wtf is flare-agent?

Flare Agent is an SMS text messaging system built for local trade businesses like plumbers, electricians, HVAC companies, and locksmiths, the kind of business that loses money every time an emergency call goes unanswered. When a customer's call is missed, the agent texts them back within seconds, figures out how urgent the problem is, and either escalates a true emergency straight to a human right away or gathers the details of a non-emergency lead so the business can follow up later. Each business runs its own separate deployment of the system, and the actual trade it serves, whether plumbing or locksmith work, is set through a configuration file rather than by changing any code. It runs on Cloudflare Workers, which can run on a free plan or a five dollar a month plan, paired with a phone number from Twilio, the service that sends and receives the actual text messages and calls. Setting it up locally involves installing dependencies, running a setup command that checks your configuration and sets up a local database, then starting a development server you can test against using a built in chat simulator. Deploying for real involves logging into Cloudflare, creating a live database, and pointing a purchased Twilio number's voice and messaging settings at your deployed service. The project includes a compliance guide covering which type of phone number registration to use, since getting this wrong with US carriers can be costly. An optional read only dashboard lets the business owner view leads and full conversation transcripts, protected behind a secret access token. The system also includes automated tests, including one that uses an AI model to simulate callers talking to the real agent and grades the transcripts afterward. This is a tool for developers building automated call handling for local service businesses, not something a non-technical business owner would set up alone.