First Mate (AI Assistant)
Last updated · Markdown
First Mate is ReadyHelm's built-in AI assistant. It shows up in four places:
- Adding a boat from documents. Upload photos or PDFs and First Mate reads them to set up the boat for you.
- Adding documents to a boat you already have. Vessel Records → Documents → Add.
- Filling in missing specs and equipment. The ✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can button.
- Chatting. The First Mate item in the sidebar, where you can ask questions about your boats and have it do simple tasks.
First Mate never changes your boat's record on its own. Anything it reads from a document or looks up becomes a suggestion that you approve, edit, or reject before it's saved. The only exceptions are small actions you ask for directly in chat, like "remind me to…" (see below).
Adding a boat with First Mate
When you add a boat (on first sign-in, or from + Add New Vessel), choose First Mate instead of Enter details. Then add as many documents as you have:
- HIN photo. A photo of the hull identification plate. First Mate reads the HIN and works out the builder and model year.
- Registration
- Insurance policy
- Survey report
- Purchase agreement
- Build sheet
- Receipt
- Service log
- Manual. Kept on file with the boat.
Larger documents (surveys, build sheets, service logs) can take a minute to read.
Reviewing suggestions
Each suggestion shows the value First Mate found and how confident it is. Suggestions are grouped into one card per item (for example, one card per piece of equipment on a receipt). For each suggestion you can:
- Approve it as-is.
- Edit the value, then approve it.
- Reject it.
Approve all high-confidence approves every pending suggestion above the confidence cutoff in one click. If two documents disagree, the stronger one wins and the other shows as "also found, lower priority." You can still Promote the lower-priority one if it's actually right.
On a receipt, items that aren't really equipment (cleaning supplies, small consumables, personal gear) show in an amber "Not equipment — logged as an expense" card. They're pre-approved as expenses so the spending is still tracked. You can undo any pre-approved item before you finish.
When you're done, Create vessel (new boat) or Save to vessel (existing boat) saves everything you approved.
Filling in missing specs and equipment
On Vessel Records → Specifications and on the Equipment page, ✨ Ask First Mate to fill in what it can looks for blank dimension fields (length, beam, draft, capacities, and so on) and a likely factory-standard engine for your make, model, and year. It works through three sources, cheapest first:
- Community data (free). If other owners of the same make, model, and year already agree on a value, it's used without spending anything. See Vessel Records → Specifications.
- First Mate's own knowledge (uses credits). Shown as "First Mate's best guess," with deliberately modest confidence.
- A web search of reputable sources (uses more credits). Only for anything step 2 couldn't answer, and skipped if you don't have enough credits left. Shown as "First Mate found this online," with a link to the source.
You review the results the same way as document suggestions, then Save to vessel.
Only the boat's primary owner can start a fill-in or add documents with First Mate. Shared Editors don't see those buttons. An Editor can still review and save suggestions they asked for in chat (see below).
Chatting with First Mate
Click First Mate in the sidebar (or the First Mate tile on Home). Start a New conversation and pick which boat it's about, or All boats to ask across your whole fleet. You can switch to a specific boat mid-conversation just by naming it.
Things you can ask it to look up:
- What maintenance is due or overdue, and past service history
- Open to-dos, equipment, and documents on file
- Trips, upcoming trip prep, and checklist status
- Float Plans
- The boat's record: registration, insurance, ratings
- Your certifications and emergency info
Things you can ask it to do:
- Create a reminder (a to-do)
- Add a piece of equipment
- Log a service entry or an expense
- Add an insurance policy or rating, or update the registration
- Check off a checklist item
- Invite crew to a boat
- Add a certification or update your emergency info
- Change things that are already there: edit, check off or reopen a to-do; correct a service entry you logged yourself or an expense; change a maintenance schedule or mark a task done; update a piece of equipment's condition, notes or replacement plan; edit a trip's details. It can't delete anything, and it can't change entries a yard or mechanic logged.
- "Help me fill in the specs." This creates suggestions for you to review on the Specifications tab, the same as the ✨ button. First Mate never saves them directly.
When First Mate creates a reminder or adds equipment, the chat confirms it and offers an undo.
First Mate only uses tools your plan includes, so it won't do anything your plan doesn't allow. It also stays on boating topics.
Conversations are saved. Rename or delete them from the conversation list, and collapse the list to give the chat more room.
First Mate credits
Reading documents, filling in specs, and chatting use First Mate credits. There are two separate balances:
- Onboarding credits. A one-time allowance for setting up boats from documents. It doesn't renew.
- Monthly credits. Used by chat and by "fill in what it can" on an existing boat. They renew each billing period (monthly on the Free plan).
How many credits you get depends on your plan. See your current balance under My Account → Storage, in the First Mate AI credits section, which also warns you when you're running low. If you run out, First Mate tells you when your credits reset. Upgrading your plan raises both allowances (see My Account, Plans & Upgrading).
Common questions
Does First Mate change my boat's records on its own?
No. What it reads from a document or looks up becomes a suggestion you approve, edit or reject before it's saved. The only exceptions are small actions you ask for in chat, such as creating a reminder, and those offer an undo.
What documents can First Mate read?
HIN plate photos, registrations, insurance policies, survey reports, purchase agreements, build sheets, receipts, service logs and manuals.
Is First Mate free?
First Mate document reading and chat are on every plan, Free included. They use First Mate credits, and higher plans get more (see Plans, Prices & Limits).