Should you tell clients you use AI on their work?
Yes, and better than telling them is showing them. In my experience running a studio, what makes a client uneasy isn't that AI was involved. It's not knowing what happened: which files it touched, what it changed, and whether a person looked at it before it reached them.
A one-page receipt per deliverable answers all of that before the question comes up. It turns "we used AI" from something you confess into something you can prove.
What does "showing your work" look like in practice?
For every deliverable, the client should be able to see what went in (their files, with the originals untouched), what came out, how long it took, which tool did it, what it cost, and who approved it before it left your hands.
The point is that they can check it without asking you. If the record lives only in your project management tool, it's a promise. If it's a signed receipt they can verify themselves, it's proof.
How does Magic Folder handle this?
Magic Folder is a folder on your computer where each subfolder is a job, like "Write product descriptions" or "Draft a client email". You drop a file in, the work comes back in Done with your untouched original and a receipt.html the client can open.
Client-facing jobs can be set to wait in a "Needs your OK" folder. Moving the job to Done signs a separate approval receipt, so the record shows that a person approved it, and when. If a job fails, it still gets a signed receipt that says why, and it costs nothing.
How can a client confirm a receipt really came from you?
You put your business name on every receipt and host a verify page with your own key built in. When a client drops your receipt on it, they see green: "Verified, signed by" your business. A receipt signed by anyone else, or edited after the fact, shows red.
Generating that page is one command. Webaes's is live at verify.webaes.com if you want to see what your clients would see, and the install guide covers the setup.
Does a receipt expose your client's data?
A receipt stores file names and fingerprints (SHA-256 hashes), not the files themselves, plus a short summary of what was done. Treat that summary like any other client-facing note.
Where the AI runs matters more. With Ollama, jobs run on your own computer and the files never leave it. With Claude, the job's files are sent to Anthropic's API to be processed. Choose per job, and tell clients which one you use for their work.
When isn't it worth the effort?
For quick internal tasks, or for a client who has told you they don't care how the sausage is made, a receipt adds little. And a receipt never replaces review: it proves what happened, not that the work is good, so you still read everything before it goes out.
Is there a version built for agencies?
Not yet. We're considering a version built for agencies and studios: your name on every receipt, a verify page on your own domain, and a portal where clients see every job and its proof. We'll only build it if enough people want it. If you would use it, there's a short early-access form at receipts.webaes.com; it asks what it would be worth to you, so we don't have to guess a price.