FAQ

Questions before you build a Claw.

If you are interested but not sure what this would actually do inside your business, start here.

Island Workflow lobster mascot on a Vancouver Island shoreline

Does Island Workflow build websites too?

Yes, as a supporting service. Island Workflow is still focused on Claw products and workflow systems, but we offer Web Design Services for businesses that need a cleaner online presence, better lead capture, or a website foundation that will be easier to connect to a future Claw.

Packages include a Quick Launch Page, a Small Business Site, and a Claw-Ready Website. The top two packages include on-site SEO optimization and clear instructions for setting up a Google Business Profile and Analytics account so clients can improve visibility and understand website traffic. Clients use their own hosting and domain accounts; when we are ready to start, we ask for the credentials or access details needed to build and launch safely. We prefer working with Bluehost or GoDaddy. Customers who purchase an eligible Full Build, Claw Readiness Session, and one-year Managed AI Runtime package can receive 50% off the website package in the cart.

What is a Claw?

A Claw is a business workflow helper for one pressure point. It catches requests, organizes details, prepares handoffs, reminds staff what needs attention, and hands sensitive decisions back to people. Behind the scenes, it is built with OpenClaw and configured around your approved tools, rules, and boundaries.

Why is it called a Claw?

Because the job is to grip the loose threads in the workflow — messages, tasks, documents, reminders, approvals, and follow-up — before they slip away. PropertyClaw, ServiceClaw, StorageClaw, and the rest are named for the specific business problem they are built to hold onto.

What is OpenClaw?

OpenClaw is the agent technology layer we build with. Island Workflow designs the Claw product line, workflow setup, prompts, integrations, and human-review rules around it so the agent can support real operations instead of only answering a chat box.

Is this just a chatbot?

No. Chat can be one doorway, but the value is the workflow behind it: intake, knowledge, routing, follow-up, escalation, reporting, and staff review.

Which Claw should we choose?

Choose the Claw that matches the leak you feel most: CallClaw for missed calls and messages, MediClaw for clinic-admin intake, FarmClaw for grower operations, ServiceClaw for missed service calls, StorageClaw for empty storage units, PropertyClaw for cold real estate leads, MoveClaw for slow moving quotes, StayClaw for guest questions, BuildClaw for project document chaos, MarineClaw for marine operations, CannaClaw for cannabis retail support, or CustomClaw for a custom cross-business workflow.

What happens in the Readiness Session?

We map your lead sources, channels, tools, staff roles, approval boundaries, FAQs, scripts, risks, and first launch path so you know what should be built before committing to a Full Build.

What is included in a Full Build?

A Full Build includes assistant identity, approved knowledge base, workflow rules, prompts, handoff paths, reporting, onboarding, 30 days of launch support, and an included business-class mini PC configured for the customer workflow.

Are hardware and shipping included?

Yes. Full Build systems include a new approved Lenovo, HP, or Dell business-class mini PC configured for your workflow. Island Workflow prioritizes Vancouver Island businesses, but systems are available to ship to Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Standard insured shipping within Canada is included; US/UK insured shipping, expedited delivery, special handling, duties, taxes, import fees, and unusual delivery requirements are quoted or confirmed separately before fulfillment.

Can it text customers back?

Yes, when the workflow and provider are approved. The cleanest setup is through an approved phone/SMS provider such as Twilio, Telnyx, OpenPhone, RingCentral, Dialpad, or a similar system where supported. Provider fees are separate.

Do we need Google Voice?

No. Google Voice is not required when you use a supported phone/SMS provider. In lighter setups, voicemail transcript emails can sometimes act as a fallback trigger, but actual text-back still usually needs an approved SMS provider.

Can MediClaw make medical decisions?

No. MediClaw is scoped for clinic administration: intake collection, appointment request routing, email or phone summaries, reminder support, and staff handoff. Medical advice, diagnosis, clinical triage, prescribing, emergency decisions, and privacy-sensitive approvals stay with qualified clinic staff.

Can FarmClaw handle cannabis or hemp growers?

