Tasks

Tasks are to-do items — things you or the agent want to track inside a project. Use them for anything with a "done" state: work to get to later, steps in a bigger effort, or items the agent creates while working for you.

Tasks are a first-party app that is always on in every project — there's nothing to enable, and its panel sits in the project sidebar like any other.

Tasks don't run on their own. If you want Avi to do something on a schedule or in the background, ask it in chat and it will set up an automation — tasks are for tracking, automations are for running.

Creating a task

Open the Tasks panel from the project sidebar and click New task. The new task opens beside the list, where tasks open. Fill in its name, status, priority and labels, then press Create. You can also just ask the agent ("add a task to review the Q3 numbers") — it creates and updates tasks with the same fields you see.

Fields

Name — what the task is.
Notes — free-form markdown: persistent context about the task (links, requirements, decisions). Yours to own — nothing writes them automatically.
Priority — every task has one, from 1 to 4, and higher means more important: 4 Urgent, 3 High, 2 Medium, 1 Low. When the agent creates a task it judges the priority from what you said ("an urgent task to…", "when you get a chance…"); with nothing to go on, a task starts at 1.
Status — Incomplete, In Progress, Complete, or Cancelled. Change it from the task's row in the list, or on the task's page.
Labels — any of the project's labels, such as "Errands" or "Finance". Add and remove them on the task's page.

The list has three columns: Task, Status and Priority. A task's labels show in small type under its name. You can change a task's status or priority right from its row, without opening it. Priority shows as four signal bars: Urgent lights all four in red, High three in orange, Medium two in yellow, and Low one in grey.

The list shows your unfinished work, meaning Incomplete and In Progress tasks, with the most important first and the newest first within each level. Click the Task, Status or Priority header to sort by it, and click again to reverse the order. Sorted by status, each status still lists the most important first. You can also say "sort by status" or "sort by name". Use the Filter menu to show any mix of the four statuses, or only tasks with certain labels (a task shows if it has any of the labels you pick); Clear filters shows every task.

On a task's page, status, priority and labels save the moment you change them. The name and notes save when you press Save.

Tasks used to have due dates. Tasks created before priorities got a priority from their due date: overdue became Urgent, due within a week High, due within a month Medium, and everything else Low. The old date stays on the task for reference.

Every task also carries a metadata bag your apps can write to — see Data Types.

Subtasks

A task can have subtasks — useful for breaking a larger piece of work into steps, or for letting the agent lay out a checklist beneath a parent task. Click a task's Subtasks tab to see its subtasks as a list of their own, which works like the main list. It has the same search box, the same filters (Status and Labels), sorting by column, and the same Status and Priority controls on each row. The path at the top reads Tasks / task / Subtasks. Click the task's name there, or the back arrow, to return to the task. New subtask opens a new subtask in the same pane. When you open a subtask, the list beside it shows its parent's subtasks, with the same search and filters, and the path reads Tasks / task / Subtasks / subtask. Closing a subtask (the ×, or saying "close") takes you back to that subtasks list; click Tasks in the path for the full task list. A subtask's page shows Subtask of and its parent's name, and the path at the top reads Tasks / parent / subtask. Click the parent to go back to it.

Rules worth knowing:

Subtasks go one level deep. A subtask can't have subtasks of its own, and a task that has subtasks can't be moved under another task.
Completing a parent never completes its children. They're separate to-dos.
Deleting a task deletes its subtasks with it.

Labels

Labels are your own way to group tasks, such as Errands, Finance or Waiting on someone. A task can have any number of them.

To manage them, click the ⋮ options button next to New task and choose Manage labels. The labels page lists every label with its description. It works like the task list: click a label and it opens beside the list. From there you can:

Create a label with New label. Give it a name, a description and a color, then press Create.
Edit a label: change its name, description or color, then press Save.
Delete a label with the trash button at the bottom of an open label. The label comes off every task that had it, and the tasks themselves stay.

