Setting up an assistant
Open an assistant from the Assistants page to shape how it behaves. The page has a header and four tabs: Setup, Automations, Memory and Activity.
The header
Section titled “The header”Click the name or description to edit them in place (Enter saves, Esc cancels). Click the avatar to change it. On the right: Share (owners only — see Sharing an assistant and Slack), Start Chat, and a More actions menu with Pin to sidebar, Duplicate and Delete.
If someone shared the assistant with you, a banner says who owns it and whether you’re an editor or viewer.
Setup tab
Section titled “Setup tab”The same personality, goals and behaviour fields as when you created the assistant (see Assistants for what each means). Changes autosave a moment after you stop typing — you’ll see “Autosaving…” then “Saved”. There’s a Save Changes button too if you’d rather be explicit.
Below the behaviour settings are three panels.
Integrations
Section titled “Integrations”The tools and services this assistant can call, both in chats and when its automations run. Connections here are scoped to this assistant — they’re separate from the tools you’ve connected for yourself.
Click Manage Integrations to open the same tool picker used in chat, with changes scoped to this assistant:
- Turn built-in tools on or off — Web Search, Memory Recall (search past conversations) and Delegate Task (hand work to sub-agents).
- Toggle each connected integration.
- Open Native → Environments for Companion machines and the assistant’s optional cloud workspace, even if cloud environments are unavailable.
- Reconnect any integration whose sign-in has expired.
- Connect Integration to add a new one (see Connecting tools).
If you’ve already connected tools for yourself, Copy my connections lets you grant this assistant access to some or all of them in one go. A few things to know before you do: the assistant uses your credentials for those tools; if you share the assistant, your collaborators can use those tools on your behalf through it; and it’s a one-time copy — later changes to your own connections don’t sync. Some sign-in-based connections can’t be copied directly and arrive switched off until you authorise them for the assistant.
Grant Companion machines or your cloud workspace from the Environments submenu. Pair your computer in Settings → Environments, then, as the assistant’s owner, open Manage Integrations → Native → Environments → Grant environment access. The Grant tool access dialog lists your Companion machines and Your cloud workspace, badged Cloud workspace. Select what you want, review the credential and sharing notice, and confirm. This does not copy unrelated integrations or HTTP endpoints; Copy my connections remains available for other integrations.
Granted machines appear together in Environments, not in the general integrations list. Their switches update only this assistant’s enabled tools, not your personal chat preferences. Collaborators can use enabled machines through the assistant, subject to each machine’s local permissions and command approvals. Granting a machine does not create a cloud workspace.
Your cloud workspace is the personal workspace your own chats use. It needs the Starter or Pro plan; on other plans the row is disabled and says Available on Starter and Pro. It is not offered when the assistant already has its own cloud environment, because an assistant uses one cloud workspace at a time. Once granted, everything that runs through the assistant uses your workspace: your chats, collaborators’ chats, its automations and the tasks it delegates. Anyone who can use the assistant can read and change every file in your workspace, including files from your other chats. Don’t grant it to a shared assistant if your workspace holds anything private.
Optional cloud environment
Section titled “Optional cloud environment”Find Cloud environment inside Manage Integrations → Native → Environments, alongside the granted Companion machines. It offers a separate persistent cloud workspace for this assistant when cloud environments are configured on your server. An active paying subscription is required; trials and sponsored access do not qualify.
Only the assistant owner can click Create environment. Opening the page or either menu does not create anything. The submenu shows Not created, Creating environment…, Ready, Environment error, or Deleting environment…. If the feature is not configured, or a status request fails, it says so rather than claiming a workspace is ready. Use Refresh status after a status request fails.
After a creation failure, Retry creation resumes setup only when you click it. After a deletion failure, use Delete environment to finish cleanup before creating another workspace. Editors and viewers can read the status but cannot grant machines, create a workspace, or delete one.
Files persist with the assistant, not with the person using it or a particular chat. Collaborators can run code through that assistant in its workspace. Editors can read the status but cannot create or delete the environment. There is no direct IDE sign-in link here; use the workspace through the assistant.
If you granted Your cloud workspace, this section says Uses your personal cloud workspace instead, and the owner sees a Remove access button. Removing access stops the assistant from using your workspace; it deletes no files. Remove access before creating a separate environment, and delete a separate environment before granting your own workspace. If your plan stops including the cloud workspace, the assistant’s workspace tools stop working until you upgrade again. The grant itself stays.
In a chat using this assistant, Tools and integrations → Environments offers Assistant cloud workspace only when it is ready and eligible. If the owner granted their cloud workspace, it shows Your cloud workspace to the owner and Owner’s cloud workspace to everyone else. Without that explicit grant, it never substitutes a personal cloud workspace when the assistant’s is unavailable. Granted Companion machines also appear there as read-only entries labelled Managed via assistant settings. The menu’s Assistant environment settings action brings you back here; it does not create anything.
Delete environment asks you to confirm before permanently deleting the cloud workspace and all its files. This affects everyone using the assistant and cannot be undone. It does not delete your Companion machines. The owner can still delete an existing workspace after subscription eligibility ends.
Skills
Section titled “Skills”The procedural knowledge this assistant uses: skills scoped to it, skills that come with its connected tools, and your globally enabled built-in skills. Manage skills lets you turn skills on or off or write your own (see Skills).
Channels
Section titled “Channels”Where the assistant can talk to people beyond CoChat — currently Slack. Covered in Sharing an assistant and Slack.
Automations tab
Section titled “Automations tab”Every automation assigned to this assistant. An automation here is exactly the same thing as one made from the Automations page — it just runs with this assistant’s personality, model and tools. See Automations for how to write one.
Each row shows the schedule in plain English, whether it’s Enabled or Disabled, and buttons:
- Run now — run it immediately.
- Runs — the last 50 runs, with duration and status; click one for the full detail.
- Edit, Delete.
- Move — reassign the automation to a different assistant.
Add automation creates a new one already bound to this assistant. If you’re at your plan’s limit for enabled automations, new ones are saved paused rather than refused.
Memory tab (owners only)
Section titled “Memory tab (owners only)”What this assistant has learned from its conversations, kept separately from your own personal memory. You can add a memory by hand, edit or delete individual ones, or clear them all. See Memory for how the three memory scopes fit together.
Activity tab
Section titled “Activity tab”Recent runs from every automation assigned to this assistant, newest first, with a status pill and any error. Click a run for detail; Refresh reloads. Ordinary chats you have with the assistant don’t appear here — this is automation activity only.
What each role can do
Section titled “What each role can do”| Owner | Editor | Viewer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat with it | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit name, description, personality | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Change model, creativity, reasoning, activity, autonomy, tools | ✓ | ||
| Automations tab | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Memory tab | ✓ | ||
| Activity tab | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Channels (Slack) | ✓ | ||
| Grant Companion connections or your cloud workspace; create or delete the cloud environment | ✓ | ||
| Share, publish, delete | ✓ | ||
| Duplicate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |