THE FORGE, BEFORE YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT
t.ROY is on every Forge screen before you have an account. Open it and ask. It also offers a nudge on the three hardest Forge screens.
./t.roy --introduce
Meet t.ROY
The guide that knows where you are in the journey, and what it is not allowed to know. It is on every Forge screen, it becomes your own named coach in The Refinery, and it answers case managers in the staff workspace.
Coaching, not legal advice.
A workshop door propped open at night with an OPEN sign on it, a lamp lit over the workbench inside
About the name
Little t.ROY. Big Troy.
Say it "little Troy." That is why the t is small. It is named for Troy Richard Carr, the founder who built Steel Man. Around here the founder is big Troy, and the guide in your corner is little t.ROY. Big Troy built it strong. It is antifragile, like the man it is named for: push on it and it holds. Go ahead. Try it.
To reach the person, use the contact page. To read about him, see About.
01 / SURFACES
WHERE t.ROY WORKS
One assistant, in every part of Steel Man. What it does changes with where you are and who you are.
THE REFINERY, AS YOUR OWN COACH
Inside the Refinery the same assistant becomes your own named coach. At every point the Refinery shows the single most useful next step. Rules decide what the step is. The AI only explains why, and if the AI is down you still get the explanation.
IT CAN ACT, NOT JUST TALK
Ask it to find jobs, save one, set a follow-up date, take you to the right screen and point at the button. It cannot delete or send anything.
CURRENT FACTS, WITH SOURCES
For questions about current law or programs, the Refinery coach can search the web and cite its sources. When search is unavailable, it says so.
A PRACTICE PARTNER FOR THE HARD CONVERSATION
In the disclosure planner, practice the conversation with a practice partner you choose, as gentle or as tough as you want.
THE STAFF WORKSPACE
In Crucible, the organization workspace, t.ROY answers case managers about their caseload. Answers to staff are generated whole and checked against the organization's actual figures before they appear. Available to programs by arrangement.
02 / CONTEXT
WHAT IT KNOWS
A guide is only useful if it knows where you are standing. Here is what t.ROY is given, and what it keeps.
WHERE YOU ARE IN THE JOURNEY
Your coach knows where you are in the journey, your saved jobs and applications, your goals and the barriers you named, and the page you are on.
WHEN A FOLLOW-UP IS DUE
Your dashboard and your coach tell you when a follow-up is due. It is waiting for you each time you open the Refinery.
WHAT YOU TALKED ABOUT LAST TIME
Signed in, your coach keeps your conversation so it can pick up where you left off. That is on by default. You can turn it off in Settings.
BEFORE YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT, NOTHING
Before you have an account, t.ROY remembers nothing between visits. We keep a fingerprint of the question, not the question. We also keep your IP address with a daily usage count, so the free tool cannot be abused.
03 / BOUNDARIES
WHAT IT IS NOT ALLOWED TO KNOW OR DO
The limits are part of the design. Each one below describes how the system is built today.
YOUR RECORD, ONLY WITH YOUR YES
In the disclosure planner, we ask before any detail about your record is sent to the AI. Say no and you still get a useful template, written without the AI seeing anything about your record. The Forge is different: what you choose to write there is part of your answers, and your answers are sent to our AI providers to write your report.
IT DOES NOT REPEAT YOUR RECORD BACK TO YOU
t.ROY and the coach are both instructed never to define a person by their record, and not to repeat record details back. They say "the situation you described."
WHAT THE DISCLOSURE PLANNER KEEPS
We save the plan: the timing advice, the legal context, the script and the tips, so you can come back to it. The answers you type while building the plan shape it and are then let go. They are not saved. Your record details stay in your own profile, which only you can read.
PRACTICE STAYS OUT OF MEMORY
Practice is not saved unless you choose to save it. If you do, the transcript is text only and encrypted. Disclosure rehearsal is kept out of your coach's memory.
NO PROGRAM READS YOUR COACH
No program can read your conversations with your coach. No program can see or require your disclosure plan or your practice. If you choose to share your progress, your program can see how far along you are, including that a plan exists and how many times you practiced. Never your resume, your plan or your practice. Progress sharing is off until you turn it on.
IT CANNOT DELETE OR SEND
t.ROY cannot delete or send anything. It can take you only to a fixed list of screens inside the Forge and the Refinery.
The principle
The work stays yours.
People coming home have been asked for everything and told little about where it goes. So this page says what t.ROY knows, what it keeps, and where it stops.
A guide that does the work for you leaves you with nothing to stand on in the interview. t.ROY is there to help you do the work, and to stay out of the parts that are only yours.
A workbench with tools laid out in order, a resume on the bench, and three plates reading RESUME, DISCLOSE and PRACTICE
04 / SETTINGS
MAKE IT YOURS
People read, listen and work differently. These settings are in the Refinery today.
NAME YOUR COACH
The Refinery opens with a short tour, and you name your own coach.
PLAIN LANGUAGE, READ ALOUD, LARGER TEXT
Turn on plain language, have replies read aloud, and make text larger. You can also reduce motion and give the layout more room.
SPANISH COACHING
Your coach and t.ROY can reply in Spanish. Your resume stays in the language of the job posting.
SPEAK INSTEAD OF TYPE
On browsers that support it, you can speak instead of typing. Your voice goes to your browser's own speech service, not to us.
MEMORY ON OR OFF
Coach memory is on by default, so your coach can pick up where you left off. You can turn it off in Settings.
05 / GROUND RULES
THE GROUND RULES
How t.ROY is meant to be used, and who stays in charge.
A COACH, NOT A LAWYER
Coaching, not legal advice. t.ROY is instructed never to give legal advice, to say so when a question crosses that line, and to point you toward a local legal-aid office or reentry attorney.
YOU HAVE THE LAST WORD
t.ROY is a coach, and a coach can be wrong. You decide what to use. Answers to staff are generated whole and checked against the organization's actual figures before they appear.
YOUR NEXT STEP NEVER WAITS ON THE AI
Rules decide your next step, not the AI. If the AI is unavailable, your next step and the reason for it still show. Our document tools switch to a backup AI provider if the first one fails.
WHERE YOUR WORDS GO
What you type to t.ROY is sent to our AI provider to produce a reply. Anything already sent to an AI provider is under that provider's retention, not ours.
YOU CAN ERASE IT
You can turn coach memory off, and Delete my data erases it along with the rest of your work. Deleting asks for your password again, and it cannot be undone.
06 / For organizations
For staff, the numbers come first.
Answers to staff are generated whole and checked against the organization's actual figures before they appear. One organization-wide setting defines "quiet after N days," and every screen and the assistant read the same number.
No program can read a participant's conversations with their coach. The staff workspace is available to programs by arrangement.
Start where you are.
The Forge is free and needs no account. t.ROY is on the first screen. The Refinery is a free account, and your coach is waiting inside.
Coaching, not legal advice.