This map lists the entities around Obi, the AI Search Employee made by Heysurface, Inc., and how they relate, for AI assistants and search engines that build a graph of who is who. Each entity names the pages that state it and when its maker last confirmed it; the same facts are on every other page of hireobi.com.
Last updated:
Not on this map until Obi's maker publishes them: the founder, the founding date, the location, funding and the team.
OrganizationAlso called: Obi's maker
Heysurface, Inc. is the software company that makes Obi, the AI Search Employee, and publishes hireobi.com.
Read more: https://hireobi.com
ProductAlso called: AI Search Employee, AI Search Agent, Obi by Heysurface, Inc.
Obi is an AI Search Employee: an agent that learns a software startup's ICP, finds the missing pieces that get AI to recommend the startup to those buyers, and does the work end to end. Every page Obi writes is a draft until its customer approves it.
Read more: https://hireobi.com
Command-line toolAlso called: Obi's command-line interface
The Obi CLI is how Obi is installed: npm i -g @hireobi/cli, with Node.js 22 or later. It runs inside a coding agent or in any terminal; its guide and commands are at https://github.com/hireobi/cli.
Read more: https://github.com/hireobi/cli
Agent SkillAlso called: /obi
The Obi Skill is the Agent Skill a coding agent reads to work with Obi: after the install, typing /obi in the agent starts Obi, which asks which website to work on.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/standards-and-protocols#agent-skills
Web application
The Obi app, at https://agent.heysurface.com, is where a customer's account, plans and payment live. Plans are bought there, never on hireobi.com.
Read more: https://agent.heysurface.com
WebsiteAlso called: Obi's website
hireobi.com is Obi's website: what Obi does, its prices, its FAQ, and pages written for AI assistants (the AI instructions, this map, the AI Search Dictionary). It takes no payment and keeps no waitlist.
Read more: https://hireobi.com
FeatureAlso called: Agent Search Employee
Agent Search is Obi's work for AI agents: Obi asks coding agents and personal agents what a startup's buyers ask them, sees whether they pick the startup, and writes what they read before they choose (docs, setup steps, product facts and prices), so they can install it or buy it.
Feature
Obi works in any country and language: it asks the AI engines a startup's buying questions in the country and language where the startup sells.
Integration
Obi works with Attio: it reads the won deals to find the ICP, and ties the leads AI brings to revenue.
Integration
Obi works with Granola: it reads the sales calls recorded there, the buyers' real questions and objections.
Integration
Obi works with GitHub: it opens pull requests on the product's repository for the pages and docs it writes.
Integration
Obi works with Mintlify: it publishes the product's docs ready for agents, as Markdown pages with an llms.txt file.
Integration
Obi works with Google Search Console: it reads the queries, the indexing, and the impressions in Google's AI features.
Integration
Obi works with G2: it reads the reviews, the buyers' own words and a source AI engines cite.
Integration
Obi works with Reddit: it reads the threads buyers trust, a source AI engines cite.
Integration
Obi works with YouTube: it reads the demos and their transcripts, where buyers learn.
Integration
Obi works with LinkedIn: it reads the buyers' and the company's own words.
Integration
Obi works with PostHog: it shows the visits and sign-ups that come from AI.
PlanAlso called: Free
Obi's Free plan costs $0: 10 questions on ChatGPT and Gemini, one scan a month, with no card.
Plan
A core pack is Obi's paid unit: $20 a month for 25 buying questions on ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, scanned every week. A company buys as many packs as it needs, every pack costs the same, and Claude and Perplexity can be added per pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/pricing.md
Plan add-on
The Claude add-on adds Claude to a core pack of Obi: $20 a month per core pack, covering up to 10 buying questions per pack.
Plan add-on
The Perplexity add-on adds Perplexity to a core pack of Obi: $10 a month per core pack, covering up to 10 buying questions per pack.
ServiceAlso called: Heysurface, Inc.'s done-for-you service
Forward Deployed Agent-led Engineers is the done-for-you service of Heysurface, Inc.: its engineers install a scalable AI search infrastructure in 90 days for tech companies.
