# 1. Tool selector

Michael Rainer · APEX-PRESS · v0.37-C01 · EN

Use these eight references alongside the chapters. Copy the fields you need into your own record and keep one working version of that record. A reference card can remind you what to check; completing its fields does not prove that the answer is correct. Examples below are author-written practice material unless explicitly linked to the dated observations in Day 28.

Begin with the result you want to finish. “A comparison whose numbers and exclusions I can verify” gives you a basis for choosing a tool. “The most powerful AI” does not tell you what your task requires. Consider whether an ordinary document, a calculator, a spreadsheet, or an original source page already handles the work.

| Question | What to establish before choosing |
| --- | --- |
| May I supply these inputs? | Permission for this information in this service, including workplace restrictions where relevant |
| Can this account handle the task? | Actual input and output functions, rather than an assumption from a product name |
| Can I check the result? | Access to the decisive facts, calculations, source passages, and omissions |
| Is the effort worthwhile? | Preparation, verification, correction, and finalization compared with the useful outcome |
| What does access involve? | Current plan, limits, and any applicable cost, checked before a purchase decision |
| What remains my decision? | The boundary between producing a draft and acting on it |

Treat an unmet requirement separately from a preference. A pleasing writing style cannot compensate for an unresolved permission question. A large input allowance does not establish that every passage will be handled correctly. Record what you actually observed, and leave unknown account conditions unknown.

Use the same task and inputs for a small comparison. Save first answers before requesting corrections. If you change from attachments to pasted text, label the new condition and apply it consistently across the candidates you compare. A failed connection belongs in the access record, not in an invented quality score.

Day 28 provides a dated example of this method. Its results concern those tasks and visible conditions; they are not a permanent list of which brand is best. Your own choice should identify the result you checked and the reason it fits your circumstances.

**Selection record:** My task and definition of finished; required input and output; permitted information; actual account conditions and date; comparable result I inspected; checking effort; choice and reason; condition that would make me reconsider.