Yes, if the workflow is scoped carefully. FarmClaw can support SOP lookup, grow task reminders, harvest/admin notes, buyer follow-up, and compliance handoffs, but regulated crop, cannabis, hemp, pesticide, or licensing decisions stay with the client and qualified advisors.

What will your systems not do?

Every Claw is built with a default rule: sensitive decisions go to a person. Island Workflow designs workflow tools, not regulators, lawyers, or licensed professionals.

Across every Claw in the suite, the following stay with your team and qualified humans:

  • Legal, contract, dispute, and licensed-professional advice.
  • Medical, clinical, diagnostic, triage, prescribing, and emergency decisions.
  • Financial, tax, investment, and insurance adjudication decisions.
  • Tenant screening and tenancy decisions tied to protected grounds.
  • Building code, permit, engineering, and regulated-trade sign-off.
  • Cannabis, agricultural, hemp, pesticide, food safety, and other regulated-product decisions.
  • Short-term rental bylaw, tourism tax, and host-of-record decisions.
  • Marine navigation, vessel safety, and emergency maritime traffic.
  • 911-equivalent emergency calls.
  • Any other approval, refund, claim outcome, or contract change the client marks as human-only during the Readiness Session.

The client stays legally responsible for their business and their industry’s regulators. Island Workflow is a workflow tool inside that responsibility, not a substitute for it. Our compliance and human review page has the full version.

Can it work with our existing tools?

Usually, yes. The Readiness Session checks what can connect directly, what should be handled through approved exports or summaries, and where a human handoff is safer than forcing an integration.

Can Island Workflow build custom integrations?

Yes. If a direct integration does not exist, a Claw can often still work with the system through APIs, webhooks, secure exports, email parsing, approved spreadsheets, automation bridges such as Zapier, Make, or n8n, a custom connector built for the workflow, or a private WordPress plugin that connects the client’s website, WooCommerce store, forms, booking flow, or assessment funnel to their Claw.

The Readiness Session confirms what should connect directly, what should be bridged, what should stay human-reviewed, and whether a custom integration is worth building compared with a simpler handoff.

Are custom integrations a separate fee?

Usually, yes. Simple bridges are typically $1,500–$3,500 CAD, standard custom integrations are often $3,500–$7,500 CAD, and advanced, regulated, or multi-system integrations can be $10,000–$25,000+ CAD depending on access, testing, reliability, and risk.

Custom integration components may become part of Island Workflow’s reusable integration library and IP. Client credentials, private data, configuration, and sensitive business rules remain private to the client. Ongoing maintenance is usually quoted separately so vendor API changes, logs, monitoring, and minor fixes are covered.

Can a Claw work inside Slack, Teams, or our team chat?

Yes. A Claw can connect to team-chat tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, or similar workspaces when the client approves the access. It can post lead alerts, call summaries, readiness submissions, daily briefings, unresolved-item lists, and follow-up reminders into the right channel.

It can also help staff ask internal questions from approved company knowledge, summarize busy threads, turn messages into tasks, and prepare draft replies for human approval. Customer-facing or sensitive actions still follow the client’s review rules.

Can my Claw update my website, FAQ, or chatbot?

Yes, when the right access and approval rules are in place. Island Workflow can connect a Claw to your website host, WordPress or WooCommerce site, CMS, chatbot content, forms, booking/intake flows, or private admin workflows so approved changes can be drafted, reviewed, and published faster.

It is not an uncontrolled bot changing your site on its own. During Readiness we confirm the host or CMS, backup plan, permissions, human review rules, and which changes are safe to automate versus which need owner approval.

How long does a Full Build take to receive?

A typical Full Build runs roughly 4 to 6 weeks from confirmed Readiness scope to launch handoff. This is a general guideline, not a promise. Every Full Build includes hardware that has to be procured, configured, tested, and shipped, so the actual date depends on Readiness scope, integration access, hardware availability, courier transit, and customs for US and UK shipments. Orders are processed in the order they are received, so if there are several builds ahead of yours in the queue, your target window can shift. Island Workflow confirms a target window during the Readiness Session and updates you if anything moves it.

How does support work after launch?

