📋 Status: Alpha / early access. Archie is Archive's Slack-based creator-sourcing agent. Join the waitlist here.
This guide covers what to expect while Archie runs, what each status means, why searches sometimes pause, and how credits work. If something looks off after you've read this, chat with us or email [email protected].
How Archie Works
Archie is a Slack bot, not a web app. There's nothing to log into — you tag it in a Slack channel and it works in the thread. The web page it links you to is your results page for that search, not a separate product.
Every search moves through four stages:
Brief intake — Archie asks questions, then writes the criteria back to you for sign-off. Nothing runs until you approve the brief.
Sourcing — Archie searches Instagram and builds a candidate pool.
Vetting — Archie reads ~6–9 recent posts from each candidate — the video, caption, and comments — and records a verdict against your criteria.
Review — Archie presents results in the Slack thread. You approve or reject each creator; your feedback tunes the next batch inside the same search.
📋 What Archie does differently: Archie doesn't filter a database. It opens each candidate's recent posts and analyzes the content against the criteria you agreed to. That's why searches take 10–20 minutes — and why Archie can answer questions no filter can, like "did this creator do a paid post for a competitor?".
Today, Archie is Instagram-only. A few things Archie doesn't do:
It's not Creator Vetting — that pulls a creator's full history across years. Archie reads ~6–9 recent posts.
Results don't flow into Archive campaigns automatically. You get a CSV export of the approved creators.
Archie can't vet a creator list you already have. This is a known gap; let us know if it's a fit you'd want.
Requesting a List from Archie
📋 Note: Before tagging Archie, make sure you have already invited it to the Slack channel.
In the Slack channel, type @archie and share what you're looking for.
Archie may ask follow-up questions to make sure it's looking for the right creators. Answer them in the thread.
Once you and Archie agree on the plan, Archie posts a rundown of the brief plus a link to your progress page.
Open the link to follow the search as it runs.
How Long a Search Takes
Plan on 10–20 minutes per search. That's normal. Archie is reading and analyzing creator posts, not running a query.
Sourcing typically takes several minutes.
Vetting is the longest stage, and results arrive in batches — Archie pings the Slack thread as each batch is ready, rather than delivering everything at the end.
"It's been 15 minutes and nothing's happened yet" is expected. Go do something else; Archie will ping the thread.
Following Your Search Progress
Open the link Archie shares in the Slack thread to see your Search progress page. Everything on this page updates as the search runs, so you can leave it open or check back later.
Here's what you'll find on the page:
Session status (top right corner) shows where the whole search is, for example Searching. These are the same session statuses described in the section above.
Creator status tabs across the top let you switch between Sourced, Qualified by AI, Disqualified by AI, Rejected, and Approved. Each tab shows a count, and the list below shows the creators currently in that stage. Early in a search these counts will all be zero and the list will say Nothing in this segment. That's normal, since creators only start filling the tabs once vetting produces results.
Queue summary under the tabs shows how many creators are in queue and how many are being researched right now, for example "2 in queue, 0 researching".
Ask Archie to refine links you back to the conversation if you want to adjust the brief mid-search.
Campaign brief opens the criteria you and Archie agreed on, so you can double-check what the search is actually looking for.
Archie's thinking (right side) is a live feed of what Archie is doing at each step, like waiting on brief details, kicking off the search, or moving into vetting.
Once creators appear in a tab, the list shows each one with their Followers, ER (engagement rate), US aud. (US audience share), and Fit against your brief.
What the Creator Card Shows
Scroll down on a creator's card to see the data behind Archie's verdict.
The top of the card shows the creator's profile at a glance: their name and handle, a category tag such as Coach or Entrepreneur, their Instagram bio, and an Open on Instagram link to check the account directly.
Archie's verdict appears as a checklist. The lines aren't fixed. They reflect the criteria from your brief, so a search that cares about location, credentials, engagement, and brand partnerships will show checks against each of those. A check means the creator meets the criterion, a warning means something needs a closer look. The Assessment below explains the verdict in full, and Show full assessment expands the complete reasoning.
Further down the card:
Creator: Location, age range, and language.
Performance: Followers, engagement rate, average reel plays, median and mean views over the last 90 days, and how many posts went viral in that period by reach or engagement.
Audience: An age breakdown of the creator's audience, along with an audience credibility score.
Brands & Partnerships: Whether the creator's recent posts include sponsored content, the share of posts with organic brand mentions versus no brand at all, and which brands appeared, with links to the specific posts. This is based on the creator's most recent posts that Archie analyzed.
Activity: Posting frequency, date of the last post, hidden-like rate, and sponsored ratio.
Recent Posts: Thumbnails of the posts Archie reviewed during vetting.
Reviewing Vetted Creators
Once creators reach Qualified by AI or Disqualified by AI, you review them one at a time from the results page. Click a creator to open their card.
At the top of the card you'll see the creator's name, Instagram handle, location, and a fit score showing how well they match your brief. Open on Instagram takes you to their profile so you can check the account directly.
Below that, Archie's verdict is summarized as a checklist. Each line is a criterion from your brief, marked with a check when the creator meets it or a warning when something needs a closer look, for example a note to verify whether the creator's reach is sufficient. The Assessment section underneath explains the verdict in full. Click Show full assessment to read the complete reasoning.
To make your decision:
Use Approve & next to accept the creator and move to the next card. Approved creators go into your CSV export.
Use Reject & next to reject the creator and move on. Your rejections teach the next batch within the same search.
Use the prev and next arrows to move between creators without deciding yet. The counter at the top shows where you are in the batch.
You can also review from the keyboard: A approves, R rejects, and the arrow keys move between creators.
