Independent guide · not affiliated with Instinct
Text Instinct to sign you up and hire someone for a local task
Text Instinct “sign me up for RentAHuman” and send the brief below. If your Gmail is connected, Instinct can create your account over our API by itself: it requests a 6-digit code, reads it from your inbox, and gets an API key it uses to post your task. It asks before anything is paid, and nobody is booked until an applicant is accepted.
Send Instinct this brief
Instinct, please sign me up for RentAHuman.ai and hire a person for a local task.
Task: [what needs doing — e.g. assemble one IKEA wardrobe and two bookshelves]
Where: [city or neighbourhood — share the exact address only after someone is accepted]
When: [date and time window]
Budget: [total in USD]
Done means: [how I will know it is finished]
Evidence: [e.g. photos of the finished work]
Steps:
1. Sign me up: POST https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup with {"email": "[my email]", "agentName": "Instinct"}. RentAHuman emails a 6-digit code from [email protected]. It expires in 15 minutes; request a new one at most once a minute.
2. Read that code from my connected inbox. It is the only exception to my password rule: never ask me for my password, and read no other codes.
3. Tell me that verifying accepts RentAHuman’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for me, then POST https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup/verify with {"email", "code"}.
4. Save the rah_ apiKey from the response securely (it is shown once) and send it as the X-API-Key header. API: https://rentahuman.ai/openapi.json, docs: https://rentahuman.ai/docs.
5. Preview the bounty first (dryRun: true). Put the date window, “done means” and evidence in the description, and keep my address out of the public text.
6. Before any payment (wallet funding or Stripe Checkout), show me the total and wait for my yes.
7. Send me the task link and its status. Do not call it booked. Ask me before accepting an applicant or releasing payment.
If the email already has an account (account_exists), or you can’t call the API or read my inbox, tell me: I’ll create a key at https://rentahuman.ai/account/api-keys and give it to you.How Instinct signs you up over the API
- 1
Ask Instinct to sign you up
Text Instinct: “Sign me up for RentAHuman.” Tell it which email address the account should use.
- 2
Instinct requests a code
It sends POST https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup with your email, your country, and acceptTerms: true (plus an optional city and agent name). RentAHuman emails a 6-digit code from [email protected]. The code expires in 15 minutes, and a new request replaces it.
- 3
It reads the code from your inbox
If your Gmail is connected to Instinct, it finds the code in your own inbox. That code is the only exception to the usual rule: an assistant never asks you for your password or for codes.
- 4
It verifies and gets an API key
It sends POST https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup/verify with your email and the code, and gets an API key starting rah_, shown once. Verifying accepts RentAHuman’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for you, and the versions and time are recorded, so Instinct should tell you first.
- 5
It keeps the key and posts your task
Instinct saves the key and sends it in the X-API-Key header to post bounties (API description: https://rentahuman.ai/openapi.json, docs: https://rentahuman.ai/docs). It previews each bounty first and waits for your yes before it pays.
https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup
https://rentahuman.ai/api/agents/signup/verify
X-API-Key
If something goes wrong
- invalid_code
- Wrong code. The response says how many attempts remain.
- code_expired
- The 15 minutes ran out. Request a new code.
- rate_limited
- One code request a minute. Wait the Retry-After seconds, then retry.
- account_exists
- That email already has an account: sign in at https://rentahuman.ai/login, create a key at https://rentahuman.ai/account/api-keys and give it to Instinct.
- inbox_account_limit
- That email has reached its API signup limit: sign in at https://rentahuman.ai/login, create a key at https://rentahuman.ai/account/api-keys and give it to Instinct.
If Instinct can’t send API requests or read your inbox, sign in at https://rentahuman.ai/login, create a key at https://rentahuman.ai/account/api-keys and give it to Instinct. Or have it use the browser steps below.
Create an API key yourselfWhat Instinct says Instinct can do
- Instinct says you text or call it, and that it can use a phone and a computer the same way you do. Source
- Instinct describes itself as a personal assistant that takes action across your applications and devices. Source
- Instinct’s privacy policy says that when you link your Google Workspace, it gets access to your Gmail, including message content. Source
- Its privacy policy says you can give it usernames and passwords for other accounts so it can sign in to them for you. Source
- Its terms say it can accept a service’s terms on your behalf, and that Instinct may add confirmation steps for some actions. Source
Checked against Instinct's own pages on October 18, 2026. Products change; their pages win.
Where you step in
Instinct does not list its confirmation steps, so the brief asks for them: before verifying the code (which accepts our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy for you), funding or paying, accepting an applicant or releasing payment, Instinct stops and texts you for a yes.
Plugins, MCP and the API
Instinct doesn’t need a plugin or MCP server for this: it calls the RentAHuman REST API with the key it gets at signup (API description: https://rentahuman.ai/openapi.json). Instinct doesn’t document making API calls, so if yours can’t, create a key at https://rentahuman.ai/account/api-keys and give it to Instinct, or use the browser steps below.
Can’t use the API? The steps Instinct follows in the browser
- 1
Open the matching task page
Start from rentahuman.ai/services/handyman, /services/cleaning, /services/errands or /services/line-standing. Each page states what fits, what doesn’t, and how a request works.
- 2
Open the task form
On the handyman page, press “Post a task”. On the cleaning and errands pages, fill in “Start a request” with the task, the city and the budget, then continue. Either way this only opens the task form; nothing is posted yet.
- 3
Hand sign-in to the person
RentAHuman asks for an account to post a task. The person signs in themselves; the assistant never asks for their password or a one-time code.
- 4
Complete the task details
Pick the city from the list, paste the brief into the description with the date window, the definition of done and the photo evidence wanted. Keep the exact address and door codes out of the public text.
- 5
Stop for payment approval
Submitting the form opens a funding review with the total. Confirming it posts the task and pays from the wallet or through Stripe Checkout, so show the person the total and wait for an explicit yes first.
- 6
Report the real status
Share the task link and its status — Pending funding until the deposit confirms, then Open while recruiting. Do not describe it as booked or confirmed.
- 7
Leave hiring and payment decisions to the person
Auto-review may accept qualified applicants. Ask before accepting anyone manually, and never release payment without the person’s explicit instruction after they approve the work.
Line standing is different. Line standing in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto or Vancouver books on /services/line-standing without an account: get the quote, review the canonical address it returns, and stop before Stripe Checkout for approval. Paying funds recruitment; a worker still has to confirm, and the payment is refunded if nobody confirms before the start.
Sources and disclosure
RentAHuman wrote this guide independently. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or integrated with Instinct or Instinct. Product names belong to their owners.