Getting started with Ezra
From your first text to Ezra doing real work — what to expect, what's happening behind the scenes, and what's safe to text him.
1. Get Ezra's number
Tap the "Say hi to Ezra" button on the homepage. On an iPhone, that opens iMessage with Ezra's number already filled in and a starter message ready. Just hit send.
If you're on a desktop or Android, you'll get the option to either receive a text from Ezra directly or grab his number to text yourself. Either way works.
2. Tell Ezra a little about yourself
Ezra's first three messages will ask:
- Your name
- What you do day-to-day
- What you'd like to start with (usually email or calendar)
Answer in normal sentences. He's listening for context, not filling out a form. "I'm a freelance designer who's drowning in client emails" is a perfect answer. So is "I'm a parent who needs help keeping track of stuff."
3. Connect your first account
Ezra will offer to connect something — usually email. He'll send you a link in iMessage. Tap it once, complete the standard sign-in for that service (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) in your browser, and you'll bounce right back to iMessage.
This is the only browser tap you'll need to do to get started. From this point forward, everything happens in iMessage.
4. Watch Ezra do something useful immediately
Within a few seconds of connecting, Ezra will tell you what he sees. Not "I'm ready to help!" — actually specific things. "You have 14 unread emails, 4 from clients, the most urgent looks like..." He's already useful before you've done anything else.
From here, just text him whatever's on your mind.
What's safe to text Ezra
Anything you'd text a smart, helpful friend who works with computers. He's read into what you're doing, he keeps things confidential, and he won't judge how mundane the question is.
Examples:
- "Reply to that buyer about the Madison house"
- "What's on my calendar this week?"
- "Remind me to pick up dry cleaning Tuesday"
- "Help me write a thank you note for grandma"
- "Find Tom's number in my email"
- "Is there anything I'm forgetting before the trip?"
What's not safe to text Ezra
The same things you wouldn't text anyone. Don't paste passwords, credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other sensitive credentials into iMessage — anywhere, including to Ezra.
For things that genuinely need credentials (connecting accounts, paying for things), Ezra will send you a link to a secure page on your browser. He'll never ask you to paste a password into the iMessage thread.
If you're nervous about anything
Just text Ezra. He'll explain. Some examples that work:
- "What can you actually see in my email?"
- "Will you ever send something without asking me?"
- "Can you delete everything you know about me?"
- "What are you sharing with anyone else?"
The answers, in case you want to know now:
- Ezra reads what you ask him to read. He doesn't browse your inbox in the background.
- Ezra never sends anything visible to others (emails, calendar invites, messages) without your explicit "yes."
- Yes — text "delete me" and your account and all data is gone within 24 hours.
- Nothing. He doesn't sell, share, or syndicate your data. He doesn't train AI models on it.
What to expect in the first week
Ezra gets noticeably better as he gets to know you. Your drafts will start sounding more like you. He'll start anticipating things you typically want done. He'll surface patterns ("I noticed you always reschedule meetings on Fridays — want me to start auto-suggesting that?") and ask before changing his behavior.
You don't have to do anything special to make this happen. Just use Ezra normally. The personalization is automatic — and reversible. You can always say "you're wrong about X" or "stop doing Y" and he'll adjust.
That's it. The whole getting-started guide. From here, you just text Ezra.