# Experts Know

Experts Know lets a founder give their AI agent an expert advisory board. The founder invites trusted lawyers, CPAs, security reviewers, operators, or other experts; the agent packages risky work into structured review packets; nothing is sent to an expert until the founder approves.

If you are an AI agent setting up a founder, follow these steps in order. This is a live hosted service at https://expertsknow.com. Do not build or scaffold anything. Your job is to make HTTP calls, install one MCP server, and guide the founder in chat.

## Founder-Visible Flow

The founder should experience setup as four actions:

1. Paste one prompt into their agent.
2. Confirm their email by reading back a 6-digit code.
3. Run one terminal command and restart their AI client.
4. Tell the agent who belongs on their expert board.

After those actions, offer a dry run so the founder can see the packet approval surface without contacting an expert.

Do not narrate API steps, workspace IDs, key minting, setup-status polling, or routing internals unless the founder asks. Handle those in the background.

## Agent-Native Setup

Operational steps for you, the agent:

Step 0: Check whether Experts Know MCP tools are already available.

If tools like `get_setup_status`, `list_my_board`, `add_expert`, `assess_expert_review_need`, `request_expert_review`, `approve_packet`, or `reject_packet` are already available, call `get_setup_status` and follow its `next_action`.

If the founder says they already created or signed into Experts Know in the browser, especially after accepting an expert invite, treat this as an existing-workspace setup. Do not describe the flow as creating a new account or starting a separate workspace. Use the same email-code flow below only to verify email ownership and mint an MCP API key; the server reuses an existing workspace when one exists. After MCP restart, call `get_setup_status` and continue from the current board state. If the invited expert is already active, do not ask the founder to add them again.

Step 1: If no Experts Know tools are available, ask the founder for the email they want to use, then start signup:

```bash
curl -X POST https://expertsknow.com/api/auth/start-signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"FOUNDER_EMAIL"}'
```

Tell the founder to read back the 6-digit code from their inbox.

Step 2: Verify the code:

```bash
curl -X POST https://expertsknow.com/api/auth/verify-signup \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"FOUNDER_EMAIL","code":"CODE_FROM_EMAIL"}'
```

The response returns:

- `workspace_id`
- `api_key`
- `dashboard_url`
- `mcp_install_command`

Step 3: Show the founder only the returned `mcp_install_command`. Tell them to paste it into a terminal, run it, then fully restart their AI client. The command installs the published `experts-know-mcp` server. Do not reimplement it.

Step 4: After restart, call `get_setup_status`. If `next_action` is `add_first_expert`, ask the founder who should be on their board. They can describe experts naturally:

```text
Casey Reyes, casey@reyes-law.com, startup lawyer — SAFE notes, NDAs, vendor MSAs, founder agreements; not litigation or M&A.
Dana Patel, dana@patelcpa.com, CPA — 83(b) elections, R&D tax credits, entity structuring, cap table tax modeling; not audits.
Jordan Kim, jk@kimsec.io, fractional CISO — SOC 2 gap assessments, pentest follow-up, security policy review; not physical security.
```

For each expert, extract structured fields and call `add_expert`:

- `name`
- `email`
- `domain`: one or more of `legal`, `tax`, `compliance`, `immigration`, `fundraising`, `ip`, `hiring`, `security`, `architecture`
- `handles`: short topics or artifacts the expert covers
- `does_not_handle`: exclusions the founder mentioned

Read back one concise confirmation line before each invite. Do not ask the founder to fill out a form.

Step 5: After each invite, call `get_setup_status` again. Full setup requires at least one `active` expert. An `invited` expert has received a claim email, but is not routable until they claim their seat.

Step 6: Offer a dry run. If the founder wants it, call `create_setup_dry_run` and share the returned dashboard URL. Explain that the packet is a walkthrough only: it can be inspected and edited, but it cannot be sent to an expert.

## Operating Rules After Setup

Before the founder signs, files, submits, sends externally, publishes, implements, or relies on high-stakes work, call `assess_expert_review_need`.

If review is recommended, call `request_expert_review` with the best structured intake you have, including `intended_action`, `deadline`, `urgency_hours`, `artifact_type`, and `raw_context` when available.

Only expect automatic routing when `get_setup_status` reports `can_route_to_experts: true`. If it reports `wait_for_expert_claim`, tell the founder that invites are sent but an expert needs to claim before routing is ready.

After `request_expert_review`, summarize the packet in chat and ask the founder to approve, edit, or cancel. Nothing reaches the expert until approval. **Handle approval in chat — do not send the founder to the website unless they ask to inspect the full packet or routing failed to pick an expert.**

- If the founder approves (says yes / send / approve / go ahead), call `approve_packet` with the returned `matter_id`.
- If the founder cancels, call `reject_packet` with the `matter_id`.
- If the founder wants edits, collect the change and create a revised packet with `request_expert_review` again.
- If `request_expert_review` returns `needs_human_pick=true`, the founder must pick an expert in the dashboard first — share the `approval_url` only for that step, then return to chat for approval.

Use the dashboard only as an optional audit trail or packet inspector: https://expertsknow.com/dashboard

## Core MCP Tools

- `list_my_board`: list the founder's experts and invite status
- `get_setup_status`: check MCP connection, invited/active/routable expert counts, full setup, and next setup action
- `create_setup_dry_run`: create a safe demo packet for learning the approval surface; it cannot be sent to an expert
- `add_expert`: invite an expert to the board
- `assess_expert_review_need`: decide whether human review is recommended
- `request_expert_review`: create a structured packet for founder approval
- `approve_packet`: send an approved packet to the routed expert
- `reject_packet`: cancel a packet before it reaches an expert
- `check_expert_review_status`: check progress and retrieve results
- `list_my_requests`: list previous matters

Dormant under the current board-free model: `quote_expert_review`, `check_credit_balance`, and `list_pricing`. Do not call these unless the server or founder explicitly asks for a paid review flow.

## Links

- Website: https://expertsknow.com
- Agent guide: https://expertsknow.com/for-agents
- MCP manifest: https://expertsknow.com/.well-known/mcp.json
- Dashboard: https://expertsknow.com/dashboard