Frigade Launches Assist API to Automate AI-Driven On-Screen User Guides
The YC W23 startup replaces static help center text with browser-based agents that map UI workflows in real time.
Frigade has introduced the Assist API, a tool designed to allow in-app AI agents to provide real-time, on-screen visual guidance to users. The system aims to eliminate the reliance on static help center documentation by enabling agents to guide users directly through a product's interface.
Introduced by Frigade founder Christian, the Assist API allows AI agents to generate visual guides, provide conceptual text, or reject requests based on a user's specific screen context, feature flags, and permissions. Rather than requiring manual authoring, Frigade's system utilizes a browser-based agent deployed into a test or staging account. This agent maps the application's UI and workflows automatically to write the necessary documentation. To ensure guides remain accurate as products evolve, the mapping agent can be triggered via CI/CD pipelines or run on a set schedule.
The Gap in AI Onboarding
Traditional in-app guidance typically relies on manually authored onboarding flows or static articles that quickly become obsolete. As SaaS companies integrate AI agents into their platforms, a gap has emerged between an agent's ability to answer a general question and its ability to lead a user through a specific UI workflow. Christian noted that "no one likes reading a long list of bullets and mapping that back to a UI," highlighting the friction inherent in traditional documentation.
Shifting to Automated Discovery
This approach transforms product documentation from a manual writing task into an automated discovery process. By allowing AI agents to "see" and map the UI, companies can provide precise, visual guidance that adapts to the user's current state within the application. This shift is intended to reduce user churn and decrease the volume of support tickets by providing immediate, actionable directions instead of generic text.
Future Integration
As a Y Combinator W23 company, Frigade is positioning the Assist API as a bridge between LLM reasoning and UI execution. The ability for a parent AI agent to query these maps via a single tool call suggests a move toward more autonomous, context-aware user interfaces. The industry will now watch how this automated mapping scales across complex enterprise software with deeply nested permissions and frequently changing layouts.