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Your squad is one chief of staff plus the teammates it hires. By default the chief of staff is named Chief of Staff (@chief). A squad has exactly one chief of staff. You manage teammates in two ways:
  • In the dashboard, you open a teammate’s About page, pause or resume them, ask them for an update, pick their model, and change their routines and files.
  • In chat, you ask your chief of staff to hire, rename, or remove teammates. The dashboard has no button that does these by itself. You can also ask your chief of staff to pause or resume a teammate.
These chat requests work only when the owner or an Administrator asks. When a Collaborator or a Viewer asks, Squad refuses the change. Hiring also needs an Administrator who can see every teammate. Squad for Mac works the same way. Where the Mac differs, a short note in each section says how.

What you can change, and what you ask your chief of staff for

Hire a teammate

1

Open the hire request

In the sidebar, select + next to Your squad (Ask and your chief of staff’s name to hire a teammate). Your chief of staff’s chat opens with a new conversation that starts “I’d like to hire a new teammate for the squad. The role: ”.
2

Describe the job

Finish the sentence: the job, the tools the teammate will use, and the results you expect. Then send it.
3

Approve the plan

Answer your chief of staff’s questions, then approve the plan.
The + shows to the owner and to Administrators who work with every teammate. Other people do not see it. Only the owner and Administrators who can see every teammate can have a teammate hired. When a Collaborator asks, your chief of staff cannot create the teammate for them. Squad tells it to ask the owner or an Administrator in a question, and to tell the Collaborator that it did. When the person asked says yes, your chief of staff can create the teammate. You can also write the request in any conversation with your chief of staff:
Ask your chief of staff
When your chief of staff creates the teammate, it does these things:
  • It gives the teammate a personality and an identity, and registers them in your squad.
  • It adds the teammate to the shared Squad file in memory, so the other teammates know who does what.
  • It creates a heartbeat for the teammate. A heartbeat is a routine that wakes a teammate to check its work. The heartbeat starts off. The teammate runs on a schedule only after you turn one on. See Schedule recurring work.
  • It creates a first task for the new teammate.
A new teammate can take about two minutes before it receives work. Until then, work that is routed to it can go to your chief of staff instead. Your chief of staff cannot create a second chief of staff. A squad has one, and Squad refuses to register another one. On Squad for Mac, the + beside Your squad works the same way. You can also choose Ask and your chief of staff’s name to Hire a Teammate… in a teammate’s ⋯ menu. Nothing is sent until you press Return.

Open a teammate’s About page

A teammate’s page has two places: Chat and About.
  1. In the sidebar, under Your squad, select the teammate. Their chat opens.
  2. Select About at the top.

The header

The header stays at the top while the page scrolls. In the More menu:
  • Ask for an update wakes the teammate now so that it checks its work. The item shows Asking…, then Asked. and the name picks this up shortly. The teammate reports back through its status and comments.
  • Pause and Resume are described in Pause a teammate. Only the owner and Administrators see them.
  • Message on Telegram shows only on your chief of staff’s page, and only when Telegram is connected. It opens your chat with your chief of staff in Telegram. See Telegram.

The header on Squad for Mac

The header has no Watch. Watch is in a conversation’s header and opens a floating window. See Watch a teammate’s browser in a floating window. On Chat, a side panel button (Show the side panel or Hide the side panel) sits beside Chat and About. The ⋯ menu (More actions for and the name) has more items:

What the page shows

From top to bottom: Parts with nothing to show do not appear. On Squad for Mac, About has no handle line and no runs line. A blocked teammate’s notice says the name, is stuck, and the reason. In Lately, lines about the same thing join into a chain. Skills opens the squad’s skills on the ones that this teammate built. Waiting on and the name shows only to the owner and Administrators. Tasks lists what needs you first. Setup opens the setup on the teammate’s page. See The setup on Squad for Mac. For how many items each part shows on the Mac, see Limits and defaults. If you are limited to some teammates, a teammate outside your list shows Your access does not include this teammate. See Limit a person to some teammates.

