Responsibilities

Responsibilities shows what each bot looks after without being asked:

• its Goals: standing jobs you've given it, each with an optional check-in,
• what it does On a schedule: its routines,
• what wakes it up When something happens: its webhooks.

Adding a goal here is the whole setup. The bot knows the goal from its next message, and the check-in starts on schedule.

Open Responsibilities

Either of these:

• At the bottom of the sidebar, open Tools → Responsibilities.
• Click a bot's avatar in the chat header to open its profile card, then click Responsibilities ("Goals, schedule, what wakes it").

If you have more than one bot, a row of bot tabs sits under the title. The page starts on the bot you had open. Click another bot to see its responsibilities.

Click the Back arrow at the top left to go back to your chat.

Goals

A goal is something you want the bot to keep an eye on all the time, like "Keep my inbox under 20 unread". Under the Goals heading it says, for example, "Inbox keeps these moving and tells you when something needs you."

Add a goal

Each goal in the list shows its check-in, for example "Checks in every day at 09:00 · next in 14h", or "No check-in: it brings this up when it matters".

What adding a goal does

1. The goal is written into the bot's Soul, in a section called My standing responsibilities. The bot reads its Soul at the start of every conversation, so it knows the goal in every thread. See Write a bot's Soul.
2. If you chose a check-in, a routine is created called Check-in: followed by the goal, like Check-in: Keep my inbox under 20 unread. A goal longer than 60 characters is cut to its first 57 characters and … in the routine's name. At each check-in the bot looks at what changed since the last one, does what is needed, and reports in two or three short lines. If nothing needs you, it says so in one line.
3. Check-in reports post in the bot's main thread: its oldest thread. They read like the bot checking in where you already talk, not a new thread every time.

The check-in is an ordinary routine. You'll find it in Tools → Automations, where you can change its time, where it posts, or pause it. See Manage automations.

Remove a goal

Click the bin icon next to the goal. This removes it from the bot's Soul and deletes its check-in routine.

Examples

On a schedule

"Routines it runs by itself." Every routine for this bot, other than goal check-ins, which show under their goal. Each shows its name, its schedule (like Weekdays at 08:00), and its next run, or paused. On the right is how its last run went: a green tick when it finished, or the status, like failed, in red.

Click Open Automations to see and change them, with this bot already selected. See Automations.

With no routines you'll see "No routines yet. Ask it to do something every morning, or add one in Automations."

When something happens

"Webhooks that wake it up." Webhooks let another service start the bot, for example a form tool every time someone fills in a form. Each shows its name and whether it's Listening or Paused.

With none you'll see "Nothing wakes it from outside yet." Webhooks are created on the Machine web app. See Secrets and webhooks.

Good to know

• Goals live in the Soul. If you edit the bot's Soul by hand, leave the My standing responsibilities section alone and manage goals here instead. If that section is deleted, the goals disappear from this page.
• Changing how a goal reaches you. The Also reach me by choice is written into the check-in's instructions. To change it, remove the goal and add it again with the new choice.
• Renaming a check-in breaks the link. A check-in is tied to its goal by its name. If you rename it in Automations, it moves to On a schedule, and removing the goal no longer deletes it.
• Each check-in uses your balance, like any other work a bot does.

Troubleshooting

Related

• Today: your day across every bot, with a one-click brief.
• Inkbox from Machine Desktop
• Create an automation