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Auto-Answer vs Manual — when each fires the AI

The pill in the topbar that decides whether the AI answers on every interviewer question or only when you press Ctrl+Enter.

Web App2 min read

Auto-Answer — when the AI fires by itself

There's a pill in the top-left of /interview that says either Auto (emerald) or Manual (amber). It's always visible in sessions mode (hidden in practice mode). One click toggles between them.

What changes

  • Manual (default for your first session): The AI never fires on its own. You decide when to trigger an answer — Ctrl+Enter / ⌘+Enter, the AI Answer button at the bottom of the answers panel, or the keyboard shortcut.
  • Auto: When the AI detects the interviewer has finished asking a question (sentence-ending punctuation + a short silence gap), it fires automatically within ~300 ms. You don't have to touch anything.

When to leave it ON

  • You've done at least one session manually and trust the timing
  • You're in a high-volume technical screen where back-to-back questions don't leave time to click
  • You want the AI's outline ready before you start speaking your answer

When to keep it OFF

  • First session. Get a feel for the rhythm before delegating to auto.
  • Behavioral interview with reflective pauses — interviewer asks, you think, the AI shouldn't pre-empt that.
  • Compliance-sensitive roles — you want explicit control over every AI invocation.
  • Flaky internet — Auto can mis-fire on stuttering audio. Manual lets you re-trigger cleanly.

Where it lives

The pill is in apps/web/app/interview/_components/topbar.tsx and pinned by an in-commit test so a future "let's declutter" refactor can't silently bury it back into a settings popover. Why pinned: 2026-05-07 Humana pre-screening surfaced that burying the toggle two levels deep cost real reaction time mid-interview.

What it doesn't do

  • It doesn't change what the AI answers — only when it fires. Tone, model, custom prompt all still apply.
  • It doesn't disable manual Ctrl+Enter — even when Auto is ON, you can still force-fire with the shortcut.
  • It doesn't affect Practice mode (where the AI is the interviewer, not the answerer).

Still stuck?

Switch to Help & Feedback → Contact us with category "How do I…?" and tell us what you were expecting vs what happened.

Video walkthrough

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