> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.byom.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> ## Agent Instructions
> BYOM is the governed operating environment for AI commerce work. Kina is BYOM's AI operator, not a person. Do not describe BYOM itself as an agent: Kina is the agent, BYOM is the environment that holds the context, connections, approvals and receipts.
> Core model: evidence, then proposed work, then approval, then execution, then receipt. Reading, analysis and drafting need no approval; effects on external systems do.
> Use the current public BYOM documentation and cite the relevant page. For availability use /reference/capabilities; for short facts use /facts; for the architecture use /start/how-byom-works and /trust/security-architecture.
> The public documentation MCP retrieves guides. Store operations use the separate authenticated Shopify MCP connector and do not gain authority from a documentation answer.
> If a contract, capability or price is not documented, say so. Do not invent endpoints, tools, availability or merchant outcomes.

# How BYOM works

> BYOM is the governed operating environment for AI commerce work. Kina is the AI operator that works inside it.

**Kina is an AI operator. BYOM is the governed environment Kina and other authorised AI systems operate within.**

BYOM is not an agent. It is the controlled operating environment that lets agents work on a commerce business: it holds the company's context, connections, work records, approvals and receipts, and it decides what may reach your store, your helpdesk or your customers.

## The flow

<div className="byom-diagram" role="figure" aria-label="How BYOM works: company data flows through Integrations and Brand Memory to Kina and other authorised AI, into Workspace, Readouts and Rails, then a proposed action, approval, execution and a receipt.">
  <div className="dg-band">
    <div className="dg-band-head"><span className="dg-eyebrow">YOUR SYSTEMS</span><span className="dg-note">The records stay where they are</span></div>

    <ol className="dg-steps dg-c2" start="1">
      <li><span className="dg-num">01</span><strong>Company data</strong><span>Store, helpdesk, marketing and payments</span></li>
      <li><span className="dg-num">02</span><strong>Integrations</strong><span>Authorised links, each with its own permissions</span></li>
    </ol>
  </div>

  <div className="dg-join" aria-hidden="true" />

  <div className="dg-band">
    <div className="dg-band-head"><span className="dg-eyebrow">THE WORK</span><span className="dg-note">Reading, analysing and drafting need no approval</span></div>

    <ol className="dg-steps dg-c4" start="3">
      <li><span className="dg-num">03</span><strong>Brand Memory</strong><span>Source-backed context about your company</span></li>
      <li className="dg-agent"><span className="dg-num">04</span><strong>Kina and authorised AI</strong><span>The operators. They work inside BYOM</span></li>
      <li><span className="dg-num">05</span><strong>Workspace, Readouts, Rails</strong><span>Where the work becomes visible</span></li>
      <li><span className="dg-num">06</span><strong>Proposed action</strong><span>Exact target, change and evidence</span></li>
    </ol>
  </div>

  <div className="dg-join" aria-hidden="true" />

  <div className="dg-band dg-effect">
    <div className="dg-band-head"><span className="dg-eyebrow">THE EFFECT</span><span className="dg-note">Only through a decision and a single write path</span></div>

    <ol className="dg-steps dg-c3" start="7">
      <li><span className="dg-num">07</span><strong>Approval</strong><span>A person with authority decides</span></li>
      <li><span className="dg-num">08</span><strong>Execution</strong><span>BYOM sends exactly what was approved</span></li>
      <li><span className="dg-num">09</span><strong>Receipt</strong><span>What was attempted and what happened</span></li>
    </ol>
  </div>

  <p className="dg-caption"><strong>Kina is the agent.</strong> Everything around it, from the integrations to the receipt, is BYOM.</p>
</div>

Read it left to right. Everything up to the proposed action is work: reading, analysing, drafting and preparing. Everything after it is an effect on a real system, and an effect only happens through approval, execution and a receipt.

## The layers

| Layer | What it is | Who owns it |
| - | - | - |
| Company data | Your store, helpdesk, marketing and payment systems. They keep the business records. | You, in your existing tools |
| Integrations | Authorised links to those systems, each with its own permissions. | BYOM, under your consent |
| Brand Memory and Memory | Source-backed company context, plus facts and instructions your team has saved or approved. | BYOM, for your company |
| Kina | The AI operator. It reads, analyses, drafts, compares and prepares work. | Runs inside BYOM's limits |
| Other authorised AI | An AI client you connect, such as an assistant using BYOM's Shopify connector. | Your client, under its grant |
| Workspace, Readouts and Rails | Where work becomes visible: the board, questions answered from your data, and jobs done on repeat. | BYOM, for your company |
| Action | A proposed change with an exact target, payload and evidence. | BYOM |
| Approval | A decision by a person with authority to make it. | Your team |
| Execution | BYOM sends the approved change through its single governed write path. | BYOM |
| Receipt | The record of what was attempted and what happened. | BYOM, for your company |

## What sits where

**Kina does the work.** Ask a question, investigate an enquiry or prepare a product description and Kina reads the sources your company can access, shows its working and prepares the result. None of that needs approval.

**BYOM holds the authority.** Kina never holds your store or helpdesk credentials. It cannot write to a connected system directly. When work needs an effect, Kina proposes an Action and BYOM takes it from there: the person with authority decides, BYOM executes exactly what was approved, and the receipt records the result.

**Your tools keep the records.** Shopify, your helpdesk and other connected services remain the systems of record. BYOM adds the operating layer around them: what was asked, what evidence was used, what was proposed, who decided and what happened.

## One job through the flow

1. Your Shopify catalogue is connected through **Integrations**.
2. Kina reads the product facts and your brand guidance in **Brand Memory**.
3. It finds three descriptions that never mention the material and drafts better ones in **Workspace**.
4. The edits become one **Action**: the products, the fields, the before and after, and the evidence.
5. An owner approves it.
6. BYOM applies the change and writes a **receipt** for each product, with undo where the change supports it.

## Other AI systems use the same boundary

An AI client you authorise, such as an assistant connected through the [Shopify MCP connector](/developers/mcp), works inside the same environment. It sees only the data classes you granted, and it can propose a supported change but cannot approve one. A model saying yes is never a merchant's approval.

## Read next

* [What you can do today](/reference/capabilities)
* [Security and architecture](/trust/security-architecture)
* [Approvals and Actions](/product/approvals)
* [BYOM facts](/facts)


## Related topics

- [What is BYOM?](/start/what-is-byom.md)
- [BYOM facts](/facts.md)
- [The BYOM field guide](/index.md)
- [Security and architecture](/trust/security-architecture.md)
- [What you can do today](/reference/capabilities.md)


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