Write a description. Avi reads it to decide when a label fits. For example, "anything I have to leave the house for" makes Errands useful to the agent. Avi labels new tasks automatically. When Avi adds a task for you, whether in chat, from an automation or when you say "add a subtask …", it applies the labels whose descriptions fit, unless you told it which labels to use. It uses only the labels you have made and doesn't invent new ones unless you ask. If a label doesn't fit, take it off on the task's page or say "remove the errands label". Tasks you create with New task keep exactly the labels you picked.

Each label has a color: blue, green, orange, purple, red, yellow or grey. These are the same hues the priorities and badges use. A new label takes the next color that hasn't been used much yet, and you can change it any time.

On a task's page, the Labels field shows the task's labels. Click Add label to attach one, and click the × next to a label to take it off.

If something can't be saved, the reason shows at the top of the task or label you have open, and it clears itself after a few seconds.

Your tasks are yours: nobody else in the org sees them unless you hand them over. There are two ways to do that.

Assign a task to one or more people in your org. They become responsible for it: it shows up in their Tasks panel, they can start, complete and edit it, and they're told about it. On a task's page, use Assign under People to pick people, or ask Avi: "assign the proposal to Matt", "give the tax return to Sam". You can assign a task to yourself too, and a new task can be assigned as you create it.
Share a task with people, or with everyone in the org, without making anyone responsible. Under People on the task's page, use Share to pick a person (they can view it), or turn on the Everyone in the org toggle next to it (everyone can view it). It's off unless you turn it on. Ask Avi the same way: "share the launch checklist with Sam", "share it with the whole org".

A task's People section lists everyone who has it, once each, with what they are: Owner, Assigned (responsible for it, so they can edit it), Can view or Can edit (shared, not responsible). On your own task you manage it there. On someone else's task the list is read-only, and one line at the top says whose task it is and what you are on it, such as "Austen Collins's task · assigned to you".

A task that someone assigned or shared to you appears in your list alongside your own, with the owner's name under it. If you can edit it, changes you make are made to their task, so you both see the same thing. If it was shared with you to view, its page is read-only. Only the task's owner can delete it, move it under another task, label it, or add subtasks under it. Labels are each person's own vocabulary, so a task's labels show only in its owner's list.

To change what someone you shared with can do, pick Can view or Can edit next to their name, or say "set Sam's access to edit".

Sharing covers the task's subtasks too, at the same level, and a subtask the owner adds later is shared the same way. A subtask shows who it's shared with but has no sharing controls of its own: it says "Sharing follows the parent task", with a link to the parent task, where you change it. A subtask can still be assigned to someone on its own. Taking someone off a task (unassigning them) takes their access with it. To let them keep seeing it, share it with them instead. Someone assigned to a task can already edit it, so to make them view-only, unassign them first and then share it with them.

Use the People filter to show only tasks assigned to me, shared with me, or my own. Every task's row shows who it's assigned to, by name.

Associated records

A task can have associated records — the things it's about: a CRM deal, contact or company, an email thread, a message, a Drive file, a calendar event, or another task. Ask Avi, for example "associate this task with the Acme deal", or "make a task to follow up on this email" while you have the email open. A task holds up to 10 associated records.

They show as small tags with each record's app icon. In the task list and a task's subtasks list, a task shows its first two and "+N" for the rest. On a task's Details tab, every one is listed under Associated records, below People. Click one to open the record in its own app. To take one off, click the × next to it (you need to be able to edit the task).

Associating a record with a task never gives anyone access to that record. People who can see the task see its title, but opening the record still needs access to it.

Finding tasks

The panel has a search box at the top: type to filter to tasks whose name or notes contain what you typed. Tasks also turn up in Avi's global search, and you can +-mention one in chat to point the agent at it.

