# How Charming works

> Markdown twin of <https://usecharming.com/how-it-works>. Served for agents that ask for `Accept: text/markdown` or follow the `<link rel="alternate" type="text/markdown" href="/how-it-works.md">` declared on the HTML page.

You connect Charming to whichever AI you use. You describe an app. Your AI writes it, Charming gives it a link and somewhere to keep its data, and both of you can keep using and changing it. You decide who else gets in.

## From one sentence to four people using it

The app is Settle, one of the examples on this site (<https://charm.ing/michael-work/settle>): line items off a bill, who ordered what, who owes whom.

1. **Connect.** Add Charming to whichever AI you use. ChatGPT and the Codex desktop app install Charming from one listing; Claude and Grok take a custom connector; anything that can make web requests can use the HTTP path instead. Clients that support it show a one-time consent screen. You can also skip the account entirely for a first app and claim it later. Setup walkthroughs, one per client: <https://charm.ing/docs/clients>.
2. **Ask.** "Build me a bill-splitting app where I can add line items, assign each one to a person, and see who owes what." Your AI writes it. Charming has no model of its own and never asks you to switch.
3. **Host.** Charming hands back a link. The app is stored, served, and given somewhere to keep its data: the line items and who owes what, plus file storage if it needs to hold a photo of the receipt. No provider to pick, no config file, no deploy step.
4. **Use.** Open it at the table, on your phone. It is a normal web page, so it can go on a home screen. In chat clients that render apps inline, the app appears in the conversation instead of as a link, which is where you would paste the receipt and let your AI enter the items.
5. **Keep changing it.** Next trip: "let me mark someone as settled up." A new chat, in the same AI or a different one, reads the app as it stands and changes that one thing. Every bill already in it stays where it is.
6. **Share.** Send it to the three people on the bill. They open the same app and see the same totals, and you choose whether each of them can edit it or only look. Nobody outside that list gets in, unless you deliberately make the app public.

## Who does what

| Your AI                                                       | Charming                                                     |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Decides what the app should do with you, and writes it        | Stores and serves it at a link that keeps working            |
| Reads the app back later and edits it                         | Keeps the app's data, so an edit does not reset it           |
| Runs the app's operations on your behalf when you ask in chat | Checks, on every call, that the caller is allowed to make it |
| Comes with your own subscription, whichever one you pay for   | Supplies no model and never asks you to switch AI            |

## What your AI can do with Charming

Once connected, your AI can build, update, use, and share your apps with you. It can:

- Make an app, keep its data, and change it as your needs change.
- Read and update the app's data when you ask.
- Invite people, change their access, or revoke it.
- Publish an app when you want anyone with the link to use it.

Sign-in happens on Charming, and you can review or revoke connected agents at any time. See <https://charm.ing/docs/capabilities/connect-any-agent> for the exact access rules and setup steps.

## Where the app and its data live

Charming hosts the app and keeps its data available across visits and AI chats. The providers behind the service are listed at <https://usecharming.com/subprocessors>, and what we do with personal data is at <https://usecharming.com/privacy>.

Apps run in a managed, isolated environment. Charming protects access and keeps connected service keys out of app code. See <https://usecharming.com/security> for a scannable overview, or <https://charm.ing/docs/work/security-review> for the full details.

## Who can open it

Apps are private by default. Invite the people you choose, decide whether they can view, use, or edit the app, and revoke access at any time.

Publish an app when you want anyone with the link to use it, then make it private again when you are done. See <https://charm.ing/docs/capabilities/privacy-and-sharing> for roles and public-app data behavior.

## Where to go next

- <https://usecharming.com/build-an-app-with-ai>: the same loop as a tutorial, with a prompt to start from.
- <https://usecharming.com/share-an-app-with-friends-safely>: sharing in depth, including the options that are not Charming.
- <https://usecharming.com/where-to-host-an-app-you-built-with-ai>: how Charming compares to general-purpose hosts.
- <https://charm.ing/docs/clients>: setup per client.
- <https://usecharming.com/work>: Charming for Work.
- <https://usecharming.com/fair-use>: what we ask of you in return.