Use Pioneer AI

Pioneer AI answers in a drawer beside whatever console page you are on, so you can investigate an endpoint, an alert, or a ticket without leaving it. This page shows how to hold a conversation, follow what Pioneer AI does, come back to a conversation later, and turn one into a ticket note.

Before you begin

• You need the ai:use permission. Every role has it by default.
• Pioneer AI must be on for your organization, and on the MSP plan for the client you have selected. See Set up Pioneer AI.
• Pioneer AI reads what your permissions allow and sends it to the model provider your organization chose. Do not paste passwords, keys, or other secrets into a message. See Pioneer AI data and privacy.

Ask a question

1. In the header, select Open Pioneer AI, or press Alt+P anywhere in the console. The button is shown only on wide screens. The shortcut works at any width.
2. Enter your question in the message box. Press Enter or select Send. Press Shift+Enter to start a new line.
3. Read the reply as it arrives under Pioneer AI. Working… shows until the first part comes in.
4. Ask a follow-up in the same box. Pioneer AI has the whole conversation, so a follow-up can refer to an earlier answer.

Each message also tells Pioneer AI which page you are on: its address, its title, and the endpoint, ticket, alert, site, incident, script, or client it shows. On an endpoint’s page, “why is this one offline?” is enough.

The first reply gives the conversation a title, which replaces Pioneer AI as the drawer’s heading.

Follow what Pioneer AI does

A reply can contain more than text. Each part appears in the order Pioneer AI produced it:

Part	What it shows
A tool card	The tool’s name, a chip for its tier (Read, Change, High impact, or Display), and Running… until it finishes or Failed if it failed. Expand it to see the input and the result.
Thinking	The model’s reasoning, when the model provides it. Collapsed by default, and never saved.
An approval card	Pioneer AI wants to take an action, with Approve and Deny. See Approve Pioneer AI actions.
Opened and a page address	Pioneer AI opened a console page for you. Go there opens it again.
Remote desktop to an endpoint	A card with Connect. Selecting it starts remote desktop through the usual session flow.
A shell on an endpoint	A card such as PowerShell on an endpoint, with Open shell. Selecting it opens a shell through the usual session flow.
Controlling an endpoint	Pioneer AI is operating the screen of a remote session you have open, with the step, the last action, the time left, and Stop. See Control a remote session.
A table or a chart	Results Pioneer AI arranged for you, with a title.
Plan	A checklist of the steps Pioneer AI intends to take on a larger task, such as Plan (2 of 5 done), updated as it works.
Sub-agent	A part of the task Pioneer AI handed to a sub-agent, with its goal and status. See Sub-agents.
Sources	The web pages an answer used, under the answer. See Pioneer AI web search.
Save this as a memory?	A note Pioneer AI offers to keep for later conversations. See Manage Pioneer AI memories.

Launch cards never connect on their own. Your permissions and your remote access policy apply when you select one, as if you had started the session from the endpoint’s page.

Under the conversation, the meter shows how much of the model’s context the conversation uses, such as Context 12% (16k of 131k tokens), the tokens used so far, and the cost so far when there is one. When a conversation outgrows the model’s context, Pioneer AI summarizes the earlier messages and says Earlier messages were summarized to keep this conversation within the model’s memory.

To stop a reply, select Stop. The reply keeps what had arrived and shows Stopped. An action already running finishes first.

Pioneer AI can read several things at once, and it keeps large results, such as a list of a thousand endpoints, inside the conversation so it can filter them and show you a full table without rereading them. You do not need to do anything for this.

Spending limit per reply

An owner sets the most one reply may cost, $0.50 by default. Model calls, sub-agents, and web searches all count. When a reply reaches it, Pioneer AI summarizes what it found and what is left, and stops with Pioneer AI stopped because this reply reached the spending limit an owner set for one reply. Select Continue to carry on with a fresh limit. See Set a spending limit per reply.

Sub-agents

For a large task, such as checking the same thing on several sites, Pioneer AI can hand up to 3 parts to sub-agents that work at the same time and report back. Each appears as a Sub-agent card with its goal and a status: Working, Done, Failed, or Hit its limit. Expand it to see the Model calls, Input tokens, and Cost.

