How to read a System page
Every System page carries the same 17 headings in the same order, so you and your agent find the same answer in the same place.
A System is software every Startup inherits, such as billing, the ledger or support. Each System page answers the same questions in the same order, so you and your Agent find each answer in one place.
Start with the summary
Most questions end at the first heading. It names the group, the status and the shelf, then lists what you can say. Say any of those sentences and your agent calls the System's Verbs.
| Status | Means | Your agent |
|---|---|---|
live | A live task guide calls it, or every new Startup uses it in its first week. | Brings it up. |
beta | Its Verbs run, and no live guide calls them. | Brings it up, and says it is beta. |
planned | Its main job is described here and has no Verb to call. | Answers questions about it, and suggests nothing. |
The shelf says when your agent brings a System up unasked.
| Shelf | Your agent |
|---|---|
front | Brings it up in a Startup's first 90 days. |
silent | Never brings it up: it runs without being asked. |
wakes | Brings it up once a named Event fires, such as a first chargeback. |
reference | Answers when asked, and never raises it first. |
The 17 headings
Each heading is generated from the System's own record, so the page never drifts from what the System does. A heading with nothing to say reads None., so a missing answer is visible instead of hidden.
| Heading | Answers |
|---|---|
Summary | Group, status, shelf, and what to say. |
What you get | On from day one, or woken by a Product Template; the Capabilities it is built from. |
Nouns it owns | The records it keeps, each a Noun. |
Verbs | What it does, which calls wait for a person, and the Event each one raises. |
Events | What it raises, and what it acts on from other Systems. |
States | The lifecycle of its main record. |
Who operates it | The accountable Role, its Team, and who holds the seat. |
Approvals and limits | Calls that wait for an Approval, and the Limits and Mandates on the rest. |
Processes that use it | Each Process whose steps call it. |
Rail underneath | Stripe's products and objects, or the provider it runs on. |
Views and dashboards | What you see, and the Metrics on it. |
Access | What each Access Level may call. |
Import and export | Outside tools it mirrors or imports from. |
Fees and pricing | How its fees work. |
Availability and limits | Countries, Stripe countries, and rate limits. |
Compliance notes | What the platform handles, what stays yours, and each Control it carries. |
Related Systems | Systems that share its records. |
One short example closes every page: a real kind of business using the System.
Three headings worth a second look
Approvals and limits: a Verb that moves money or speaks for the business asks a person first, then waits out a short delay window. Everything else runs inside the Limits you set. Raise a Limit and your agents ask less.
Fees and pricing: pages state how a fee works, never the rate. Most charges carry one platform fee, withheld before the money reaches your balance; how fees work covers every case.
Compliance notes: each note splits the job in two, what the platform does every time and what stays yours. Tax calculates, collects and files where you are registered; deciding where to register stays yours.
Where to go next
Every System lists all of them in one table, with each status. Your agent reads these pages as Markdown, and the sentences in each summary feed the index it searches (docs for agents).
Part 5 of six chapters on how the business works. Getting started is the last: it builds the same business from code, for you or your developer.