botbook/src/04-gbui/apps/tasks.md

# Auto Tasks

> **LLM-Powered Intelligent Task Execution**

---

<img src="../../assets/chapter-04/autotask-interface.svg" alt="Auto Tasks Interface" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto;">

## What is Auto Tasks?

Auto Tasks is a revolutionary approach to task automation. Instead of manually creating to-do items, you describe what you want to accomplish in natural language, and the LLM compiles your intent into an executable plan with automatic step-by-step execution.

**The old way:** Create a task → Do it yourself → Mark complete

**The Auto Tasks way:** Describe your goal → LLM plans it → System executes it → You approve critical steps

---

## How It Works

| Step | What Happens |
|------|--------------|
| **1. Describe Intent** | Write what you want in plain English |
| **2. Compile & Plan** | LLM analyzes intent, generates execution plan |
| **3. Review Plan** | See steps, estimates, risks before execution |
| **4. Execute** | System runs the plan, pausing for approvals |
| **5. Monitor** | Watch progress, make decisions when needed |

---

## Creating an Auto Task

### 1. Write Your Intent

In the intent box, describe what you want to accomplish:

**Good examples:**
- "Make a financial CRM for Deloitte with client management and reporting"
- "Create a website that collects leads and sends them to Salesforce"
- "Build an automated email campaign for our product launch"
- "Analyze Q4 sales data and generate a PDF report with charts"

**Tips for better results:**
- Be specific about the outcome you want
- Mention the client or project name
- Include key features or requirements
- Specify integrations if needed

### 2. Choose Execution Mode

| Mode | Best For | How It Works |
|------|----------|--------------|
| **Semi-Automatic** | Most tasks | Runs automatically, pauses for high-risk steps |
| **Supervised** | Learning/sensitive | Pauses before each step for your approval |
| **Fully Automatic** | Trusted workflows | Runs everything without stopping |
| **Dry Run** | Testing | Simulates execution without making changes |

### 3. Set Priority

| Priority | Meaning |
|----------|---------|
| **Critical** | Urgent, run immediately |
| **High** | Important, prioritize |
| **Medium** | Normal priority (default) |
| **Low** | Run when resources available |
| **Background** | Run during idle time |

### 4. Click "Compile & Plan"

The LLM will:
1. Extract entities (action, target, domain, client)
2. Generate an execution plan with ordered steps
3. Assess risks and estimate resources
4. Generate the underlying BASIC program

---

## Understanding the Execution Plan

After compilation, you'll see a detailed plan:

### Plan Header

- **Plan Name** - Auto-generated title for your task
- **Description** - Summary of what will be accomplished
- **Confidence** - How confident the LLM is in the plan (aim for 80%+)
- **Risk Level** - Overall risk assessment (None/Low/Medium/High/Critical)
- **Estimated Duration** - How long execution should take
- **Estimated Cost** - API and compute costs

### Execution Steps

Each step shows:
- **Step Number & Priority** - Order and importance
- **Step Name** - What this step does
- **Keywords** - BASIC keywords that will be used
- **Risk Level** - Risk for this specific step

### Resource Estimates

- **Compute** - Processing hours needed
- **Storage** - Disk space required
- **API Calls** - External API requests
- **LLM Tokens** - Token consumption estimate

### Plan Actions

| Button | Action |
|--------|--------|
| **🗑️ Discard** | Delete the plan, start over |
| **✏️ Edit Plan** | Modify steps before execution |
| **🔮 Simulate** | Preview impact without executing |
| **🚀 Execute** | Start running the plan |

---

## Monitoring Active Tasks

### Task States

| Status | Meaning |
|--------|---------|
| **Draft** | Created, not yet compiled |
| **Compiling** | LLM is generating the plan |
| **Ready** | Plan generated, waiting to start |
| **Running** | Currently executing |
| **Paused** | Execution paused by user |
| **Pending Approval** | Waiting for you to approve a step |
| **Waiting Decision** | Needs your input to continue |
| **Completed** | Successfully finished |
| **Failed** | Encountered an error |
| **Cancelled** | Stopped by user |

### Filter Tabs

- **All** - Every task regardless of status
- **Running** - Currently executing tasks
- **Need Approval** - Tasks waiting for your approval
- **Decisions** - Tasks needing your input

### Progress Tracking

Each task shows:
- Current step number and name
- Progress bar with percentage
- Time elapsed and estimated remaining