• A sub-agent works only in the areas an owner allows. By default it can read Outpost data, research (web search, documentation, and memories), and draft scripts. See Choose what sub-agents may do.
• A change a sub-agent wants still needs your approval. Its approval card has a Sub-agent chip and says Asked by a sub-agent working on: followed by its goal. If you do not answer within 10 minutes, or you leave, the sub-agent is told the action was not approved and carries on without it.
• A sub-agent can never take a high-impact action, cannot talk to you, and stops after 8 model calls.

Background checks

When you start something that takes a while, such as a script batch on many endpoints, a command, or waiting for an endpoint to come back online, Pioneer AI can keep an eye on it after the reply ends. It adds a message to the conversation when the job finishes or the wait runs out, for example Background check: script batch with how many endpoints succeeded and failed, and a link to the results.

You do not need to keep the conversation open. When a background check reports, the notifications bell in the header shows Pioneer AI results with a count. Select it to open your conversations. A check waits up to 24 hours, or 2 hours for an endpoint to come online. A conversation can have up to 5 checks running, and you up to 20.

Control a remote session

When a task needs the endpoint’s screen, such as a setting with no command line, Pioneer AI can see the screen and click, type, and scroll in a remote desktop session you have open. Ask from the Pioneer AI drawer inside the remote viewer, or from this chat while the viewer is open in the same browser.

• You approve each task once: the endpoint, the goal, and a budget, 40 actions and 10 minutes by default. Automatic approval never applies.
• The viewer’s status bar reads Pioneer AI is controlling this session, with Stop. A click, key press, or scroll of your own also stops it.
• Each step sends a screenshot of the session to the AI provider. Outpost does not store screenshots.
• It needs a model that can read screens, the endpoint’s remote_access.ai_control policy setting, and the remote:ai_control permission.

See Let Pioneer AI control a session.

Undo an action

Some changes Pioneer AI made can be reversed exactly, such as removing endpoints from a device group, creating a tag, or assigning a profile.

1. In the drawer header, select Actions in this conversation. The panel lists what Pioneer AI ran, newest first.
2. On the action, select Undo. The dialog Undo this action? says what undoing will do, after This will:.
3. Select Undo.

An undo is a change of its own. A routine one runs when you select Undo. A high-impact one, such as adding endpoints back to a device group, shows Undoing this is a change of its own, so it needs approval first. and an approval card, which you answer as for any other action. The action then shows Undone.

Undo appears only where Outpost knows exactly how to reverse the change. Actions that cannot be reversed with certainty, such as running a script, have no Undo.

Come back to a conversation

Conversations are saved, so closing the drawer does not lose one. Opening the drawer again shows the conversation you had open.

• See your conversations. Select Your conversations in the drawer header. The list shows each title and its last activity. Select one to open it. Show more loads older ones.
• Start another. Select New chat.
• Rename or delete one. In the list, select Rename or Delete. A deleted conversation cannot be recovered.

If you close the drawer while a reply is being written, Pioneer AI finishes the action in progress, saves the conversation, and ends the reply with The reply was interrupted before it finished. Select Continue to let it carry on.

On the MSP plan, a conversation belongs to the client that was selected when it started. Selecting a different client starts a new conversation.

Conversations are deleted automatically after the retention period an owner sets. See Pioneer AI data and privacy.

Open a conversation in its own window

1. Send at least one message, and wait for the reply to finish.
2. In the drawer header, select Open in its own window.

The conversation opens in a separate browser window and the drawer closes. When Pioneer AI opens a page from that window, the page opens in your console window. If no console window is open, the card offers Open in console.

If nothing opens, your browser blocked the window. Allow pop-ups for your console’s address and try again.

Use a saved prompt

A saved prompt is text you send often, such as a triage checklist, stored under a short command.

1. In an empty message box, type /. The list of saved prompts opens.
2. Keep typing to narrow it, then choose a prompt with the arrow keys and Enter, or select it.
3. The prompt’s text fills the message box. Edit it if you need to, then send it.