Pause a teammate

Before you start: you must be the owner or an Administrator.
1

Open the About page

Open the teammate’s About page.
2

Open More

Select More (⋯).
3

Select Pause

Select Pause and the teammate’s name.
4

Confirm

In the dialog, select Pause teammate.
The dialog says: “The teammate stops picking up scheduled runs, emails, and new tasks until you resume it. Work in progress is left as-is.” The page then shows Paused by you with a Resume button (after a reload, Paused by and your name), and the teammate’s face closes its eyes. If the pause fails, an alert at the bottom of the screen gives Squad’s reason, or “Couldn’t pause the teammate. Try again.” Select the x (Dismiss) to close it. While the teammate is paused:
  • Its routines are off, and it does not start scheduled runs. Squad does not retry a failed scheduled run of a paused teammate.
  • Its Native heartbeat is off too. On Setup, the Native heartbeat switch shows what Resume brings back, and it cannot be changed. When Resume would bring the heartbeat back, the line under it says, for example, “Otis is paused. Resume brings back their heartbeat, every 2 hours. Turn it off to keep it off.” Select Turn off to keep the heartbeat off after the resume. Turn off shows to the owner and to Administrators who work with the teammate. Others see the line without the last sentence. When there is no heartbeat to bring back, the line says “[name] is paused. Resume [name] to change their heartbeat.” The owner or an Administrator can also ask a teammate to turn the heartbeat off, and it stays off after Resume. A teammate cannot turn it on or change how often it runs until the teammate is resumed.
  • The dashboard does not send it chat messages. A message fails with “[name] is paused. Resume [name] to send a message.” In a group chat, a paused teammate is not woken.
  • @mentions, update requests, task assignments, and emails for the teammate wait. The teammate gets them when you resume it.
  • Work in progress is left as it is. A run that started before the pause can finish.
  • Its triggers stay on. Their events wait as Held while the teammate is paused, and Squad delivers them when you resume the teammate. See Triggers.
The teammate stays paused until it is resumed. You, an Administrator, or your chief of staff can resume it, and a teammate can resume itself. The paused notice follows the teammate’s state in every tab and app without a reload, whoever paused or resumed it. On Squad for Mac, choose Pause and the name … in the ⋯ menu, then confirm with Pause and the name. A banner under the header says who paused the teammate, for example Paused by and a name, as on the web. An older pause says Paused, and a pause with another reason says Paused · and the reason. The owner and Administrators get Resume there. While the teammate is paused, the composer says that you must resume them to send a message, and the owner and Administrators get Resume and the name there. Resume does not ask you to confirm. The Mac calls the heartbeat Check-ins on a timer. A pause stops check-ins too, and Resume brings them back. While the teammate is paused, its setup shows a line in place of the check-ins controls. When Resume would bring check-ins back, from version 1.0.98, it says, for example, “Otis is paused. Resume brings back their check-ins on a timer, every 2 hours. Turn them off to keep them off.”, and the owner and Administrators get Turn off. It keeps the check-ins off after Resume. When there are no check-ins to bring back, the line says “Otis is paused. Resume Otis to change their check-ins on a timer.” If the teammate was paused on another device while you changed its check-ins, Save changes saves your other changes and says “Otis was paused, so your change to their check-ins on a timer wasn’t saved. Resume Otis to change them.”
Pause does not stop everything. These still happen while the teammate is paused:
  • Messages that you send to the teammate from Telegram, Discord, or Slack reach it and start runs.
  • Emails that the teammate scheduled before the pause are still sent. To cancel them, pause its inbox. See Pause an inbox.

Resume a teammate

  1. Open the teammate’s About page.
  2. Select Resume on the paused notice. You can also select More (⋯) > Resume and the name.
If the resume fails, the teammate stays paused, and an alert at the bottom of the screen gives Squad’s reason, or “Couldn’t resume the teammate. Try again.” Resume turns on again only the routines that the pause turned off. Routines that you turned off before the pause stay off, and so does a heartbeat that was off. A routine that someone switched off while the teammate was paused also stays off. Resume also turns the teammate’s Native heartbeat back on as it was before the pause, unless, during the pause, someone selected Turn off on its Setup, asked a teammate to turn it off, or selected Fix all for routines that can’t run during the pause. Then the heartbeat stays off. The Fix all card says so before you select it, for example “Otis is paused, and Resume will leave their heartbeat off.” On Squad for Mac, the card with Fix it or Fix them says, for example, “Otis is paused, and Resume will leave their check-ins on a timer off.” The teammate then gets the @mentions, update requests, task assignments, and emails that waited.
A teammate that you paused on or before 27 September 2026 can be an exception. When you resume it, Squad can turn on every routine of the teammate, including its heartbeat. After you resume such a teammate, open its setup and turn off the routines that must stay off.

Ask your chief of staff to pause or resume a teammate

Your chief of staff can pause or resume any teammate in your squad. Other teammates can pause or resume only themselves. This works only when the owner or an Administrator asks.
Ask your chief of staff
A pause or resume from your chief of staff has the same effect as the menu on the About page. The same routines turn off and on again, and the same @mentions, update requests, task assignments, and emails wait until the resume. The About page names who paused the teammate, for example Paused by and your chief of staff’s name. The Activity entry uses the same name. If you ask a teammate that is not your chief of staff to pause, resume, change, or remove another teammate, Squad refuses. The teammate gets the message “Only the chief of staff can change, pause, resume or delete another teammate. Ask the chief of staff to do it.”