---

## Approvals & Decisions

### When Approvals Are Required

High-impact actions require your approval:
- Sending emails to many recipients
- Modifying production databases
- Making external API calls with side effects
- Deploying to live environments
- Actions exceeding cost thresholds

### Approval Dialog

When approval is needed, you'll see:
- **Action description** - What will happen
- **Impact summary** - What could be affected
- **Risk level** - How risky this step is
- **Simulation result** - Preview of the outcome

**Options:**
- ✅ **Approve** - Continue execution
- ⏸️ **Defer** - Decide later
- ❌ **Reject** - Skip this step or stop execution

### Making Decisions

Sometimes the system needs your input:
- Choosing between alternative approaches
- Selecting from multiple options
- Providing missing information

Each option shows pros, cons, and impact estimates.

---

## Task Actions

| Action | When Available | What It Does |
|--------|----------------|--------------|
| **👁️ Details** | Always | View full task information |
| **🔮 Simulate** | Before execution | Preview impact |
| **⏸️ Pause** | While running | Temporarily stop execution |
| **▶️ Resume** | When paused | Continue execution |
| **❌ Cancel** | Anytime | Stop and discard task |

---

## Execution Log

Expand any task to see its execution log:
- Timestamp for each action
- Step transitions
- Approval/decision records
- Error messages if any
- Output from each step

---

## Creating Tasks from Chat

You can also create Auto Tasks by talking to your bot:

**You:** "I need to build a customer portal for Acme Corp"

**Bot:** "I'll create an Auto Task for that. Here's the plan:
- 5 steps, estimated 3 hours
- Includes: database setup, authentication, dashboard, API integration
- Risk: Low
- 
Should I execute this plan?"

**You:** "Yes, go ahead"

**Bot:** "🚀 Auto Task started. I'll notify you when approvals are needed."

---

## Generated BASIC Code

Every Auto Task generates a BASIC program behind the scenes. You can view and copy this code:

```bas
' AUTO-GENERATED BASIC PROGRAM
' Plan: Financial CRM for Deloitte

PLAN_START "Financial CRM", "Client management system"
  STEP 1, "Create database schema", CRITICAL
  STEP 2, "Setup authentication", HIGH
  STEP 3, "Build client module", HIGH
PLAN_END

NEW_TABLE "clients"
  COLUMN "name", STRING
  COLUMN "email", STRING
  COLUMN "revenue", DECIMAL
SAVE_TABLE
```

This code can be:
- Copied for manual execution
- Modified and saved as a template
- Reused for similar projects

---

## Best Practices

### Writing Good Intents

✅ **Do:**
- "Create a sales dashboard for Q4 data with charts showing revenue by region"
- "Build an email drip campaign: welcome email, 3-day follow-up, 7-day offer"
- "Analyze customer feedback CSV and generate sentiment report"

❌ **Don't:**
- "Make something" (too vague)
- "Do the thing we discussed" (no context)
- "Fix it" (what needs fixing?)

### Choosing Execution Mode

- **New to Auto Tasks?** Start with Supervised mode
- **Routine tasks?** Use Semi-Automatic
- **Trusted, tested workflows?** Fully Automatic is fine
- **Experimenting?** Always use Dry Run first

### Managing Risk

- Review the risk assessment before executing
- Use Simulate for high-risk tasks
- Set up approval thresholds in settings
- Monitor running tasks actively

---

## Troubleshooting

### Compilation Failed

- Check that your intent is clear and specific
- Avoid ambiguous language
- Include necessary context (client name, data sources)

### Task Stuck on "Running"

- Check if an approval is pending
- Look for decision requests
- Review the execution log for errors

### Unexpected Results

- Review the generated plan before executing
- Use Dry Run to test first
- Check the BASIC code for issues

### High Risk Warning

- Consider using Supervised mode
- Review each step carefully
- Use Simulate before Execute

---

## Settings

Configure Auto Tasks behavior in Settings:

- **Default execution mode** - Your preferred mode
- **Approval thresholds** - When to require approval
- **Cost limits** - Maximum spend per task
- **Notification preferences** - How to alert you
- **Auto-cleanup** - Remove completed tasks after X days

---

## See Also

- [Autonomous Task AI](../../07-gbapp/autonomous-tasks.md) - How the machine does the work
- [CREATE SITE Keyword](../../06-gbdialog/keyword-create-site.md) - App generation details
- [Calendar](./calendar.md) - Scheduled Auto Tasks appear here
- [Chat](./chat.md) - Create tasks through conversation
- [Analytics](./analytics.md) - Task execution metrics