📋 Note: Approving or rejecting doesn't affect what you're billed. Credits are spent when Archie qualifies a creator, before your review. See Credits below.
What Each Status Means
These labels appear on your results page.
Session status — where the whole search is
Reading brief — Archie is working out the criteria and may ask clarifying questions in the thread. Nothing runs until you approve the brief. If it sits here, Archie is probably waiting on your reply to a question.
Searching — Sourcing candidates.
Researching — Vetting candidates one at a time. The longest stage. Results arrive in batches.
Ready for review — A batch is ready and Archie has pinged the Slack thread.
Awaiting your reply — Archie asked something and is waiting on your answer in the thread. Archie will nudge up to 3 times (at ~30 minutes, 1 hour, and 2 hours), then stay quiet. Quiet is not dead — replying at any point picks the search back up. Nothing is lost.
Complete — Finished, stopped, or wrapped up.
Creator status — where one creator sits in the funnel
In queue — Found, not looked at yet. Archie sources a bigger pool than it needs and vets down, so a large "in queue" count is normal.
Sourced — Passed a quick relevance check, waiting on full vetting.
Researching — Being analyzed right now.
Qualified by AI — Passed vetting. This is the billing unit — 100 credits each (see Credits below).
Approved — You accepted this creator. Goes into your CSV export.
Disqualified by AI — Archie rejected the creator, with a stated reason shown on the results page. You can override the rejection if you disagree.
Rejected — You rejected this creator. Your rejection teaches the next batch within the same search.
Exporting Your Approved Creators
When you're done reviewing, export your approved creators from the results page.
Open the Approved tab to confirm the list is what you want. Only approved creators go into the export.
Click Export CSV at the bottom right of the page.
You can export at any point, but the natural moment is when the session status shows Complete, since the full batch has been reviewed by then.
When Archie pauses, and why
Archie will pause a search when it can't spend credits on your behalf. The exact message tells you what's needed — they look similar but mean different things.
"You've used your free credits. To keep going, talk to us about connecting your Archive workspace." — Your alpha free grant is spent and your Archive workspace isn't linked yet. Talk to your Customer Success Manager to connect it.
"Want to keep going? Continuing uses your Archive workspace credits, at 100 credits per qualified creator." — Your workspace is linked; Archie is waiting for you to say yes in the thread before spending your credits. Reply in the thread to continue.
"Your Archive workspace is out of credits, so I've paused this search. Top up in Archive and I'll pick up right where we left off." — Standard Archive credit top-up. Once you top up, tell Archie in the thread and the search resumes. Work already done is not lost.
"I've paused this search - there's a configuration problem on our side with your billing setup. Nothing is lost, the Archie team is on it…" — This is on us, not you. There's nothing to top up. Chat with us or email [email protected]; we'll get it resolved.
"Credits are live again - say the word and I'll pick up where we left off." — The pause is cleared. Reply in the Slack thread to resume. Archie doesn't restart on its own.
📋 "I have creators waiting but can't see them." If credits ran out mid-search, creators Archie had already qualified are held, not lost. Archie will tell you the count, e.g. "I've got 4 more qualified creators ready and I'm holding them until your credits are topped up." Once you top up, they'll appear automatically, oldest first.
If the results don't look right
"Archie rejected a creator who's clearly a good fit." Every rejection has a stated reason on the candidate's card — read it first. You can override the rejection directly, and doing so is part of the intended flow. If the reason looks plainly wrong, tell us so we can improve the vetting.
"Archie only found a handful of creators." Archie is strongest in fitness, beauty, fashion, family, and travel niches, and thinner in hyper-specific ones. Loosening a criterion or broadening the geography usually helps. Tell us the niche if you'd like to see it better covered.
"Archie found nobody at all." Usually the brief is over-constrained — several hard filters stacked together. Reopen the brief in the thread and try relaxing one.
"Archie said it was done but I got nothing" — when Archie says "No candidates passed vetting. Try rephrasing the brief or broadening the criteria," everything Archie sourced failed the vetting bar. Rephrase and re-run.
Sentiment about competitors. Archie can tell you which creators mentioned a competitor, but it can't reliably judge whether they spoke positively or negatively about them. That's a known limit today.
Inputs Archie accepts (and doesn't)
Slack workspace not connected? The first time you tag
@archie, Archie posts a Connect Archive button and doesn't respond to further mentions until the workspace is linked. Click that button, or chat with us to get it re-linked.CSV / spreadsheet uploads. Archie doesn't read spreadsheets in the thread. If you want to exclude specific creators from your search, use the exclusion-list page Archie points you at. Vetting a list you already have isn't supported today.
PDFs and images. Supported for briefs. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are not — Archie will ask for a PDF instead. Very large or long files are refused with a specific message telling you what to do.
Credit balance in Archie. Your credit balance and consumption show in Archive, not in Archie. A dedicated credits view in Archie is planned for a later phase.
Credits
Rate: 100 credits per Qualified by AI creator.
Alpha free grant: 5,000 credits per account — enough for 50 qualified creators, at no charge.
You are not charged for a search itself, for creators you reject, or for creators Archie disqualifies.
Same Archive credits — Archie doesn't use a separate credit type. The 5,000-credit alpha grant is ring-fenced to Archie only.
⚠️ How the billing unit works. Archie bills for every creator it qualifies (Qualified by AI), whether or not you approve them. That means rejecting everyone in the review step does NOT reduce the bill for the search — the qualification already happened. Rejecting still improves your next batch inside the search, so it's worth doing for quality.
📋 If you have questions, chat with us or email [email protected]. We're happy to help.