Static OS demo. Fictional business, real source map.
The operating system for how AI chooses roofers in Austin.
A public replay of the control room Cited should run for local service businesses: prompt evidence, source gaps, citable records, operator tasks, and before/after measurement.
Prototype stance
This is a prototype replay, not a public ranking or consumer recommendation list.
Market
Austin
Start with one city and one vertical.
Prompts
5x5
Five buyer situations across five AI surfaces.
Record
3
Human page, AI markdown, and live schema view.
Score Replay
Track outcomes by buyer situation, not generic rankings.
The useful question is not whether a roofer ranks in a blue-link list. It is whether an AI assistant can name, justify, and source the business when a homeowner has a real roofing problem.
Cited Score Replay
Riverbend Roofing & Restoration
Austin, TX
Fictional Austin-area roofer used to show how Cited measures source visibility, verifies facts, and builds a citable record.
Current visibility
27
Modeled after record build
78
Modeled score is a product demo value, not a forecast or guarantee.
Who is a trustworthy local roofer in Austin for an insurance roof replacement?
The sample business is not named. The answer leans on review platforms, BBB-style trust checks, and general due-diligence advice.
Sources AI leaned on
Reviews, Directory profiles, Generic advice
Cited action
Publish a source-backed trust record: RCAT status, insurance-claim guidance, service area, and owner-approved proof.
Can an Austin roofer waive my deductible after hail damage?
The answer cites state insurance guidance but does not connect the rule to a compliant local contractor record.
Sources AI leaned on
Official state guidance
Cited action
Add a citable deductible FAQ with TDI attribution and owner-reviewed claim-process language.
Do I need a permit for roof replacement in Austin, and should the roofer pull it?
The answer depends on City of Austin permit criteria. It does not identify which contractors explain permit handling clearly.
Sources AI leaned on
Municipal guidance
Cited action
Create an Austin permit-handling section with visible citations and a do-not-infer block for edge cases.
Best Austin roofers for metal roofing vs asphalt shingles in hail and heat.
The answer gives material tradeoffs and may reference manufacturer certification surfaces, but the sample business has no verifiable material record.
Sources AI leaned on
Manufacturer directories, Review sites
Cited action
Verify materials, certifications, warranty language, and installation scope before claiming category expertise.
My roof is leaking after hail near Austin; who can tarp or inspect today?
The answer prioritizes current availability and local proof. The sample business is invisible because no fresh emergency-service record exists.
Sources AI leaned on
Maps, Recent reviews, Service pages
Cited action
Add owner-confirmed emergency coverage, hours, tarping scope, and freshness timestamp.
Source Map
The Austin prototype needs stronger source rails than TDLR.
Texas roofing is trust-sensitive because standard statewide roofer licensing is not the same as electrician or plumbing licensing. The OS has to show which sources can support each claim.
Google Places API
Name, address, phone, website, rating, userRatingCount, hours, place identity.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
Yelp Fusion Business Search
Category fit, quote capability, rating/review-count sorting, distance, and business result coverage.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
RCAT Licensed Roofing Contractor Program
Texas roofer trust signal because TDLR does not administer standard roofing-contractor licensure.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
Texas Department of Insurance deductible guidance
Insurance-claim guardrail: deductible-waiver language is a red-flag prompt cluster.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
City of Austin Express Permits
Permit-sensitive roof repair and replacement context for Austin homeowners.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
Google Search Central AI features guidance
Grounding that AI Overview/AI Mode inclusion depends on normal Search eligibility, indexability, crawlability, and visible text.
Retrieved 2026-05-26
Citable Record Builder
Every useful answer starts as a sourced fact.
The prototype blocks risky claims until the source is known, timestamped, and reviewed. Then it can produce a human page, AI markdown, and JSON-LD that all say the same thing.
Human page
Owner-readable record with source labels.
AI markdown
Dense assistant-ready packet with do-not-infer notes.
Live schema
Structured data matching visible content.
Business identity
needs-reviewName, service area, website, phone, and category need canonical source reconciliation before publication.
Do not publish an owner-facing citable record until identity fields reconcile across at least two source classes.
Texas license language
source-backedTexas does not use TDLR as the normal statewide roofing-contractor license rail; RCAT is a voluntary trade license signal.
Deductible guardrail
source-backedAI answers about Texas roof claims should flag that contractors cannot waive or help avoid the insurance deductible.
Austin permit context
source-backedRoof repairs and replacements can be permit-sensitive depending on decking area, replacement percentage, and WUI location.
AI feature hygiene
source-backedCitable pages should keep important content visible in text, crawlable, internally linked, and schema-consistent with visible copy.
Operator Cockpit
This is the dashboard the business should believe in.
The customer-facing demo should reveal the machine behind the score: prompts, reviews, blocked facts, citable records, publishing status, and reporting tasks.
Run the locked Austin prompt set
Five buyer situations across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI surfaces.
active / Cited
Resolve license and insurance language
Use RCAT/TDI source rails and block unsupported warranty, financing, and claim-handling claims.
ready / Reviewer
Generate the citable record
Human page, AI markdown, JSON-LD, source manifest, and do-not-infer constraints.
queued / Cited
Publish owner-approved preview
No public provider page until the operator has approval or the data stays fictional/sanitized.
blocked / Owner
Send the before/after readout
Score delta, prompt evidence, competitor set, and next source fixes.
queued / Cited
Build Plan
Prototype the loop before automating the whole market.
This should get impressive fast, but the order matters. Show the OS with static evidence first, then let one opt-in roofer make the workflow real.
Static OS demo
3-5 daysPublic replay with fictional Austin roofer, prompt evidence, citable-record builder, and operator queue.
Internal cockpit
1 weekAdmin registry, prompt-run capture, source drawer, score math, task queue, and report shell.
Opt-in Austin pilot
2 weeksOne real roofer, owner-approved source record, weekly measurement, private report.
Operating proof
30 daysBefore/after prompt evidence, anonymized public proof asset, paid-pilot readiness decision.
Guardrails
Make it useful without making it reckless.
Roofing touches insurance claims, safety, permits, warranties, and emergency decisions. The prototype should prove judgment as clearly as it proves software.
No public ranking of non-opt-in Austin roofers.
No copied review text; aggregate and summarize only with provenance.
No guarantee that AI will recommend or rank a provider.
No unsupported license, insurance, warranty, financing, or emergency-availability claims.
No schema claim that is not also visible in the rendered page.
Next useful move
Use this route as the public prototype, then build the private cockpit against the same data model.