# Scout, the OpenATS assistant

> What Scout does in OpenATS Cloud, where it talks to you, what it will never do, and how to pause it.

Scout is the assistant in OpenATS Cloud. It watches for what needs you (a candidate waiting on a reply, an overdue scorecard, a stalled candidate, past candidates who fit a new role), drafts the emails and briefs, and asks before anything is sent. It never rejects, advances or talks pay, and sees only what you can see.

*Search & AI · Last updated 2026-11-11*

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## Where Scout talks to you

- **Scout** at the top of the sidebar: everything it has for you.
- The bot in the corner of every page, with what **Needs you**.
- Slack direct messages, once your workspace has [connected Slack](https://openats.ai/docs/integrations/slack).
- An optional **Morning digest** email when something’s waiting, and your week on Mondays.

## What it raises on its own

- A candidate who has waited two business days for a reply.
- A scorecard that’s overdue.
- A candidate stalled late in the process.
- No reply five days after outreach, with at most two follow-ups.
- People already in OpenATS who fit an open role and haven’t been on it. Scout checks open roles daily, newly published ones first, and says so: it doesn’t add anyone itself.
- A client whose bar for a role has moved.
- Slack channels nobody has linked yet (for admins).

Past-candidate picks leave out anyone marked do-not-contact, unsubscribed, or whose email bounced, and are ordered and explained by what each person said they want: their [recorded preferences](https://openats.ai/docs/candidates/candidate-profile).

### A client’s reviewers

For an agency’s role, the role page has **{client}’s reviewers**: who reviews profiles, in the order they see them, and what each decided. Add decisions with **Paste a client update** (Scout reads them, you confirm with **Read decisions**) or **Add a decision by hand**. Recording a decision never moves anyone in the pipeline. **Check before sending** lists who to look at against their past reasons, and in Scout’s chat, **Check the next batch against a client’s reviewers…** does the same for a batch you’re about to send.

## What it drafts

Replies, follow-ups, nudges (to a candidate or to a client), and a follow-up after a call. Each one waits for you: **Send now**, **Schedule**, or edit it first. A draft that mentions pay or an offer is only approved in OpenATS, not from Slack.

For an accommodation, a visa or a negotiation, the hand-off card asks “Want me to draft a reply?”. **Draft a reply** writes one only when you ask, and it goes only once you’ve edited it into your own words, or picked a client’s saved visa answer. It’s never offered for distress, a minor, legal action, discrimination or harassment.

On a role, the **Kickoff brief** is written from the client’s kickoff call, every line quoted from it. **Review and apply** proposes criteria, interview steps and a job description draft for you to accept. After an interview, Scout prefills the post-call card from the transcript (**Move forward**, **Hold** or **Pass**, a rating and feedback) without choosing anything for you.

## What it will never do

- Send anything without asking you first.
- Reject, advance, or talk pay.
- See more than you can see in OpenATS.
- Use age, health, family, origin or anything like them.
- Share your conversations with it: they’re yours alone.

## Pause Scout

1. Open **Settings → Scout**.
2. Under **Scout for you**, turn it off.
   While it’s paused it suggests nothing, and OpenATS keeps reading and learning as usual.

Admins can pause it for everyone under **Scout for everyone**: nobody gets suggestions and Scout doesn’t run until an admin turns it back on. If you’re away for three days or more with a pile of unread items, Scout nudges you, then pauses its background work for you until you’re back.

> **Note:** Scout is part of OpenATS Cloud. The open-source edition has the AI features in its core (search, Ask, evaluations, interview summaries), called “AI” there, without the assistant.

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Still need help? Write to the OpenATS team at https://openats.ai/support (or support@b150.ai). We reply by email.

Source: https://openats.ai/docs/search-and-ai/scout
OpenATS help center: https://openats.ai/docs