Change a teammate’s model

Each teammate uses your squad’s model unless you pin a different model for it.
1

Open the About page

Open the teammate’s About page.
2

Open the setup

Select Setup at the end of About. The teammate’s Setup page opens.
3

Pick a model

In Model, pick a model. Squad default removes the pin. The option shows the current default in brackets, or “not set” if no default model is saved.
4

Pick an image model (optional)

Optional: in Image model, pick the model that reads screenshots and photos for this teammate. Squad image default removes the pin.
5

Save

Select Save changes in the bar at the bottom.
Saved shows under the cards when the change is stored. The lists show only the models in AI your squad may use. A pinned model that the lists do not offer shows why, after its name: A routine row on Setup whose model is not offered has a Model flag. Its tooltip gives the same reason, for example “Copilot Claude Sonnet 4.6 isn’t on your Copilot plan.” On Squad for Mac, a model shows only (not in your allowed models), (not ready on your cloud computer yet) for a model that the cloud computer has not loaded yet, or, from version 1.0.98, (no longer offered) for a model that Squad removed from the model lists. If the image model that you pick cannot read images, the screen says so. Settings > AI sets only your squad’s AI, which every teammate without its own model uses. See Choose models and manage AI accounts. Only the owner and Administrators can change a teammate’s setup. Other people can read it.

Read the rest of a teammate’s setup

A teammate’s Setup page shows only that teammate, as on Squad for Mac. Back goes to where you came from. The page has three cards. One Save changes bar saves them all. Your squad’s defaults are under More on Settings > AI. See More. The heartbeat card also tells you when the teammate will not run on its own: the name and “has no heartbeat and no active routines; it won’t run on any schedule.” It does not say this while the teammate is paused.

The setup on Squad for Mac

On the Mac, the setup is titled with the name and ‘s setup. About and the name goes back to About. A small spinner shows while Squad checks with your cloud computer, and changes wait until it answers. A Collaborator or a Viewer sees the setup with a note that the owner or an Administrator makes the changes. To change the model:
1

Open the AI card

On the AI card, select Change.
2

Pick a model

Pick a model. Squad default uses the squad’s AI. Only the models that your squad allows are in the list.
3

Pick an image model

Under Image model (“For reading screenshots and photos.”), pick a model or keep Squad image default. If the model cannot read images, a warning says so.
4

Save

Select Save changes, or press ⌘S.
The page shows Saved. Nothing restarts, and runs in progress keep going. The teammate’s next run uses the new settings. If your cloud computer has not applied the change yet, the notice “Saved. Applying changes in the background (usually a minute or two).” shows until it has, at most for the time in Limits and defaults. Reset drops your changes. If you leave with changes that you did not save, select Go back & save or Discard changes. The Mac calls the native heartbeat check-ins. To turn them on, select Wake and the name on a timer as well, turn on Check-ins on a timer, pick How often and the AI, type the Instructions, and select Save changes. For the default interval, see Limits and defaults. The Mac setup has no Routines card. Routines are on Routines. Under Shared by the squad, Apps your teammates can use opens Settings > Apps, and The squad’s AI opens Settings > AI.

Rename a teammate or change their handle

No dashboard field edits a teammate’s name, role, emoji, or @handle. Ask the teammate or your chief of staff in chat. A teammate can change its own details. Only your chief of staff can change another teammate. This works only when the owner or an Administrator asks.
Ask your chief of staff
Handle rules:
  • A leading @ is removed.
  • Each name and handle must be unique in the squad.
  • The handles all, everyone, and squad are reserved for messages to the whole squad.
  • You can change a handle, but you cannot remove it.
Editing the teammate’s Identity file changes how the teammate presents itself. It does not change the name in the dashboard. To change how a teammate writes and behaves, edit its Personality file in memory. To change the name your teammates use for you, go to Settings > Squad > General > Your name.

