# Tasks > **The machine does the work** --- Tasks Interface ## What is Tasks? Tasks is where the machine does the work for you. Instead of manually tracking to-do items, you describe what you want to accomplish in natural language, and the system compiles your intent into an executable plan with automatic step-by-step execution. | Old Way | Tasks Way | |---------|-----------| | Create a task | Describe your goal | | Do it yourself | Machine plans it | | Mark complete | Machine executes it | | Repeat | You approve critical steps | --- ## How It Works | Step | What Happens | |------|--------------| | **1. Describe** | Write what you want in plain English | | **2. Compile** | LLM analyzes intent, generates execution plan | | **3. Review** | See steps, estimates, risks before execution | | **4. Execute** | System runs the plan, pausing for approvals | | **5. Monitor** | Watch progress, make decisions when needed | --- ## Creating a Task ### 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 ### 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 | ### 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 | ### 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 see a detailed plan: ### Plan Header | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | **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: | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | **Step Number** | Order of execution | | **Priority** | CRITICAL, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW | | **Step Name** | What this step does | | **Keywords** | BASIC keywords that will be used | | **Risk Level** | Risk for this specific step | ### 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 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 | Tab | Shows | |-----|-------| | **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 see: | Field | Description | |-------|-------------| | **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:** | Action | Result | |--------|--------| | **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 | --- ## Creating Tasks from Chat You can also create tasks by talking to your bot: **You:** "I need to build a customer portal for Acme Corp" **Bot:** "I'll create a 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:** "Task started. I'll notify you when approvals are needed." --- ## Generated BASIC Code Every 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 | Don't | |----|-------| | "Create a sales dashboard for Q4 data with charts showing revenue by region" | "Make something" | | "Build an email drip campaign: welcome email, 3-day follow-up, 7-day offer" | "Do the thing we discussed" | | "Analyze customer feedback CSV and generate sentiment report" | "Fix it" | ### Choosing Execution Mode | Situation | Recommended Mode | |-----------|------------------| | New to Tasks | Supervised | | Routine tasks | Semi-Automatic | | Trusted, tested workflows | Fully Automatic | | Experimenting | Dry Run | ### 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 --- ## Settings Configure Tasks behavior in Settings: | Setting | Description | |---------|-------------| | **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) - Architecture details - [CREATE SITE](../../06-gbdialog/keyword-create-site.md) - App generation - [Calendar](./calendar.md) - Scheduled tasks - [Chat](./chat.md) - Create tasks through conversation