FAQ
Questions about initiative, cost, privacy and current limits.
Will Rna keep interrupting me?
It does not speak on a schedule. Most wakes end with “wait”. While you type, proactive messages wait for a pause; non-urgent findings go to the inbox or the daily digest first; topics you keep ignoring need more evidence to come back. To make it fully quiet: “Pause proactive messages” in settings (/initiative mute) stops alerts and questions and pauses scheduled tasks too; “Quiet for a while” only stops proactive speech for a period. Neither cancels background investigation; to stop background work, turn off “Proactive collaboration”. See Initiative.
Does it really remember what it promised?
Yes. Things Rna said “I'll do” and requests you made are recorded as commitments, and when one is overdue it asks above the composer whether to carry on. A commitment that involves file changes is done only when the changes are applied to the project; if you roll them back, it reopens.
Could the background mess up my files?
The background is read-only by default. It writes only if you let it use project permissions, and every file it changes is snapshotted for one-click revert. On macOS, background commands run under seatbelt and cannot write outside the project, temp folders and package caches. In a Git repository, background work and subagents change files in their own worktrees, and merging never overwrites your uncommitted edits.
What if something goes wrong?
Every turn keeps a checkpoint. “Roll back this turn” at the end of a turn restores what it wrote into the project, and the rollback can be undone. The next turn and the background both know what you rolled back and won’t put it back. See Isolation and rollback.
Can I use a ChatGPT or Claude subscription?
ChatGPT, yes: sign in with your ChatGPT plan and chat models, image generation and transcription use your plan. Claude, no: Anthropic does not allow Claude subscriptions in third-party apps, so use an Anthropic API key. See Models.
Where does my code go?
Only to the model services you configured (including a ChatGPT plan and multimodal services), the JEV judge, and the services you turned on: web search (off by default; when on, it goes to the service you chose, where Brave and Bocha only search and pages are read straight from this machine), memory (OpenViking at the address you set; choose local memory and nothing goes to an external service), the keywords of a skill marketplace search when you run one, and GitHub when checking for a new version. The daemon, session logs and credentials stay on your machine.
Do I have to install OpenViking?
No. Memory has two ways: the built-in local memory needs nothing and searches by keyword; OpenViking semantic memory needs a Docker deployment, searches by meaning and distils long-term memory with a model. The two never stand in for each other: when OpenViking is unavailable it reports an error instead of silently switching to local records. See Memory.
Could evolution make the agent worse over time?
A new rule does not go straight to work: a skill rule becomes active only after being followed 3 times in real use with no correction; a guard must confirm 3 real catches, and one with many false alarms drops back to trial. Being corrected on the same thing again lowers it one level, and when you later say the opposite it retires. You can mark any gene “not right” or “stop using” at any time, and that withdraws only that one gene. See Gene-tree evolution.
Does the usage page show cost?
No. It shows tokens and counts only, for preset and custom models alike, with no price conversion; cache reads come from what the provider reports.
Windows or Intel Mac?
Intel Macs have an installer, published with the Apple silicon build on GitHub Releases. Windows x64 and Linux x64 desktop builds are previews and are not code-signed. Linux can also run the daemon and CLI; systemd --user hosting has not been accepted on a real machine.
Can I host the daemon on a server for my team?
Not recommended. It is built for one trusted local user and is not a service to expose to the internet.