How Spotter works
One person looks out for the others. Nobody else needs an account, and nobody installs anything new.
You, the spotter
Sign in with PayPal. Add the people you look out for, set their limits, and get asked when something needs you.
Your people
Gran, Leo and your AI agent. No accounts. Each connects once, then sends Spotter anything that asks for money.
PayPal
Holds the money while Spotter checks and you decide. Then pays it, or cancels the hold.
Set up in three steps
- 1
Log in with PayPal
That's your account. Choose a PIN; you'll type it to approve anything.
- 2
Add your people
Gran, a kid, an AI agent. Pick a preset, then tweak the weekly limit and the amount above which you're asked.
- 3
Connect each one
Send Gran a Telegram link, give Leo the Discord app, paste your agent's key. About thirty seconds each.
How each person reaches Spotter
The one time connect, then the everyday habit. Pick a channel.
Best for Gran: one tap to connect, then she just forwards things.
Once, to connect
- You open Gran's page in Spotter and press Connect Telegram.
- You send her the link it makes (text it, or show her the QR).
- She taps it and presses Start. That's it, she's paired.
Every day after
- Something asks her for money? She forwards it to the Spotter chat.
- If it came as a text, she copies the words and shares them there.
- Spotter answers in the same chat, and asks you if it needs to.
PayPal agent tools, with a spotter
The PayPal Agent Toolkit lets an AI agent create and pay orders, with no spending limit and no approval step. Point the agent at Spotter instead and every order goes through the same check, then waits for you.
While the money waits
A held payment isn't just parked. Spotter's case agent looks into it, usually before you've opened the alert.
When a message has a link that wants card details or a login, I don't want Gran clicking it to find out. So the case agent opens that one link in a throwaway cloud browser (KERNEL), notes where it really ends up and what the page asks for, takes a small screenshot, and the browser gets deleted. It only looks. It never types, clicks or submits anything.
The same KERNEL browser checks a shop an AI agent is about to pay: what a person sees next to what the agent reads (hidden instructions), and the tools the page offers AI agents. For a parcel style link it opens the page twice at once, as a desktop and as Gran's phone, because some scam pages only show the card form to phones.
Who's being paid
Has anyone in the family paid them before? Then the Spotter network: did other Spotter families say no to this payee in the last 30 days? Families only ever share a scrambled fingerprint of the payee, never names or messages.
Where the links really go
Every link in the message gets followed to where it ends up, with its domain age, look alike names and borrowed brands. A parcel fee link that points at a site made four days ago says so.
A safer way to buy it
If it's a real product, Spotter prices it at real shops with Channel3, and says when it's far too dear or far too cheap. One tap denies the risky payment and buys it at a real shop instead, through PayPal, with buyer protection.
Every line has a source
Each finding in the case file names the check it came from. If the AI writes something no check found, code throws it out. The case agent can only read: it can't pay, approve or deny.
Watchtower, the family's board AG Studio
Every payment, hold and scam sign in one place, and you can just ask it things. "What did Leo try to spend on games?" and Claude builds the chart for you. It can read and rearrange the board, nothing else, and it never sees the scam messages themselves.
What Spotter can and can't do
It can
- Check anything sent to it: a forwarded email, a forwarded Telegram message, a Discord message (right click, Apps, Check with Spotter), an agent's request.
- Hold a payment at PayPal while you decide, then pay it or cancel the hold.
- Show you why, quoting the exact words that worried it.
- Refuse payments with no way back if it's a scam: gift cards, crypto and Friends and Family.
- Make AI agents pay only through it, with no way to approve themselves.
- Look into a held payment for you and offer a safer shop when there is one.
- Read a screenshot of a message and check its words, or price each thing in a photo of an ad or a quote at real shops. Channel3
- Watch a price for you at real shops and tell you when it drops. It never buys on its own. Channel3
It can't
- Read texts, chats or calls by itself. Phones don't allow it, and that's a good thing.
- Stop someone paying directly in the PayPal app if they skip Spotter.
- Be right every time. When it isn't sure, it asks you instead of guessing.
- Move real money in this demo: it runs on the PayPal sandbox.
It only runs on the sandbox for now. What would need to be true before real money, and what's working right now.
Questions people ask
Does Gran need an account?
No. Only you, the spotter, sign in (with PayPal). You add Gran on your dashboard, set her limits, and she connects her email, Telegram or Discord once with a code or a link. She never sees a dashboard or a password.
What stops Gran just paying in the PayPal app?
Nothing, and I'd rather say so. For people, Spotter is a habit, like ringing a sensible friend before paying: it only helps when Gran forwards the ask. For AI agents it's enforced, because the agent only gets Spotter's tools and a Spotter key, never your PayPal login.
What if the AI gets it wrong?
It has to quote the words that worried it, so you can judge for yourself, and code throws out any warning it can't find in the message. When the check can't run, the payment waits for you instead of going through.
What about Friends and Family payments?
PayPal Friends and Family has no buyer protection. If it's a scam there's no refund and no way to get it back, which is why scammers ask for it. Spotter doesn't send those. If the seller looks genuine, it says pay with Goods and Services. If the ask looks like a scam, it holds it for you and says don't pay at all.
Can an AI agent approve its own payment?
No. An agent can find products, ask to pay, check a payment and check its allowance. There's no approve tool, and approving on the dashboard needs your PIN.
What if I don't answer in time?
Nothing is paid. PayPal only reserved the money, and if nobody approves before the hold runs out, PayPal cancels it.
Can Spotter read Gran's texts or chats by itself?
No, and nothing should. Phones don't let apps read your messages. Spotter works like ringing a sensible friend: when something asks for money, Gran forwards it to Spotter first, or pastes the words in. It takes two taps.
Where do I put the AI agent's key?
On the agent's page in Spotter, press Make a key. Paste the one line it shows into Claude Code, or the config block into Claude Desktop (Settings, Developer, Edit config). The key is shown once and only stored scrambled.
Is this real money?
Not here. This is the PayPal sandbox, so every payment is real PayPal, with fake money. In a live version, Gran would link her PayPal once so Spotter can pay on her behalf after the check.
What is Watchtower?
The family's dashboard. Every payment, hold and scam sign on one board, and you can ask it questions in plain words. Claude builds the chart. It only reads, and it never sees the scam messages.
What data does Spotter keep?
Your household, the people you add, their limits, and the payments with the text that was checked, so you can see why. Demo families are deleted after 48 hours. See the privacy page.
See it with the demo family.
Gran, Leo and a shopping agent, already set up. No sign up, fake money.