the team; personal inboxes stay under each person's own login.
What does it cost?
Every workspace starts with 300 free credits. You add a card at sign-up and nothing is charged until you run low; then it's $25 for 200 credits, with no subscription. A quick reply is about 5 credits and a typical run under 20; plans start at $99 a month.
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One teammate. The output of a team.
Works nights, remembers every decision, answers in the thread. Start free with 300 credits.