> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.unify.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How your assistant communicates

> When it speaks up, when it stays quiet, and how to steer it

Your assistant is designed to communicate like a considerate colleague — not
like an app pushing notifications. Here's what to expect, and how to shape it.

## It answers where you ask

Message your assistant on any channel and it answers there. Ask it over SMS to
email you a document, and you'll get a text confirming it plus the email in
your inbox. The conversation is one continuous thread in your assistant's
memory, whatever mix of channels it spans.

## It knows when to stay quiet

After answering you, your assistant doesn't keep talking to fill the silence.
It won't send you play-by-play updates unless you want them, and in group
settings — Slack channels, meetings, calls with several people — it speaks
when addressed or when it genuinely has something to add.

## It can reach out first

Your assistant isn't purely reactive:

* **Task updates** — when something you asked for is done (or blocked), it
  tells you on an appropriate channel.
* **Scheduled work** — [tasks](/tasks/overview) you've scheduled can end
  with a message, an email, or a call at the time you chose.
* **Gentle follow-ups** — if a conversation goes quiet while something needs
  your input, it may send a friendly follow-up email. Ask it to stop and it
  stops.
* **Ringing you** — when a live conversation beats a wall of text, it can
  ring you on [Unify Meet](/communication/unify-meet), and falls back to chat
  if you don't pick up.

## On calls, it behaves like a person

* **Short turns.** It says one thing at a time instead of monologuing, and
  keeps phone answers conversational.
* **Interruptible.** Talk over it and it stops and listens.
* **Honest thinking time.** When your question needs real work, you'll hear a
  brief "one moment" while it works, rather than silence or waffle.
* **Aware of the room.** It can distinguish speakers and won't jump into a
  side conversation it overhears.

## It talks to other people on your behalf

Your assistant can message and call people other than you — chasing invoices,
coordinating with a contractor, replying to a client email thread. Every
person it deals with is a [**contact**](/communication/contacts), with their
own channels and preferences:

* It writes to each contact **in their language**.
* Contacts can be marked **do-not-contact**, and your assistant will never
  message them — it can also hold a note explaining why.
* When someone new gets in touch on a channel, your assistant treats unknown
  senders with appropriate caution rather than assuming who they are.

## Steering it

The most powerful setting is simply telling your assistant what you want:
"always text me instead of emailing", "never call after 6pm", "stop the
follow-up emails", "keep updates to once a day". It remembers your
preferences and applies them — see [how learning works](/learning/overview).