Working with tasks
How tasks work, what statuses mean, and how to give your assistant what it needs.
What is a task?
A task is a unit of work your assistant handles on your behalf. It could be as simple as "remind me at 3pm" or as complex as "schedule a meeting with five external stakeholders, coordinate availability, and send a confirmation with the agenda."
Every task has a conversation attached — you can follow along, ask questions, or give more context at any point.
Task statuses
| Status | What's happening |
|---|---|
pending | Queued, not yet started |
executing | Your assistant is actively working on it |
needs_clarification | Your assistant hit a decision point and needs your input |
awaiting_response | Waiting on someone else (e.g. a meeting request sent to an external party) |
awaiting_user_input | Waiting for you to approve a dispatch cart |
scheduled | Will run at a future time |
completed | Done |
When your assistant needs input
If your assistant hits something it can't decide on its own, the task moves to needs_clarification and you'll see a question in the task conversation. Reply directly in the conversation — your assistant will continue from where it left off.
Common reasons for clarification:
- Ambiguous instructions ("next week" when multiple options exist)
- Missing information (no calendar access to a required attendee)
- A decision that should be yours (which of two times is better?)
Approving actions
For anything with real-world consequences — sending an email, booking a meeting, creating a calendar event — your assistant stages the action in a dispatch cart and shows it to you before doing anything.
You'll see:
- The exact email text, ready to send
- The exact meeting time, attendees, and title
- The exact recipients
You approve, edit, or reject. Nothing goes out until you say so. See the Dispatch cart guide for the full model.
Assigning and following tasks
Tasks can be assigned to specific assistants or followed by team members. If you follow a task, you'll receive updates as it progresses.
To follow a task, open it and click Follow. You'll be notified when the status changes or when your assistant needs something.