The Handbook Companion
A quiet guide that answers what a handbook actually says — nothing more.
A conversational agent that helps people navigate policy documents without the friction of scrolling through PDFs. It answers in short, grounded replies and reveals more only when asked.
The problem
Policy content is dense, fragmented, and rarely read at the moment of need. People ask colleagues instead of documents — a slow, uneven form of knowledge distribution.
The approach
Designed with strict grounding to a single source of truth, progressive disclosure over information dumping, and a friendly-but-neutral voice. The interesting work sat in the guardrails, not the generation — deciding what the agent should refuse to answer was as important as what it should say.
The outcome
A pattern for policy assistants that stay useful because they stay honest. It turned a static document into something that feels like a patient colleague.