Personal vs Service Agents
Open in CMSEvery agent is either a personal agent or a service agent. A personal agent is an assistant for you alone and may run on your own Claude or ChatGPT subscription. A service agent serves other people with every feature, except subscription models.
The reason is licensing: a Claude or ChatGPT subscription, reached through Claude Code or Codex on your computer, is meant for personal use, so only a personal agent may use its models.
The two kinds side by side
| Personal agent | Service agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Organization | Only your own Individual organization | Individual or Collective |
| Who manages it in the CMS | Only you, the organization Owner | As today: Owners, Admins and contributors |
| Who chats with it in Qlar (web chat and voice) | Only you, signed in | As set on Availability |
| Other contributors | Not possible | As today |
| WhatsApp (every connection type), Instagram, email | Yes, for anyone who knows the number or address. The agent acts on your behalf | Yes |
| Embed on a website, API keys, agent-to-agent (A2A), shared gallery | Not possible | Yes |
| Subscription models (your Claude or ChatGPT subscription) | Yes | No: hidden in model pickers and refused on save |
| Qlar models and your own API keys | Yes | Yes |
| Automations | Yes, they run as you | Yes |
New agents: in your own Individual organization the wizard asks which kind you want; there is no default. In a Collective organization, or in someone else's Individual organization, every new agent is a service agent.
Talking to others on your behalf
A personal agent can still be reached by other people on WhatsApp, Instagram or email. When someone other than you writes to it, it knows it is speaking for you: it helps with what they came for (passing on a message, arranging a time), does not share your private information, and does not commit you to anything its instructions do not allow. When you write to it yourself, it answers you as usual.
A WhatsApp number set to hand people over to the web chat only hands you over; anyone else carries on in WhatsApp, because the web chat of a personal agent is yours alone.
Change the kind
Only the organization Owner can change an agent's kind. Admins see the page read-only.
Open the Organizations page → select your organization → Manage (gear icon) on the agent's card → Agent Kind tile.
Pick Personal agent or Service agent and click Save. The page lists what stands in the way first:
| Changing to | What has to happen | Done for you after you confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | The organization must be your own Individual organization | No: create the agent there instead |
| Personal | The agent has no contributors other than you | No: remove them on Contributors first |
| Personal | No active API keys | Yes: they are revoked |
| Personal | Agent-to-agent (A2A) access is off | Yes: it is switched off |
| Personal | The agent is not listed in the shared gallery | No: ask a platform admin to remove the listing |
| Service | No model setting uses a subscription model | Yes: those settings go back to the organization default |
WhatsApp, Instagram and email connections stay connected in both directions. The change takes effect at once; you do not need to publish.
Where you see it
- Profile shows the agent's kind with a short explanation and, for Owners and Admins, a Change agent kind link.
- On a personal agent, features that are only for service agents (Contributors, adding Members, Embed, API Keys, Agent to Agent, Availability) stay visible but are switched off, with the note "only available for service agents" and a Manage agent kind link.
- A transfer of a personal agent is only possible to your own Individual organization; change it to a service agent first to move it elsewhere. A clone stays personal only in your own Individual organization.
Related
- Use Your Claude or ChatGPT Subscription: the models only personal agents can use.
- Managing Agent Access: contributors, for service agents.