Remote Support keeps the Claw useful after launch through tuning, FAQ updates, workflow review, troubleshooting, and tool-change support when you need it. For managed runtime clients, the standard support path is a CAD 300 two-hour assessment up front, then CAD 150/hr for additional time. After-hours or urgent support may be quoted separately.

Why trust Island Workflow with this?

Our starting point is practical operating work: web, SEO, lead generation, project coordination, follow-up systems, documents, ecommerce, and online integrations across industries where speed and organization matter.

What is a Cloud-Hosted Claw?

A Cloud-Hosted Claw is a managed Island Workflow assistant for approved intake, Q&A, summaries, routing, handoffs, and light reporting. It helps organize the front door of the business without waiting for dedicated hardware or a deeper private system build.

Cloud-hosted is managed and bounded. It is not the same as a Self-Hosted / Full Build, and it should not be used to promise unrestricted customization, broad private-system access, or sensitive/regulatory-heavy workflow ownership.

What is the difference between Cloud-Hosted Basic, Cloud-Hosted Pro, and Full Build?

Cloud-Hosted Basic is for capturing and organizing requests: approved Q&A, intake, summaries, simple follow-up prompts, and staff handoff. Cloud-Hosted Pro is a stronger managed office loop support with better routing, more tailored intake paths, staff summaries, simple reporting, and limited safe integrations.

Self-Hosted / Full Build is the dedicated private Claw system: deeper integrations, approved self-hosted hardware where included, stronger privacy/control, custom workflows, more testing, and broader business-specific operation.

Can I buy Cloud-Hosted Basic or Pro directly?

For now, Island Workflow scopes Cloud-Hosted Basic and Cloud-Hosted Pro through Readiness or a direct fit conversation. That protects clients from buying a package that is too light for the workflow, too sensitive for a hosted assistant, or better suited to a dedicated Full Build.

What are Cloud-Hosted Basic and Cloud-Hosted Pro?

Cloud-Hosted Basic organizes the mess: one painful admin leak becomes guided intake, approved Q&A, clean summaries, safe acknowledgements, and a human-readable handoff. Cloud-Hosted Pro keeps things moving with more channels, better content refresh, routing, reminders, daily visibility, reporting, status tags, and light curated connections.

Is Runtime included with Cloud hosting?

No. Cloud hosting and Runtime are separate. Cloud hosting keeps the Claw online, backed up, monitored, and available. Runtime is the working capacity the Claw uses to read inquiries, reason through context, draft summaries, prepare handoffs, check knowledge, and create follow-up work. Every Claw requires a Runtime package for at least 12 months.

Why separate setup, Cloud hosting, and Runtime?

Separating them keeps pricing clearer and fairer. Setup pays for building and configuring the Claw. Cloud hosting pays for the hosted environment. Runtime pays for the working capacity behind each read, summary, handoff, and approved follow-up. This avoids forcing every small business into the same usage plan.

Will we need to manage the AI side ourselves?

No. If your Claw needs AI services behind the scenes, Island Workflow can manage setup, monitoring, routing, billing coordination, fallback planning, and usage review. Your team stays focused on the work, not API dashboards.

What is Managed AI Runtime?

It is the behind-the-scenes support package that keeps a Claw reliable: choosing the right model for the job, watching for errors, reviewing usage, and adjusting before costs or outages become a problem. Starter, Growth, and Pro / Voice options are matched to the workflow volume.

How many agents does a Full Build include?

Each standard Full Build includes one branded Claw agent for your business, such as ServiceClaw, PropertyClaw, StorageClaw, StayClaw, MoveClaw, BuildClaw, CallClaw, MediClaw, FarmClaw, CannaClaw, or MarineClaw. It is scoped to your workflow with approved boundaries, escalation rules, and human review where needed.

CustomClaw Full Build is the option for businesses that need a scoped multi-agent setup, such as separate lead, dispatch, follow-up, and reporting roles across multiple locations, brands, or unusual workflows. The exact number and shape of those agents is defined during Readiness.

Behind the scenes, Island Workflow runs helper services for routing, monitoring, support, and updates. Those are part of how we operate your Claw responsibly. They are not extra agents your team has to manage.

How do I know if a Claw is worth the cost?