Saying it out loud

In voice mode the Tasks panel listens for the same things you would click:

Find a task — "open the third task", "open the invoices one", "search for tax", "search tasks for invoices", "clear the search".
Update any listed task — "mark groceries as complete", "change the tax return to priority 3", "set invoices to done", "move the offsite to in progress", "update the lease to urgent", "make taxes high priority". You don't have to say punctuation, and near forms count ("follow up" for "Follow-up", "setup" for "Set up"); one misheard word in a longer name is forgiven. Anything that isn't a status or priority change for a task on screen — "update the notes of this task with the latest…" — goes to Avi as a normal request. Say enough of the name to pick one task; if two tasks fit, Avi asks for more of the name instead of guessing.
Label tasks — "tag groceries errands", "tag the tax return as finance", "add the errands label to groceries", "put the finance tag on the invoices", "remove the errands label from groceries", "untag the tax return finance". With a task open: "tag it errands", "add the finance label", "remove the errands label". To use "add", "put" or "remove", say the word "label" or "tag". "Tag" and "untag" work with the name alone.
Manage labels — "manage labels" or "show labels" opens the labels page. You can also say "new label receipts" or "create a label called Avi with the description our product" from anywhere in the panel. If the name can't be saved as said, for example because it's longer than 40 characters, the new label opens filled in so you can fix it. On the labels page: "make errands red", "change the finance label to purple", "open the errands label", "delete the receipts label" (Avi asks you to confirm), "back to tasks".
Assign tasks — "assign groceries to Matt", "give the tax return to Sam Lee", "delegate the lease to Ryan", "assign the third task to me", "unassign Matt from groceries". "Reassign the tax return to Sam" hands it to Sam and takes everyone else off. With a task open: "assign to Matt", "assign it to me", "reassign this to Sam". A first or last name works when only one person has it; if two people fit, Avi asks which.
Share tasks — "share groceries with Sam", "invite Matt to the tax return", "share the tax return with everyone" (or "with the team"), "unshare groceries from Sam", "stop sharing it with everyone". With a task open: "share with Matt", "share this with everyone", or just "everyone can see this". A share lets them view it, the same as picking them under Sharing. Only the task's owner can share it.
Narrow the list — "only complete", "only in progress", "filter by cancelled", "only incomplete", "filter status to complete and cancelled", "filter by errands", "only assigned to me", "filter by shared with me", "only my own", "clear the filters". Filter words narrow the list; they never change a task.
With a task open — "set the status to in progress", "change status to cancelled", "start it", "mark it in progress", "mark it done", "reopen it", "cancel it"; "set the priority to high", "set priority to 4", "make it urgent", "low priority", "bump it up", "lower the priority". "Change the status" or "change the priority" opens the picker so you can choose.
Edit and add — "rename the task to …", "new subtask" or "add a subtask" (opens one to fill in; to name it in one go, ask Avi: "add a subtask to buy milk"), "new task", "type in the name …" then "save" or "create it", and "delete the task" (Avi asks you to confirm).
Get around a task — "show subtasks", "open subtasks" or "list the subtasks" opens its subtasks; "details" goes back to the task. On a subtask, "go to the parent" or "parent task" opens the task it belongs to. "edit notes" opens the Notes tab. A voice command runs on its own only when the whole sentence is the command; anything longer, or a question, goes to Avi.

In voice mode, a new task plays the success chime — one you create, a subtask you add, or one Avi creates for you when it shows up in the Tasks panel.

In the feed

Your tasks are topics in your Updates feed. A task never appears there on its own. It shows up when something happens that is the task's work: an email from the vendor it names, the document it was waiting on, someone asking how it's going. That activity lands on the task itself, titled by the task's name, instead of on a separate topic. If a topic about the same work already exists, it is folded into the task, so you see one row named for the task. Later activity about it adds to the same topic. Completing or reopening the task shows there too, and renaming the task renames the topic. Open the task from the topic with Open task.

Want it to happen automatically?

Tell the agent in chat — "check the homepage every 15 minutes and page me if it's down", "every Monday morning summarize last week's GitHub issues". It will set up an automation that runs on that schedule and reports progress to the Automations panel.