Continual's agent
The always-on agent you talk to: what it can do, what wakes it, how it remembers, and how it acts with exactly your access.
Continual's always-on agent, called Continual in the app, is the part of Continual you talk to. Ask it "Which quotes are still open?" or "Draft a quote for Northwind Health", and it does the work on your business's records, on your behalf and within your access.
What it can do
Continual works through the same Actions people use in the app. It can:
- Find and read records, such as "Which deals close this month?"
- Create and change records, such as drafting a quote or moving a deal's close date.
- Show you things: a record, a list, or a metric, which you can open beside the thread.
- Ask a question with up to four answers, each one key away.
- Give people to-dos when it needs someone to act. See to-dos.
- Use skills: kinds of work apps teach it, such as Sales' pipeline review or Finance's bookkeeping.
- Search the web for what it needs, such as a company's site.
What it can work with depends on the apps your organization installs.
- Which deals close this month, and which are missing a contact?
- Move the Atlas Cold Chain deal's close date to Nov 15.
- Remind me tomorrow at 9 to follow up with Northwind Health.
- Give Rachel a to-do to call Northwind Health back on Friday.
One Continual for each person
Each member has one Continual, with one memory of working with them. You talk to it in several threads: your main thread, under Chat, and one for each of your to-dos. Because every thread reaches the same Continual, it knows in one what you said in another.
Coming: reaching Continual from other places you work, such as Slack and email.
What wakes Continual
Continual works when something wakes it, and is idle otherwise:
| What wakes it | Example |
|---|---|
| Your message | "Draft a follow-up to Northwind Health." |
| A timer it set | "Remind me tomorrow at 9" sets a timer that wakes it then |
| A watch it set | It watches a deal you care about, and wakes when the deal changes |
Continual sets timers and watches itself, when your request calls for one. Some things it notes without waking, such as your reactions to its messages and the to-dos you own; it reads them the next time it works.
Coming: goals that tell Continual what to pursue when nobody asks, and a regular check-in it keeps on its own.
How Continual acts
Continual acts within your access, never around it.
- It works on your behalf. It holds exactly your roles, and reaches only what you can reach. See people and access.
- It asks before what can't be undone. By default, it edits freely and asks before it finalizes, sends, or deletes. See approvals.
- It never approves its own changes. Today, a person decides every approval.
- Every change is recorded with Continual as the actor, you as the person it acted for, and its work as the cause. See activity.
Watch it work
While Continual works, the thread's header says what it is doing, such as "Reading the deal". You can keep writing; a message you send joins its work. Stop ends the work before its next step, and the steps it finished stay.
Shape how Continual works
The organization and you each have Continual settings: Settings › Organization for everyone, and Settings › You for yourself.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Instructions | How it works there, in plain words, such as "Reply within a day." |
| Skills | The skills it may use there |
| Connections | The connected accounts it may use there |
| Model | The model it thinks with |
| Quiet from, Quiet until | The hours it stops reaching out |
| Memory | Facts, preferences, and guidelines it keeps in mind there |
| Policies | What waits for a yes, or is refused |
Your instructions add to the organization's. Instructions and memory steer how Continual works; they never widen what it may do.
Coming: Continual working for a service account, such as Finance collections, with that account's own roles, and work it keeps on a schedule.