# Witbitz — how it works (for people and language models)

> Source: https://witbitz.chat/manual.md · What Witbitz does and how to use it. Written so a language model can fully understand the product and help someone using it.

## What Witbitz is
Witbitz drops a **live AI agent into your call** — to transcribe, summarize, sing, or chime in. There is **no registration and no sign-up**: a **coupon code** is your login *and* your wallet, a **purchase license key** redeems into one, or you **bring your own API keys**. The call itself is an ordinary, account-free, **peer-to-peer, end-to-end-encrypted** call that runs right in your browser. Witbitz launches an AI participant that joins that call.

Mental model: you start (or open) a call; Witbitz puts an AI participant in it, billed by the minute.

## Starting a call
1. Open **witbitz.chat** and tap **Start a room** — a fresh, unguessable room opens right in your browser. (Or paste a link you were sent to join an existing room.)
2. You land on the **pre-join screen**: pick your camera/mic, type a display name, and tap **Join**. Everyone joins muted with the camera off by default.
3. In the call you have the usual controls — mute/unmute, camera, **share your screen**, chat, and **Copy invite link** to bring others in.

The call is **direct, peer-to-peer, and end-to-end encrypted** between participants' browsers: there's no media server in the path that could see, hear, or record it. When two networks can't connect directly, an encrypted relay forwards the still-encrypted call so it still works.

## The AI agent
An agent is a **participant**: it hears the call audio and replies in voice, chat, or visuals (depending on the agent it can post maps, charts, images, a song, or a short video clip, and read files you share). It does not drive your screen.

### The agent catalog
- **Expert (מומחה) 🧐** — a sharp friend on the call who chimes in *only when you call on it*, with a fact, a take, or a suggestion. Audio. Free.
- **Singer (זמר) 🎵** — turns the conversation into a short song, composed and **sung** right into the call. Audio.
- **Painter (צייר) 🎨** — listens to the conversation and paints a single image of it, right into the call — and revises it when you ask. Audio.

(The catalog can grow over time.)

### How an agent joins, and consent
Before anyone joins a room that has (or may have) an agent, an **AI-assisted-call notice** is shown along with the agent's specific disclosure (for example, *"An AI agent from witbitz.chat is on this call. It listens and transcribes; audio is sent to AI services to understand speech and reply."*). **Joining is consent.** The agent always appears in the participant roster — its presence is never hidden.

### Talking to the agent
- **Hand-off, not a wake word.** It stays **dormant — just listening and transcribing** (it shows a 💤) until you **hand it the floor**: say a hand-off cue like *"go ahead, friend"* or *"your turn, [its name]"*, or tap its **🎙️** button. It then takes the floor (👂) and replies — you never call it by name mid-sentence.
- **Ending your turn.** Say *"thanks, friend"* (or tap **✅ I'm done**) to hand the floor back. It won't keep talking or guess when you're finished — the floor is explicit both ways.
- It can also expose an **in-call menu** (a small set of actions like *give your take*, *summarize*, *pause/resume listening*, *leave*).
- It replies in **voice, chat, or visuals** — depending on the agent it can post maps, charts, images, a song, or a short video clip, and read files you share. It **doesn't drive your screen or take actions on its own**.

## Paying: coupon vs. license key vs. your own keys
- **Coupon code** — a gift of prepaid credit (e.g. a **$5 wallet**). It runs the agent on the operator's managed AI-provider keys, metered against the code's balance. No card, no account. The code is also your login.
- **Purchase license key** — a key you bought; entering it **redeems a fresh coupon**, then works exactly like a coupon.
- **Bring your own keys (BYOK)** — paste **both** your OpenAI **and** ElevenLabs keys; the session runs on *your* keys (a slower, runtime-only burn rate). Keys are **never logged or stored** — they're passed only as ephemeral environment for that one session.

## Billing & metering
- Credit is metered by **agent-minutes**: `$5` buys `N` minutes at a fixed per-minute rate.
- A session is **capped to what you can afford** — it can't overspend a coupon; it auto-stops when the balance would run out.
- You can **stop the agent any time** — you're billed only for the minutes used. Agents also **leave on their own** shortly after the room empties.
- BYOK sessions burn *your* provider credit instead, at the slower runtime-only rate.

## Privacy & data
- **The agent is disclosed to everyone** on the call (the pre-join notice above). Joining = consent.
- The humans' call stays **end-to-end encrypted between browsers**. The agent is a participant: it perceives the call **audio** so it can transcribe and respond, and that audio goes to **AI services** to do its job.
- Witbitz holds **no accounts** and stores only non-secret session metadata (which agent, which room, status, timestamps). API keys are never persisted. Call content, transcripts, and recordings are not stored.
- See https://witbitz.chat/privacy for the full policy.

## Installing Witbitz
Witbitz is a **PWA** — you can install it as an app (its own icon and window). It's optional; calls run in any browser. On iPhone/iPad use Safari's *Share → Add to Home Screen*; on Android/desktop Chrome use *Install app* from the menu or the address-bar install icon. Installing gives one-tap access and an app window.

## Troubleshooting
- **The agent didn't join / I'm alone in the room.** The room you're in must be the **same** room the agent was given. Use the exact link the app made, and add the agent to that same room.
- **"Coupon used up."** The balance reached zero. Get a new code/license, or switch to your own keys.
- **Keys rejected.** BYOK needs **both** an OpenAI key and an ElevenLabs key — one alone won't start.
- **The agent left by itself.** Agents self-exit when the room empties (and the meter stops) — re-add it when you're back.
- **Call won't connect / others can't hear me.** Check your mic/camera permissions and your network. Calls connect directly browser-to-browser; on strict networks an encrypted relay carries them.