Full Automation
Each helper monkey completely automates one section — harvesting and stocking — with zero input from you.
Highest ROI Upgrade
Helper monkeys have the best return on investment of any upgrade in the game. Always buy them before anything else.
Maximum 6 Helpers
One per section. With all 6 assigned, your entire store runs on autopilot and you only need to check in occasionally.
Banana First
Always assign your first helper to the Banana section. It's your highest-volume product and the biggest bottleneck early on.
What Does a Helper Monkey Do?
A helper monkey is a staff member for one specific section of your supermarket. When assigned to a section, it takes over two tasks that you would otherwise have to do manually:
Harvesting: The helper walks to the crop area for its section and picks up items automatically, on a continuous loop. You never need to harvest that crop yourself again.
Shelf stocking: After harvesting, the helper carries the items to the shelf and stocks it. When the shelf runs low, the helper goes back to harvest more. This cycle repeats indefinitely without any input from you.
The result is that a section with a helper assigned runs completely on autopilot. Customers come in, pick items off the shelf, and the helper keeps it stocked. Your main monkey is freed up entirely from that section.
How to Get a Helper Monkey
Helper monkeys are purchased from the upgrade shop, which you access by tapping the upgrade button (usually a wrench or coin icon) during gameplay. The helper monkey upgrade appears in the shop once you have at least one section available to assign it to.
The cost of each helper monkey increases with each one you buy — your first helper is the cheapest, and each subsequent one costs more. This is intentional: the game is designed so that your income grows fast enough to keep up with the increasing costs, as long as you're following a reasonable upgrade order.
After purchasing a helper monkey, you'll be prompted to choose which section to assign it to. You can only assign one helper per section, and you cannot reassign a helper once it's placed (in the base game). Choose carefully — though in practice, the correct assignment is almost always the newest section you just unlocked.
Which Section to Assign Each Helper
The assignment order follows the section unlock order almost exactly. Here's the recommended assignment for each helper:
Helper #1 → Banana Section
This is non-negotiable. Bananas are your starting product, your highest-volume item, and the section you spend the most time manually managing at the start. Automating it first gives you the biggest immediate quality-of-life improvement and the highest income boost. Your main monkey is now free to handle everything else.
Helper #2 → Corn Section
Assign your second helper to corn as soon as you unlock the corn section (or shortly after). Corn has medium harvest speed and medium value — it's not as fast as bananas, but it brings in a new customer type that increases your total customer volume. Automating it lets you focus on the next section.
Helper #3 → Dairy Section
Dairy has higher value per item than corn, which means the helper here generates more coins per cycle than the corn helper. Assign it to dairy as soon as you unlock that section. With three helpers running, your store is now largely self-sufficient and you can start leaving it idle for longer periods.
Helper #4 → Egg Section
Eggs have a fast harvest speed, which means the shelf empties quickly. Without a helper, you'll find yourself constantly running back to restock eggs. Assigning a helper here eliminates that friction and keeps the shelf full without any effort from you.
Helper #5 → Chocolate Section
Chocolate has a slow harvest speed but high value per item. This combination makes it the section that benefits most from a helper — the slow harvest means you'd spend a lot of time waiting at the crop if you were doing it manually. A helper handles the slow harvest cycle automatically while you do other things.
Helper #6 → Ice Cream Section
Ice cream is the highest-value section in the game. Assigning your final helper here completes your full automation setup. At this point, every section runs itself, and your main monkey has nothing mandatory to do. You've reached the endgame state of Monkey Mart.
What Happens After Full Automation
Once all 6 helpers are assigned, Monkey Mart becomes a true idle game. Your store generates coins continuously without any input. The only things left to do are:
- Collect coins periodically (there's an offline earnings cap, so check in every hour or two)
- Upgrade checkout speed if there's still a queue forming
- Buy any remaining carry capacity upgrades (low priority at this point)
- Explore Monkey Mart 2 for a fresh progression loop with new sections and mechanics
Full automation is the goal the entire game is designed around. Every upgrade decision before this point should be evaluated by one question: does this get me to full automation faster? Helper monkeys are always the answer.
Common Helper Monkey Mistakes
Mistake 1: Buying a helper for the wrong section
Some players assign their first helper to a section other than bananas — usually because they just unlocked a new section and want to automate it immediately. This is a mistake. Bananas are your highest-volume product and the section you spend the most time on. Always automate bananas first, then work through the sections in unlock order.
Mistake 2: Delaying the first helper to buy other upgrades
Checkout speed and carry capacity upgrades are tempting because they're cheap and feel impactful. But delaying your first helper by even a few minutes costs you significant income over the course of a session. The helper pays for itself very quickly — buy it first, always.
Mistake 3: Unlocking sections without a helper plan
Unlocking a new section before you can afford a helper for it means you're manually stocking that section indefinitely. This is fine for a minute or two, but if you unlock multiple sections without helpers, you'll find yourself running between sections constantly and never having enough time to keep everything stocked. Unlock one section, assign a helper, then unlock the next.