We look at the cost of the system against the real time it can protect. For a small business, repeated emails, missed-call follow-up, quote intake, scheduling questions, form cleanup, reminders, and admin back-and-forth can quietly consume hours every month.

As a simple planning example, if a Claw saves even 5 to 10 hours a month, that can already represent a few hundred dollars of owner, admin, dispatcher, or customer-service time before counting any recovered leads, faster replies, or fewer dropped tasks. Heavier-use systems can protect much more time, but we prefer to estimate that during Readiness instead of promising a generic result.

The AI model cost itself is usually not the main line item. The practical value comes from the whole managed system: setup, integrations, monitoring, routing, handoffs, support, and making sure the right work reaches the right human at the right time.

Can your Claws handle voice or dictation?

Yes, with clear scope. We support two kinds of voice work, and we keep them honest about what they do.

  • Voicemail and missed-call transcription, and dictated notes: available across the Service-style Claws like ServiceClaw, PropertyClaw, MoveClaw, MarineClaw, and the related operations builds. Useful for capturing voicemails, missed-call summaries, job notes, quote notes, and handoff notes by speaking instead of typing.
  • Live phone agent (CallClaw): CallClaw is our primary voice product. Where your approved phone or SMS provider supports it, CallClaw can answer, route, and summarize calls. Phone provider, number, carrier, messaging, and usage fees are separate from Island Workflow pricing.

MediClaw intentionally limits voice features to administrative dictation only. It is not used as a clinical recording system or to transcribe clinical conversations.

How privacy works: for managed runtime clients, audio is processed through the Island Workflow API and discarded unless you ask us to keep it. Your team does not need to plug in third-party transcription accounts.

Bring-your-own-keys clients: if you have moved your Claw to your own provider keys, voice features run on your account and our gateway is not part of the pipeline.

What payment methods do you accept?

Our default checkout uses PayPal, which supports credit and debit cards as well as PayPal balances, so most customers can pay without creating a PayPal account.

Interac e-Transfer is available for Canadian customers who prefer it. Reach out through our contact page before purchasing and we will send the e-Transfer details and an invoice for your order.

For Remote Support and Managed AI Runtime time billed after the work is done, we send a separate invoice and ask for payment within 7 days.

How does Island Workflow charge for remote support?

We charge by time. For managed runtime clients there is a flat 2-hour assessment fee of CAD 300 up front, then any additional time is billed hourly. We send the invoice after the work is done and ask for payment within 7 days. A 60-minute minimum per session applies after the initial assessment block. For non-managed or Bring-your-own-keys clients we use a pre-authorized 120-minute minimum time block instead, so the cost is set up front and we pause if more time is needed.

We charge for time because real fixes sometimes take longer than expected, and we would rather be straightforward than promise an unrealistic flat price. Managed runtime clients pay less for the same fix because the system already gives us a head start: apps, integrations, hardware, and history are already mapped, so we can move quickly.

Do you care about AI’s environmental impact?

Yes. Island Workflow believes AI can be useful enough to build with, and important enough to make cleaner and more accountable. AI infrastructure uses energy, hardware, cooling, networks, and data centres, and we do not want to pretend that cost is zero.

We also see responsible AI as a trade, not only as an extra environmental burden. A well-designed Claw can reduce repeated emails, unnecessary searches, duplicated admin work, paper processes, avoidable back-and-forth, missed-call rework, staff time, travel, and physical materials that would often have been used anyway, just less efficiently.

That trade still needs honest accounting. We support greener data centres, more transparent energy reporting, efficient model routing, and using the right amount of compute for the job. Our goal is not to use AI everywhere for its own sake, but to build practical systems that create more value than they consume.

Industry familiarity before automation

The Claw suite focuses on repeatable patterns across property, calls, clinics, trades, storage, hospitality, moving, construction, growers, marine, cannabis retail, and complex founder-led groups instead of selling one generic AI package to everyone.

Island Workflow Claw Answers, fit checks, next steps

This assistant answers questions about Island Workflow Claw products only. It does not answer questions about WordPress plugins, Property Reels, or plugin support. Sensitive, legal, regulated, emergency, quote, or final-scope decisions go to the human team.

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