Shadow to God mode: setting how far a freight AI agent goes

Handing freight work to an AI agent is not one decision. A new customer is not a customer you have shipped for a hundred times. A few pallets of LTL are not a full truckload of millwork on a tight dock window. The freedom that makes sense for one is wrong for the other.

That is why Trace has four modes, and why you set them per customer and type of freight rather than once for the whole company. This post walks through what each mode does, what stays fixed in all of them, and how a team moves up one step at a time.

The four modes

• Shadow. The agent works in the background and sends nothing. It keeps the record and drafts in silence, so you see what it would have done.
• Supervised. The agent does the work, then waits for your approval before each step goes out.
• Autopilot. The agent works carriers on its own, from posting to negotiation, inside your limits. Anything for a customer waits for you.
• God mode. The agent works end to end with carriers and customers, inside your rules, and reports what it did.

Each step up widens who the agent may act toward without asking: nobody, then nobody without an approval, then carriers, then carriers and customers.

One task, four outcomes

The clearest way to see the modes is to hold one task still and change the mode. Here is an example with sample companies: a quote for a shipper like Larchmont Millwork, SQ-2481, four pallets of LTL from Concord, ON to Seattle, priced at $2,140.

• In Shadow, the rate is worked out at $2,140 and nothing is sent. The draft sits on the record, where you can compare it with what your rep sent.
• In Supervised, the quote and the reply are drafted and wait for your approval.
• In Autopilot, the carrier rates come in on their own, and the quote still waits for you, because it goes to a customer.
• In God mode, the quote goes out on its own, inside your margin rule and limits.

Other tasks follow the same pattern. A delay update for a customer is logged in Shadow, drafted for your approval in Supervised and Autopilot, and sent with a live tracking link in God mode. A carrier invoice that bills detention nobody owes is flagged in Shadow and drafted as a dispute with the POD in Supervised. In Autopilot and God mode, a documented dispute inside your limits goes to the carrier on its own, with the difference on hold.

Set per customer and type of freight

Because modes are set for each customer and type of freight, one company runs several at once. Here is an example of how a brokerage might set them, again with sample companies:

• All customers, LTL: God mode, from quote to delivery to payment, with the booking still waiting for one approval.
• Larchmont Millwork, FTL: Supervised, so every step waits for you.
• Kestrel Outdoor, volume LTL: Autopilot, so carriers are handled on their own and Kestrel hears from you.
• New customers, any freight: Shadow, until the drafts earn a promotion.

Limits sit inside each mode. In this example, a quote might go out on its own only under $5,000, at a 14% margin or better, for existing customers. A counteroffer might never go above 88% of the sell rate, and only to approved carriers. The mode says who the agent may act toward. The limits say how far.

What stays fixed in every mode

Three things do not change with the mode, God mode included:

• Bookings and rate confirmations wait for a person. The agent prepares them with the carrier picked and the reasons attached, and someone on your team approves.
• When the agent is unsure, it asks you with the context attached instead of guessing.
• Every email, call and change lands on the load's record, with who did it and why.

These are what make it safe to move up. Whatever the mode, you know where the agent stops, what it did, and how to correct it.

Moving up, one step at a time

Getting started means a demo, then a week of your own loads run through Trace with you. Most teams then start with one part of the work, such as quoting or tracking, beside the systems they run today. From there, a sensible path looks like this:

• Start in Shadow. Let the agent draft beside your team, and compare its drafts with what your people sent.
• Move to Supervised when the drafts read like your team's. The work now goes out, but only after a yes, so you see it at full speed with a hand on each step.
• Move carriers to Autopilot when your approvals become a formality. Posting, outreach and negotiation run inside your limits, and customers still hear from you.
• Move a customer or a type of freight to God mode when you trust it end to end. Routine freight is the natural place to begin.

Trust is earned per customer and per type of freight, never all at once.

You never have to move the whole company together. A new customer can start in Shadow while your steadiest LTL account runs in God mode. Two habits help along the way. Upload the procedures and customer rules you train people with, so the agent works to them from the first task. And correct it when it is wrong: when someone on your team corrects a reply, the correction is remembered for the next one.

Book a demo, bring a week of your loads, and pick the first customer to run in Shadow.