How to use Ivy

Ten minutes of setup, then school admin looks after itself. Here's the whole thing.

Getting set up (one time, ~10 minutes)

1 · Sign in. Go to ivyassist.co.uk/login and sign in with Google. We only ask for your name and email — Ivy never gets access to your inbox.

2 · Link Telegram. After signing in, tap the Open Telegram button. It opens a chat with @IvyAssistBot and links it to your account automatically. Say hello.

3 · Connect your school's emails. Ask Ivy: "how do I forward my school emails?" — she'll give you your personal Ivy address (it looks like u-xxxx@in.ivyassist.co.uk). Everything Ivy knows comes from emails sent to that address, so this is the step that matters. There are two ways to do it, and both work equally well:

3a · If you use Gmail — set it and forget it. Ivy walks you through it: add your Ivy address under Gmail's forwarding settings (she sends the confirmation code straight to your Telegram), then create a filter so emails from your school forward automatically. From that moment Ivy handles every school email without you lifting a finger.

3b · If you use Outlook, iCloud, Yahoo or anything else — forward them yourself. Just forward each school email to your Ivy address, the same way you'd forward it to your partner. Takes about ten seconds, and Ivy reads it exactly the same. If your mail app supports rules (Outlook does), you can point one at your school's address and it becomes automatic too — but you never have to. Forwarding by hand is a perfectly normal way to use Ivy, not a workaround.

Not sure it worked? Forward one recent school email now, then ask Ivy "what's coming up?" — if she answers from it, you're connected.

Everyday use — just talk to her

There are no commands to memorise. Message Ivy in Telegram like you'd message another parent:

You: what day is the zoo trip?
Ivy: The Twycross Zoo visit is on July 8th — packed lunch needed. 📧 Sources: [1]

You: anything else I need to do?
Ivy: Order the packed lunch by Friday, and complete consent on Arbor if you haven't. [1]

You: add "buy sun cream" for Thursday
Ivy: ✅ Added: Buy sun cream (Due: Jul 07)

You: what's on our list?
Ivy: 📝 Your Tasks: 1. Order packed lunch (Jul 04) · 2. Buy sun cream (Jul 07)

You: actually move the sun cream to Friday
Ivy: ✅ Updated: Buy sun cream

You: done with the packed lunch
Ivy: 🎉 Completed: Order packed lunch

You: delete the sun cream one
Ivy: 🗑️ Deleted: Buy sun cream

Add, list, edit (change a name or date), tick off, delete — all in plain English. No forms, no apps, no syntax.

When a school email arrives, Ivy messages you with what it was and any tasks she pulled out of it. Every morning at 7:30 she sends a digest of what's coming up.

The whole family on one list

Say "invite my partner" and Ivy gives you a link to send them. When they tap it, she walks them through signing in — from then on you share one task list and one set of school-email answers. Either of you can add, tick off, or ask about anything; each of you chats to Ivy in your own Telegram chat, and she keeps you in sync behind the scenes.

You: invite my partner
Ivy: 👨‍👩‍👧 Invite link for the Davies family: t.me/IvyAssistBot?start=invite_… — send it to your partner and I'll take it from there.

Good to know

She cites her sources. Answers from school emails come with the email they came from. If it's not in an email, she says so rather than guessing.
Follow-ups work. She remembers the last day's conversation, so "anything else?" makes sense to her.
PDFs too. Send her a PDF (newsletter, letter) in Telegram and she'll read it and find the tasks.
First reply of the day can be slow. Ivy naps when nobody needs her — the first message can take ~30 seconds while she wakes up. After that she's quick.
Double-check the big stuff. Ivy's AI and very good, but not infallible — for payments and deadlines, the school's original email is the source of truth.

Something broken? Something missing?

Just tell Ivy — "the digest came twice today" or "I wish you could read WhatsApp too" — and she passes it straight to the team (a real human reads every one, usually within the day). During the pilot, your feedback literally decides what gets built next.

Your data, your exit

Everything Ivy stores is only used to run the service for your family — the full detail is in the Privacy Policy. Want out? Send /delete_account to Ivy and everything is permanently erased, instantly, no email to support, no retention tricks.