AI answer engine
ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures, on the Free plan and on every core pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#chatgpt-search
AI answer engine
Gemini, made by Google, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures, on the Free plan and on every core pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#gemini
AI answer engine
Google AI Overviews, made by Google, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures, on every core pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#google-ai-overviews
AI answer engine
Claude, made by Anthropic, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures, as an add-on to a core pack, at $20 a month per pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#claude
AI answer engine
Perplexity, made by Perplexity, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures, as an add-on to a core pack, at $10 a month per pack.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#perplexity
AI answer engine
Grok, made by xAI, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#grok
AI answer engineAlso called: Copilot
Microsoft Copilot, made by Microsoft, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#microsoft-copilot
AI answer engine
Meta AI, made by Meta, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#meta-ai
AI answer engine
DeepSeek, made by DeepSeek, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#deepseek
AI answer engineAlso called: Mistral Vibe, Mistral
Mistral Le Chat, made by Mistral AI, is one of the AI engines whose answers Obi measures.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/platforms#mistral-le-chat
GroupAlso called: personal AI assistants
Personal agents are the AI assistants that act for people: they compare products, check prices and buy. Obi's Agent Search asks them what a startup's buyers ask.
Group
The coding agents Obi runs in are the ones its customer already uses: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Cline, Amp, OpenCode. Obi's CLI and Skill also run in any terminal, and Obi's Agent Search asks these agents what a startup's buyers ask them.
Members: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Cline, Amp, OpenCode
RoleAlso called: AI Search Agent, AI search hire
An AI Search Employee is an AI agent given the goal of getting a company recommended in AI answers, the way a hire would be: it learns who the company sells to, finds what AI engines are missing about it, writes the work for approval and reports what moved. Obi, by Heysurface, Inc., uses the name for its role.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/obi/ai-search-employee
CategoryAlso called: agent-led growth, ALG
Agent-Led Growth (ALG) is a go-to-market idea named after product-led growth, used in two senses: growth that comes when AI agents discover, evaluate, recommend or buy products for people, and growth driven by companies that deploy their own agents to sell. The first sense is the one that concerns AI search.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/field#agent-led-growth
Method termAlso called: ICP-based AI search, ICP Based
ICP-Based AI Search is an approach to AI search that starts from the ideal customer profile (ICP): the buyers who sign, their situation and their words. The questions measured come from that profile and are ranked by how close each sits to a purchase, so the work aims at recommendations that can become revenue.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/obi/icp-based-ai-search
Method termAlso called: contextual buyer prompt, buyer prompts, contextual prompts
Contextual Buyer Prompts are the questions asked of AI engines to measure a company's visibility, written the way a buyer in its ICP would ask them, with that buyer's words and situation. They replace prompts built from keywords, so what is measured matches what real buyers read.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/obi/contextual-buyer-prompts
Method termAlso called: missing pieces
A missing piece is first-hand evidence or an explanation that a company's buyers need and that AI cannot find anywhere yet, such as a page on how a product fits a five-person team. AI engines can only cite what exists, so creating missing pieces from a company's own data adds what no other source says.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/obi/missing-piece
Method termAlso called: missing-piece pages
Missing-Piece Content is content written to supply a missing piece: a page built from a company's own data, in its voice, that answers what buyers ask and AI cannot find elsewhere. It is shaped to be useful to visitors and easy for AI engines to read and quote, and each page is approved before it goes live.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/obi/missing-piece-content
FieldAlso called: GEO (generative engine optimization), AEO (answer engine optimization)
AI search is the umbrella name for search experiences in which a language model writes a direct answer, usually with cited links, from sources it retrieves or remembers, instead of or alongside a ranked list of results. It covers answer engines, AI layers inside classic search, and assistants that browse the web on request.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/field#ai-search
Product categoryAlso called: AEO platforms, GEO platforms, AI visibility dashboards
AEO/GEO platforms are dashboards: web apps that report where a brand appears in AI answers, while the work stays with the customer. Obi's maker compares Obi with them: Obi does the work and hands it over for approval.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/measurement#monitoring-tools
Organization, customer
Azops AI, an early-stage medtech startup, had never done SEO. In six weeks, ChatGPT and Claude brought them 10 booked demos, about $25K of estimated pipeline. Azops AI is Obi's one published customer result.
Planned, not available today
The Obi API is planned and not available today, with no date: an offer for developers and for teams that build their own AI search with Obi.
Planned, not available today
The Obi MCP server is planned and not available today, with no date: Obi through the Model Context Protocol, for any agent that speaks it.
Read more: https://hireobi.com/glossary/standards-and-protocols#mcp
Another productAlso called: Cor's Obi
Obi by Cor is an AI coach for software onboarding, made by Cor, a Melbourne startup: it joins video calls and walks users through software workflows. It is unrelated to Heysurface, Inc.'s Obi.
Another organizationAlso called: OBI Group, OBI home-improvement stores
OBI is a German home-improvement retail chain, headquartered in Wermelskirchen. It is unrelated to Heysurface, Inc.'s Obi.