Remove a teammate

The dashboard has no delete button. Ask your chief of staff to remove the teammate. On Squad for Mac, open the teammate’s page and choose Ask and your chief of staff’s name to Remove and the teammate’s name … in the ⋯ menu. A new conversation with your chief of staff opens with “Please remove” and the name “from the squad. The reason: ” in the box. Finish the sentence and press Return. A Viewer does not see this item. Your chief of staff can remove other teammates, for example a duplicate or a test teammate. It cannot remove itself or you. Squad refuses the request. Other teammates cannot remove another teammate. Squad removes a teammate only after its email inbox is closed and its open tasks are handed over. An open task is a task assigned to the teammate that is not done, archived, or in the trash. Until both are done, your chief of staff gets a sentence that names what is left, for example “Quill isn’t removed yet. First close Quill’s email inbox (the email settings tool’s delete_inbox), and hand 1 open task to someone else or finish it, then remove Quill.” Nothing is removed then. Your chief of staff can hand the tasks over or finish them. Only the owner can delete an inbox, on Settings > Email > Inboxes and rules or by asking a teammate. When an Administrator asks for the removal, your chief of staff cannot delete the inbox for them. Squad tells it to ask the owner in a question, and to tell the Administrator that it did. When the owner says yes, your chief of staff can delete the inbox, then remove the teammate once the inbox has closed. An inbox takes a moment to close after it is deleted. A removal asked for in that time is not done yet, and the sentence that your chief of staff gets ends with “[name]’s email inbox is still closing, which takes a minute: remove [name] again after that.” It does not ask for the inbox to be deleted again. See Delete an inbox.
When the removal goes through, it deletes the teammate’s record in the dashboard. Its routines and files on your cloud computer are not removed. Its triggers pause with “The agent this trigger woke was removed.” Before you ask, turn off its routines in its setup. Afterwards, give its triggers to another teammate in Routines and turn them on. You cannot undo a removal.
Ask your chief of staff
If a teammate still exists on your cloud computer but is no longer in your squad, More on Settings > AI lists it under On your computer, not in your squad. There you can select Clear pin to remove a leftover model pin. To register the teammate again, ask your chief of staff.

Check that it works

  • A new teammate appears under Your squad in the sidebar and has an About page.
  • A paused teammate shows Paused by and the name of who paused it on its About page, and its routines show Paused in its setup.
  • A pinned model shows on the teammate’s Setup page.

Troubleshooting

A message to a paused teammate fails with “[name] is paused. Resume [name] to send a message.” Cause: the dashboard does not send messages to a paused teammate. Fix: resume the teammate, then send the message again. A new teammate does not pick up work. Cause: a new teammate can take about two minutes to become reachable. Fix: wait a few minutes, then select Ask for an update on its About page. The teammate’s setup says it has no heartbeat and no active routines. Cause: the teammate’s heartbeat starts off, and no routine is on. Fix: turn on its heartbeat or another routine in its setup. See Schedule recurring work. Your chief of staff says it cannot remove a teammate. Cause: you asked it to remove itself or you. Squad does not let a teammate remove either one. Fix: none. The chief of staff cannot be removed. Your chief of staff says “[name] isn’t removed yet.” Cause: the teammate still has an email inbox or open tasks, or its inbox is still closing. Fix: let your chief of staff hand the open tasks over or finish them. If the teammate has an inbox, delete it as the owner, or, as the owner, ask your chief of staff to delete it. When an Administrator asked for the removal, your chief of staff asks the owner in a question. The owner’s yes lets it delete the inbox. If the message says the inbox “is still closing”, wait a minute. Then ask again. A teammate or an AI app says “There is no restart for one teammate. To stop what they’re doing, use Stop on their run, or Pause them.” Cause: it was asked to restart a teammate. Squad has no restart for one teammate. Fix: stop the run, see Stop a run, or pause the teammate, see Pause a teammate. A teammate says “Only the chief of staff can change, pause, resume or delete another teammate. Ask the chief of staff to do it.” Cause: you asked a teammate that is not your chief of staff to change, pause, resume, or remove another teammate, or to change your details. Fix: send the request to your chief of staff. There is no Pause in the More menu. Cause: only the owner and Administrators can pause a teammate. Fix: ask the owner or an Administrator, or ask your chief of staff in chat.

Common questions

No. A squad has one chief of staff. Squad refuses to register a second one.
It does not start runs from the dashboard. Its routines are off, and @mentions, task assignments, and emails wait until you resume it. Its Native heartbeat is off until you resume it. Messages from Telegram, Discord, or Slack still reach it and start runs.
Tasks stay assigned to it, and work in progress is left as it is. A task that you assign while the teammate is paused waits. The teammate gets it when you resume it.
No. How hard it thinks, under More on Settings > AI, applies to the whole squad. See Choose models and manage AI accounts.
The counts (completed, in flight, escalations, drafts, success) are gone. The sentence at the top of About says what the teammate does and what waits for you, and History and Health show its runs. See See what your teammates did.