Helmsay

Help & guides

Everything you need to set up and use Helmsay.

Safety first

Driving: Do not use Helmsay while driving unless you are using it fully hands-free and it is legal for you to do so where you are. Never hold, touch or look at your phone while driving. Some places ban even hands-free use for some drivers (for example new or teen drivers). You are responsible for obeying the law and driving safely. Alerts can show on your lock screen.

The first time you open Helmsay you must tap I understand on this notice before voice features work. You can read it again in Settings. Use Pause alerts on the main screen to mute voice whenever you like.

Helmsay is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anysphere, Inc. Cursor is a trademark of Anysphere, Inc.

Sign up

You need an account to use Helmsay. It takes about a minute.

  1. Open Helmsay and tap Create account.
  2. Enter your email address, a username (3–30 letters, digits, dot, dash or underscore) and a password of at least 10 characters. Tap the eye icon to check what you typed.
  3. Read and accept the Terms and Privacy Policy and confirm you are at least 16 years old. Helmsay is for people aged 16 or older.
  4. Complete the short “are you human” check, then tap Create account.
The Create account screen with email, username and password filled in.
The Create account screen with email, username and password filled in.

Verify your email

We email a 6-digit code to make sure the address is yours.

  1. Open the email from Helmsay (check spam if it is not there after a minute).
  2. Type the code into the app and tap Verify. The code works for 15 minutes.
  3. Need another? Tap Send a new code. Accounts that are never verified are removed after 24 hours.
  4. Then log in with your email or username and password. Leave Keep me signed in ticked to stay signed in on your own phone.
The screen asking for the 6-digit code.
The screen asking for the 6-digit code.

Connect Cursor

Helmsay talks to your own Cursor cloud agents using your own Cursor API key.

  1. In Cursor, open your dashboard integrations page and create an API key.
  2. In Helmsay go to Settings → Connections → Cursor, paste the key and tap Connect. The eye icon lets you check what you pasted. If the key is wrong or expired you get a friendly message and can try again.
  3. Helmsay checks the key with a read-only call to Cursor’s official Cloud Agents API, then stores it encrypted on the server. It is never shown again, only its last 4 characters. You can replace or remove it any time.
  4. Helmsay never asks for your Cursor password or cookies. For billing and plan usage, open your Cursor dashboard from the Usage screen.

Helmsay is an independent app and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Anysphere, Inc. Cursor is a trademark of Anysphere, Inc. You must follow Cursor’s own terms; its API is in beta and can change.

Settings > Connections with the Cursor key field.
Settings > Connections with the Cursor key field.

Create a project

A project is one source of alerts, for example one repository or automation.

  1. Open the Projects tab and tap New project. Give it a name.
  2. Copy the API key shown. It is displayed once; if you lose it, use Rotate key to get a new one.
  3. Your automation sends alerts to the project’s webhook URL using that key (see the next guide).
  4. Optional: paste the receiver URL shown on the project into its callback field so your answers can resume your Cursor agents.
The new-project dialog and the key shown once.
The new-project dialog and the key shown once.

Send a test alert from the app

No Cursor key or project needed.

  1. Sign in and open the Alerts tab.
  2. Tap Send myself a test alert. A sample alert with routes A, B and C arrives as a notification within a few seconds.
  3. It is read aloud. Tap the notification (or Reply by voice), accept the microphone disclosure the first time, and say A, B or C — or just tap a route button.
  4. Helmsay shows Test alert answered: …. Replies to a test alert are never sent to Cursor.

Send a test alert from your own automation

Send an alert from a script to see and hear how it works. Replace YOUR_PROJECT_KEY with the project key you copied.

curl -X POST https://helmsay.com/webhook/v1/alerts \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_PROJECT_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"project_name":"Demo","task_id":"test-1","status":"needs_input","error_message":"Build failed on step 3"}'

The alert shows on the Alerts tab and is read aloud. Make sure the phone has notifications allowed and is signed in.

An alert card on the Alerts tab.
An alert card on the Alerts tab.

Answer by voice

Helmsay is built to be used hands-free.

  1. When an alert arrives it is read aloud and shown as a notification. Helmsay opens the microphone only after you tap the notification (or Reply by voice) or while the app is open on screen.
  2. The first time, Helmsay explains what the microphone is used for and asks you to accept before Android asks for the permission. A notification with a Stop button shows while the microphone is on; it stops by itself after 30 seconds or as soon as your reply is captured.
  3. Say Proceed, Retry or Hold (or a route letter, see below). You can also tap the buttons on the notification or the alert card. Speech is turned into text by your device’s speech recognizer; Helmsay does not record or keep audio.
  4. Urgent alerts (ones that need an answer or are errors) can show on your lock screen if you allow it in Settings → Show urgent alerts full-screen. Otherwise you get a normal heads-up notification with the same buttons.
Safety: Do not use Helmsay while driving unless you are using it fully hands-free and it is legal for you to do so where you are. Never hold, touch or look at your phone while driving. Some places ban even hands-free use for some drivers (for example new or teen drivers). You are responsible for obeying the law and driving safely. Alerts can show on your lock screen.
The listening screen while answering an alert.
The listening screen while answering an alert.

Use routes

An alert can carry choices (routes) such as A: roll back, B: try another approach, C: ask me later.

  1. Your automation includes an options list in the alert: [{"id":"A","label":"Roll back"}, ...].
  2. Helmsay reads the options aloud. Say the letter, or tap the route on the card.
  3. Your choice is sent back to your project’s callback so the automation can act on it.
An alert with route choices A, B and C.
An alert with route choices A, B and C.

Use the agent screen

See what your Cursor agent is doing and give it new instructions.

  1. Tap an alert or project that has a Cursor agent (task ids starting with bc-) to open the Agent screen.
  2. Watch the live output. A status chip shows whether the agent is idle, working or in error.
  3. Type or dictate an instruction and send it. If the agent is still running you will be asked to wait.
  4. Before sending you may see an Estimate of the size of the run, based on your own earlier runs. The Usage screen (Projects tab) lists the runs you started from Helmsay and the tokens Cursor reported for each; for billing and plan usage use the button there to open your Cursor dashboard.
The agent screen with live output and the instruction box.
The agent screen with live output and the instruction box.

Quick unlock

Unlock Helmsay with a 4-digit PIN or your fingerprint/face instead of typing the password.

  1. Log in with Keep me signed in ticked. Helmsay then offers Set up quick unlock: choose a PIN and, if your phone supports it, switch on fingerprint/face unlock.
  2. The PIN is stored only on your phone as a salted slow hash in Android’s hardware-backed storage and is never sent to the server. After 5 wrong PINs you must wait; keep failing and you must use your password.
  3. In Settings choose when the app locks itself in the background: Off, 1, 5 or 15 minutes.
  4. If you log out, your email and quick unlock stay so you can come back with a fingerprint or PIN. Quick unlock only works while your saved sign-in is still valid. Log out of all devices or Forget this device make you use the full password next time.
The PIN pad of the lock screen with the fingerprint button.
The PIN pad of the lock screen with the fingerprint button.

Delete your account

You can delete everything at any time.

  1. In the app: Settings → Account → Delete my account, enter your password and confirm.
  2. This permanently deletes your account, projects and their keys, alert history, usage records, devices and saved Cursor key from our server.
  3. No access to the app? See Delete your data or email benellison1988@gmail.com from your account’s email address.
Settings > Account > Delete my account.
Settings > Account > Delete my account.

Still stuck?

Email benellison1988@gmail.com or send an idea.