> ## 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.

# Overview

> Standing work your assistant does while you're away

Ask your assistant to do something and it does it now. **Tasks** are for
everything else — work that should happen *later*, *repeatedly*, or *whenever
something happens*, without you being there to ask.

Set up a task once, in plain language, and your assistant handles it from
then on: it wakes up on its own, does the work quietly, and reaches out on
one of your [connected channels](/communication/overview) with the result.
The proof a task is working isn't a row in a table — it's your assistant
returning unprompted.

## The kinds of tasks

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Scheduled" icon="clock" color="#2f9d97">
    Runs on the clock — once at a specific time, or on a recurring routine.
    *"Every morning at 8am, send me a calendar rundown."*
  </Card>

  <Card title="Triggered" icon="bolt" color="#cf9a3e">
    Runs when something happens in your world. *"When I get an email marked
    urgent, text me straight away."*
  </Card>

  <Card title="On demand" icon="hand-pointer" color="#c95f5a">
    A standing task you fire whenever you like — "run the weekly recap now".
  </Card>

  <Card title="Background" icon="moon" color="#6e4a86">
    Runs quietly behind the scenes without opening a live session — you only
    hear about it if it has something to send you.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

A task is either scheduled *or* triggered, never both — but you can have as
many tasks as you like, and they run independently.

## What tasks can do

A task is a plain-English description of work, and when it runs your
assistant brings its full toolkit: your
[workspace](/workspace/overview) (inbox, calendar, files), your
[integrations](/integrations/overview), the web, every
[communication channel](/communication/overview) you've connected, and the
[data tables and dashboards](/canvas/overview) it maintains for you —
recurring tasks that log fresh data each run are how live dashboards stay
live.

Some favorites:

* *"In two minutes, check my inbox and text me anything urgent."*
* *"Every Friday afternoon, recap my week and email it to me."*
* *"Each morning, check HubSpot for new leads and message me the ones worth
  a call."*
* *"When someone messages me on Slack after 6pm, send me a WhatsApp."*
* *"When a calendar invite lands for tomorrow, give me a heads-up here."*

## Tasks vs. everything else

* **Tasks vs. Actions.** The **Actions** tab shows live work happening right
  now — including a task mid-run. The **Tasks** tab holds the standing
  definitions that fire on their own.
* **Tasks vs. asking in chat.** "Summarize my inbox" is a one-off request.
  "Summarize my inbox every morning" is a task. Your assistant sorts out
  which is which from how you phrase it.
* **Tasks vs. your to-do list.** Platform tasks are work *your assistant*
  performs. Your personal Google Tasks / Microsoft To Do lists are
  [workspace to-dos](/workspace/contacts-and-tasks) — the assistant can
  manage those for you, but they're your list, not its job queue.
* **Reminders are tasks too.** "Remind me to call Alice tomorrow at 9" just
  creates a small scheduled task that pings you at 9.

## What's in this section

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Creating tasks" icon="pen-to-square" color="#2f9d97" href="/tasks/creating">
    Describe the work in chat — schedules, triggers, and testing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="How tasks run" icon="play" color="#cf9a3e" href="/tasks/running">
    Waking on time, working quietly, reporting back, and what it costs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Monitoring tasks" icon="list-check" color="#4f7fa8" href="/tasks/monitoring">
    The Tasks tab — definitions, statuses, and run history.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>