Choose Flexible
Use a flexible worker when the job needs judgement each time; New worker's one question sets it up.
✦ Tutorial · Beginner
Set up your first flexible worker
Create a flexible worker with a clear job, start from a worker template, steer it in chat, switch it to Strict when the job settles, and know which changes wait for your approval.
Start tutorialYOUR OUTCOME
You will set up one flexible worker with a clear job, get a finished deliverable from it, steer it once and set when it runs.
Write a job with a deliverable and a finish line Steer in Chat or edit the Job instead of starting again Know which changes wait for your approval
3 min
Write the job
Give it a name, a goal with a deliverable and a finish line, and choose when it works.
Start from a template or a chat
Pick a Marketplace worker template, or turn a chat you liked into a job with Keep doing this.
Steer it, and switch when the job settles
Message it in Chat to change direction, edit the Job tab for lasting changes, and use the Flexible tag to switch to Strict.
Set when it runs and what needs you
Add times in When it runs, and know when changes through your connected accounts wait for your approval.
What each lesson covers
The tutorial, lesson by lesson.
Choose Flexible
Use a flexible worker when the job needs judgement each time; New worker's one question sets it up.
A flexible worker has a job and uses its judgement to get it done: it decides which sources to read, which steps to take and when to ask you. That suits research, planning and any work that changes from run to run. A strict worker is the other kind: it repeats taught steps exactly. New worker asks one question, Should it do this the same way every time?, and No, use its judgement makes a flexible worker. Its sidebar row carries a green Flexible tag, and anything waiting on you moves under Needs you.
Practice. In the sidebar, click New worker and choose No, use its judgement for a job you would hand to a capable new colleague rather than a checklist.
New worker, then No, use its judgement. The job you have in mind: Research the Australian online shoe market and recommend where a new store should start.
Write the job
Give it a name, a goal with a deliverable and a finish line, and choose when it works.
The first question card asks for a Name, a Goal and When to work. The goal is the contract: what to produce, which sources to use and where the work ends. "Deliver a two-page brief as a Word document with every figure cited" gives it a finish line; "look into the shoe market" does not. When to work can be When I ask, Now, once, On a schedule, When a webhook arrives or When a connected service changes. Continue saves it. Later, the Job tab holds the same instructions, and Save keeps your edits.
Practice. Fill in the card for a real job: a name, a goal that names the deliverable, the sources and the finish line, and Now, once. Choose Continue and follow the first run in the Chat tab.
Name: Mia · Head of Research. Goal: I'm starting an online shoe store on dropshipping: everyday sneakers and casual shoes, Australia first, then New Zealand, from a $25,000 start. You are our head of research. Research this market with sources: size and growth of online footwear in Australia, the top five competitors and their price points, the realistic dropshipping supplier options with lead times to Australia and typical landed cost per pair, and the three biggest risks. Deliver a two-page opportunity brief as a Word document with every figure cited. Never invent a figure; cite it or flag it. When to work: Now, once.
Start from a template or a chat
Pick a Marketplace worker template, or turn a chat you liked into a job with Keep doing this.
You don't have to write every job from scratch. On the first question card, Start from a template lets you search the templates; pick one and its goal, timing and name are filled in for you to check, and Continue adds the template's instructions and skills. Marketplace has the same templates under Worker templates, with Import worker. A template's suggested schedule arrives Not enabled until you ask the worker to set one. After a chat that did something you want again, Keep doing this offers Make it a job, which turns that chat into a flexible worker and opens its Job tab.
Practice. Open Marketplace, go to Worker templates and read one template close to your job. Import it, then read its Job tab and change anything that doesn't fit your business.
Marketplace, Worker templates, Content calendar planning, Import worker. Then in its Chat tab: Our audience is first-time sneaker buyers in Australia on Instagram and email. Plan four weeks of posts around our pre-order launch.
Steer it, and switch when the job settles
Message it in Chat to change direction, edit the Job tab for lasting changes, and use the Flexible tag to switch to Strict.
A message in the Chat tab steers the work it already has: a correction, a change of direction, or "finish with what you have and list what's missing". For a change that should apply every time, edit the instructions in the Job tab and Save. Once the job settles into the same steps every time, click the Flexible tag next to its name and choose Strict. Switch to Strict asks where its steps should come from: Use its last good run as the steps, or Teach it from scratch. After the switch, Undo is offered straight away.
Practice. Send one steering message to your worker, then open the Job tab and add one lasting rule to the instructions. Save, and check that the next reply follows it.
In Mia's Chat tab: Keep this brief to Australia only. New Zealand can wait for a second brief.
Set when it runs and what needs you
Add times in When it runs, and know when changes through your connected accounts wait for your approval.
In the Settings tab, When it runs holds up to 8 times, each with what it should do, plus events under When something happens. Only message me when there is something new keeps quiet runs quiet. Changes through your connected accounts follow one rule. While you are chatting with it, each change waits for your approval. Scheduled runs and team runs make changes without asking. A run started by a webhook or account event makes no changes until you approve them in the chat. Connect only the accounts the job needs.
Practice. Open Settings, choose Add a time, pick Mondays 9:00 and write what it should do on that run. Check the next three runs, then decide whether this job really needs any connected account.
Settings, When it runs, Add a time: Mondays 9:00. What should it do? Check the top three competitors' prices and new releases and report what changed, with links.
Keep going
Make the learning stick
Start with one real piece of work.
Open Oppermind beside the lesson, apply each step, and leave with something you can use.