Smallsoft AI Answers

Questions first. Products second.

Practical answers to questions about AI agents, macOS automation, agent identity, delegated authority, AI governance and expert knowledge systems.

Each page begins with a direct answer, then explains the boundaries, risks and architecture behind it. 8 answers in the first collection

Desktop AI agents

What AI agents can do on macOS, and what makes a desktop agent genuinely native.

Yes, within the interfaces and permissions that macOS and each application expose.

A Mac application that can reason about a task and act through authorised local interfaces.

How an AI agent should be identified, authorised, limited, reviewed and connected to the human who empowered it.

Usually yes. A distinct identity makes the agent visible, governable and auditable.

The agent should normally act as itself, linked to the human principal and the authority delegated to it.

Give it only the actions, resources, duration and conditions needed for a defined task.

Record who delegated authority, which agent acted, what it did, and what result followed.

How professional knowledge can become an attributable, maintainable resource that AI systems can use.

Convert tacit and documented knowledge into structured resources that preserve context and attribution.

Build a governed knowledge system around the expert’s concepts, methods, evidence and limits.