Using the North Star ^Appraisal Agent.

What it does

The Agent watches the folders you tell it to watch. When you save a comp PDF, a photo, or a voice note into one of those folders, the Agent slides a small message into the corner of your screen:

“New PDF: comp_2024-08-15.pdf — is this for the Maple St. assignment?”

Click Yes and pick the assignment. The file joins your workfile in the website. That’s it.

The Agent doesn’t open windows on its own. It doesn’t move your files. It never assembles your workfile — that always happens on the website — and it never charges you money. It just helps you keep things organized.

Install it

The Agent runs on Windows and Linux. There’s no Mac version yet. We email you a download link.

• Windows: open the downloaded file and click through the install screens. We don’t sign the build yet, so the first time you open it Windows may show a blue “Windows protected your PC” screen. Click More info, then Run anyway.
• Linux: open the downloaded file and follow the prompts for your distribution.

When it’s installed, you’ll see a small navy “NS” icon in your system tray. That’s the Agent.

Connect it to your account

We don’t want the Agent to hold your password. Connecting takes one click, and there’s nothing to copy or paste.

1. Open the Agent and click Connect.
2. It opens the website in your browser. If you’re not signed in yet, sign in.
3. Click Allow this computer. The browser hands the connection back to the Agent, and you’re done.

You only do this once per computer. To cut the Agent off later, open Settings › API keys on the website and remove its access.

Prefer to do it by hand? You can connect with a key instead. On the website, open Settings › API keys, click Create key, and copy it (you only see it once). In the Agent’s Settings tab, paste it into the Token box and set the Base URL to https://appraisal.athenanorthstar.com if it isn’t already. Save.

Pick the folders to watch

Tell the Agent which folders to keep an eye on. Pick the ones where you save your files — usually one or two, not your whole computer.

1. Click the Agent icon › Watched folders.
2. Click + Add folder.
3. Pick the folder. Good choices: your “Assignments” folder. Your Downloads folder. Your Dropbox folder.
4. Click Add.

The Agent watches for PDFs, photos, voice notes, and a few other common file types. It ignores everything else.

A normal day with the Agent

You don’t need to think about the Agent. Just work the way you always work.

1. You download a comp PDF from your MLS.
2. A small message slides in from the corner: “New PDF — which assignment is it for?”
3. You click the assignment in the short list it shows you.
4. The Agent uploads the PDF and files it under that assignment in the website.
5. You go back to whatever you were doing.

If you don’t know which assignment a file belongs to yet, click Not now. The Agent will ask you again later.

The end-of-day review

Once a day — at 5pm by default, but you can change it — the Agent shows you a quick summary. One screen listing everything it filed today, grouped by assignment.

Look it over. Click any file to see it in the website. If something’s wrong, fix it from there.

What the Agent can and can’t see

It can only see the folders you tell it to.

It only uploads files when you click Yes.

It doesn’t read your browser.

Email stays off until you turn it on. The Gmail connection is in limited early access — not yet switched on for every account. Where it’s available, if you connect Gmail and grant permission, the Agent can read your engagement inbox to pull out order details, and it can draft replies for you. It never sends anything on its own — you read and send every message yourself. If you don’t connect Gmail, the Agent never touches your email.

You can stop using the Agent at any time. Click the icon › Sign out. Anything already filed stays in your workfile.

Things that might go wrong

The icon is gray, not navy.

The Agent isn’t signed in. Click it and sign in again.

I dropped a file in the folder but didn’t get a message.

Tiny files (under 5 KB) are skipped on purpose. If the file is bigger than that and you didn’t see a message, click the icon › Recent activity. You can file it from there.

I clicked “Not now” and want it back.

Click the icon › Recent activity. You’ll see the file with a “File now” button next to it.

The Agent is slow or using too much memory.

Right-click the icon › Restart. If that doesn’t help, email us.

The Agent says a new version is out.

It only lets you know — it doesn’t update itself. When you see the notice, download the new version from the link we email you and install it over the old one.

My assistant works on my files too.

They should install the Agent on their own computer with their own North Star account. Sharing one Agent gets confusing fast.

Get help

Email support@athenadecisionsystems.com. Darin or Justin reads it. We answer within a day.

Heads-up. The Agent is still new. Expect rough edges. Tell us when something feels wrong — your feedback shapes what we build next.