To add one:

1. Go to Settings > AI > Prompts and select New prompt.
2. In Command, enter the word that follows the /, such as triage. Use 1 to 32 lowercase letters, digits, or hyphens.
3. In Name, describe it in up to 80 characters.
4. In Prompt, enter the text, up to 8,000 characters.
5. Optional: select Share with everyone in the organization. Sharing needs ai:manage.
6. Select Save.

Personal prompts are yours alone. Shared prompts are offered to everyone, and only people with ai:manage can edit or delete them. Saved prompts are also offered to AI apps you connect with MCP. See Saved prompts in MCP.

Save a conversation to a ticket

Pioneer AI can write a ticket-ready internal note from the conversation: what it found, the actions taken and their outcomes, and the next steps.

1. In the drawer header, select Save to ticket.
2. In Ticket, search by subject words, a ticket reference, or the requester’s email address, and select the ticket. On an MSP’s practice console with no client selected, the search covers every client.
3. Read the Internal note Pioneer AI wrote, and edit it. It is saved as an internal note only, so the requester does not see it.
4. Optional: select Also log time, enter Minutes (1 to 1440), and select Billable if the time is billable.
5. Select Save.

The dialog confirms with Saved to and the ticket reference. If the note was saved and the time entry was not, the message says so. Log the time on the ticket.

Rate a reply

Under each finished reply, select Helpful or Not helpful. Your rating is saved with the conversation. Select the other one to change it.

Verify

After you send a message, a reply appears under Pioneer AI with no error banner beneath it.

If something goes wrong

What the chat shows	Cause	Fix
Pioneer AI is turned off.	Chat is off on Settings > AI, or no source is usable, such as a Remote Outpost with no endpoint saved.	Ask someone with ai:manage to turn it on. See Set up Pioneer AI.
Pioneer AI is turned off for this client.	On the MSP plan, the client policy or the client’s override turns it off for the selected client.	Ask someone with ai:manage to change the client’s override.
A client this conversation used has AI access turned off by your organization’s policy.	The conversation worked with a client that has since been turned off.	Start a new conversation.
You don’t have the ai:use permission, so Pioneer AI is not available to you.	Your role lacks ai:use.	Ask an owner to add it to your role.
Pioneer is still working in this conversation, in this window or another.	A reply is still being written, perhaps in another window.	Wait for that reply to finish.
This month’s Pioneer AI budget has been reached. Raise it in Settings to keep using Pioneer AI.	Outpost Cloud AI reached the monthly budget.	Ask someone with ai:manage to raise or clear the budget.
This month’s AI budget (your personal budget or the organization budget) is used up.	With your own endpoint, a budget was reached. The message says when it resets.	Ask someone with ai:manage to raise it. See Set budgets for your own endpoint.
Your plan’s free Pioneer AI allowance for this month is used up.	On Home Lab, this month’s free Outpost Cloud AI allowance is used. The message says when it resets.	Wait for the reset, or use your own endpoint.
This trial has reached its Pioneer AI limit. Activate your subscription to keep using it.	The free trial reached its Outpost Cloud AI limit.	Activate your subscription. See Free trials.
Too many Pioneer AI requests. Wait a minute and try again.	You sent more than 20 messages in a minute.	Wait a minute.
The message is too long to send.	One message is longer than 32,000 characters.	Shorten it, or split it across messages.
Pioneer AI stopped after the most steps one reply may take.	A reply took 25 model steps.	Ask it to continue.
Pioneer AI stopped because this reply used as much of the model as one reply may.	A reply reached its token limit.	Ask it to continue.
Pioneer AI stopped because this reply reached the spending limit an owner set for one reply.	The reply reached the spending limit per reply.	Select Continue, or ask someone with ai:manage to raise the limit.
This action was already undone.	Someone already undid the action.	None.
Your console session ended. Sign in again to continue.	Your console session expired during a reply.	Select Sign in again, then open the conversation and continue.
Another window took over this conversation.	The conversation was continued in another window.	Continue in that window, or reopen the conversation here.
Could not reach Pioneer AI. Check your connection and try again.	Your browser could not reach your Outpost.	Check your network connection.

With your own endpoint, a failure can also show one of the messages listed in Verify the source.

Next steps

• Approve Pioneer AI actions
• Let Pioneer AI control a session
• Pioneer AI data and privacy
• Connect AI tools with MCP