Read-only by default
Every source connects read-only. Changes happen only on a source where an owner or admin chose Allow changes in Connections.
- Changes can be allowed on WordPress (with WooCommerce) and Google Analytics.
- Search Console, Magento and outside SEO data always stay read-only.
- Make read-only turns a source back to reading straight away.
Who allows and who approves
| Role | What they do | Changes through AI |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Everything, including deleting the organization | Allows changes, asks for them and approves them |
| Admin | Manages members and connections | Allows changes, asks for them and approves them |
| Analyst | Views connections and uses AI | Read only |
| Member | Uses AI only | Read only |
What each change needs
Every tool has a risk class. It decides what happens when the AI app asks for it, once changes are allowed.
| Class | What happens | Who approves | Undo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Read | Nothing changes | Nobody | Nothing to undo |
| Draft | A draft, an image, a category: nothing visitors see | No approval | Yes, for 30 days |
| Edit | A change to a post, page or product | Nobody while it is a draft; approval in SAR once it is live | Yes, the previous version is kept |
| Approve | Publishing, prices, stock, order status, refunds, settings, undo, new GA4 items | An owner or admin, in SAR | Yes on WordPress, for 30 days |
| Confirm | Plugins on, off or updated, switching the theme, WordPress updates, search and replace across the database, administrators, switching code snippets on | An owner or admin, in SAR, with their password | Most yes; updates no |
| Classified | Users, snippet edits and more: the plugin's dry run decides what is needed | From no approval up to approval with a password | Depends on the change |
Each tool's description names its class: Tools.
How an approval works
- The AI app asks for the changeIt gives you a link to the approval in SAR, in the chat. The Approvals page in SAR also lists everything waiting, with a count beside the menu item.
- See what will changeThe approval shows the preview. On WordPress the site itself signs it: if the site changes before the change runs, it is refused and you are asked again.
- Approve or declineChoose Approve & make the change or Decline. If you decline, nothing changes, and you can tell the AI app what to do instead.
- Go back to the chatThe AI app carries on with the change within ten minutes. If it does not, tell it to go ahead.
A request nobody decides on expires and changes nothing. For many similar changes (the same action, on the same source, from the same AI app) you can also approve the next ones for 30 minutes, and each one is still listed on the Activity page.
Password approvals and backups
Anything that affects the whole site or cannot be undone also asks for your SAR password, so you read it once more before you approve. If you confirmed your password a while ago, you are asked again. Changes to a shop's customers ask for the password again too.
- The preview of such a change says whether the site has a recent backup from its backup plugin.
- In wp-admin, under Tools → SAR Intelligence, the site's administrator decides whether that is only a warning or whether the change waits until a recent backup exists.
- The AI app checks with
wordpress_backup_statusand, with a supported backup plugin, starts a backup withwordpress_backup_now(also approved). - The built-in "Before a risky change" playbook does these in order.
Undo for 30 days
Every WordPress change is logged and can be undone for 30 days. Ask the AI app to undo a change: it lists them with wordpress_list_changes and undoes one with wordpress_undo_change. The undo is approved too.
- Cannot be undone: plugin, theme and WordPress updates (which is why a backup is suggested first).
- Cannot be undone: comments and spam deleted for good.
- Cannot be undone: emails already sent, such as an order note to a customer.
- Items created in Google Analytics stay until you archive them in Google Analytics yourself. SAR deletes nothing there.
The log and personal data
- The Activity page in SAR shows who changed what in the organization: sources, AI apps, the team, and the changes AI apps made.
- In wp-admin, under Tools → SAR Intelligence, Recent changes and Activity list every change SAR made, in a log nobody can edit.
- Customers' names, emails, phone numbers and addresses are masked on the site before anything leaves it: WooCommerce customers, form entries, abandoned carts.
- Magento is the one source where the AI app can read customer names, emails and order history.
- SAR does not record the questions asked or the data returned, and has no AI model of its own.
Everything SAR keeps and does not keep: Security.