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

# Give your squad work that it can finish

> Hand work to your squad in chat or as a mission, and write a brief that comes back right the first time.

You give work to your squad in two ways: you send a chat message, or you create a mission on the **Missions** board. You can also start from a ready-made job in **What's possible**. This page tells you which way to use, and how to write a brief that an agent can finish without guessing.

## Choose chat or a mission

| You want to                                                                   | Use                                         | What happens                                                                                                                               |
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Ask a question, get a quick result, or let the squad decide who does the work | Chat with your lead agent                   | The lead answers or routes the work. If the work is bigger, an agent creates a mission and a **+ MISSION CREATED** card shows in the chat. |
| Talk to one specialist about its own area                                     | Chat with that agent                        | The agent owns the request. It does its own part and hands the rest to the right agent through a mission.                                  |
| Set the priority and the owner yourself                                       | **+ New mission** on the **Missions** board | Squad creates the mission. If you assign an agent, that agent starts at once.                                                              |
| Set up a proven recurring job, such as **Weekly report**                      | A job in **What's possible**                | Squad types a setup brief into your lead's chat. You read it, change it if you want, and send it.                                          |

<Tip>If you are not sure, send the request to your lead agent in chat. By default the lead is named **Chief of Staff**. The lead coordinates work that spans more than one agent.</Tip>

## Send work to your lead in chat

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Home">
    Go to **Home**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Type your brief">
    Type your brief in the composer. The control under the composer shows **Goes to** and the agent name. The default is your lead agent.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a different agent (optional)">
    To send the brief to a different agent, select the agent name and pick the agent from the list. The list shows when you have two or more agents. This choice lasts for this visit only.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send">
    Select **Send**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Squad opens the conversation with that agent. The agent replies in the thread. If the agent turns the request into a mission, a **+ MISSION CREATED** card shows the mission title and its owner. Select the card to open the mission.

The **Home** composer works like every chat composer. You can also:

* Select the **Skills** chip to pick a skill.
* Drag files onto the composer to attach them.
* Select the history icon (**Jump back into a recent conversation**) to reopen one of your 6 most recent conversations.

If your squad is still being set up, **Home** says **Your squad is still being created.** and keeps your text in the composer. Send it again when setup is done.

For more about threads and group chats, see [Chat with your agents](/docs/chat).

## Create a mission yourself

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Missions">
    Go to **Missions**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Start a new mission">
    Select **+ New mission**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a title">
    In **TITLE**, type what the squad must do.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a description">
    In **DESCRIPTION**, add the context, links, and what done looks like.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set the priority">
    In **PRIORITY**, select **Urgent**, **High**, **Normal**, or **Low**. The default is **Normal**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Assign an agent">
    In **ASSIGN TO**, select an agent.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create the mission">
    Select **Create mission**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

Press Enter in **TITLE** to create the mission at once. Squad shows **Mission created** and opens the new mission. If it fails, Squad shows **Couldn’t create the mission. Try again.** Select **Cancel** to close the dialog without a mission.

<Warning>If you leave **ASSIGN TO** on **Backlog**, no agent is told about the mission. It waits in the **Backlog** column until it is assigned. An @mention in the description does not wake the agent either. To start work now, assign an agent.</Warning>

## Start from a ready-made job

**What's possible** is a gallery of jobs that squads often run, for example **Invoice chaser**, **Inbox triage**, or **Weekly report**. Each job page shows how the job works and what you get. **Set it up with my squad** turns the job into a brief for your lead agent.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open What's possible">
    On **Home**, find **WHAT’S POSSIBLE** and select **Explore all →**. You can also press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) and select **What's possible**. To go straight to one job, select its card in the **WHAT’S POSSIBLE** row on **Home**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a job">
    The screen is titled **What your squad can do**. The **Jobs** tab is open first. Select a job card.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Read the job page">
    The page shows how often the job runs, then **HOW IT WORKS**, **THE DELIVERABLE** (a sample of the output), **WHAT YOU GET**, **WORKS WITH**, **YOUR FIRST MONTH**, and **RELATED JOBS**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Set it up with my squad">
    In the **Ready when you are** box, select **Set it up with my squad**. The chat with your lead agent opens, and the setup brief is typed in the composer. Nothing is sent yet.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Edit the brief and send it">
    Change anything that does not fit your business. Then press Enter or select the send button.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The brief names the job and how often it runs, states the outcome, and lists the job's steps and tools. It asks the lead to plan the job with you first. It also asks the lead to start in draft-for-review mode: nothing sends or changes without your approval, and anything that needs your input comes to you as a ticket. The lead replies in the chat. To go back to the gallery, select the back arrow at the top of the chat, or **What's possible** at the top of a job page.

**Set it up with my squad** shows only when your squad has an agent. The other tabs, such as **Featured** and **Email**, list workflows. On a workflow page, **Add to squad** opens the chat with the agent that runs it and types a setup request for you to send.

## Write a brief that comes back right

A good brief has five parts. It is the same brief you give a new teammate.

| Part            | What to write                                                              | Example                                                                               |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Goal            | One sentence: the result you want                                          | "Write a 900-word blog post that argues ops automation is a hiring decision."         |
| Context         | Who it is for, and where the facts are. Name the docs the agent must read. | "For founders who have outgrown spreadsheets. Use the numbers in the May growth doc." |
| Constraints     | Length, voice, budget, and what the agent must not do                      | "Match the voice of the last two blog posts. Do not publish anything."                |
| Decisions       | Which calls come back to you                                               | "If a choice touches money, customers, or anything public, open a ticket."            |
| Done looks like | The output, where it goes, and its state                                   | "A draft in Docs, ready for my edit."                                                 |

```text Ask your lead theme={null}
[Goal, one sentence].
Context: [who it is for, which docs to read, what I already know].
Constraints: [length, voice, budget, what NOT to do].
If you hit a decision about [money / customers / direction], open a ticket instead of guessing.
Done looks like: [the output, where it lives, and its state].
```

### Point at your docs

Agents can read the docs in **Docs**. "Use the May growth doc" is better than pasting numbers into the chat. In the chat composer, type **#** to attach a mission or a doc to your message. For more, see [Find and manage your squad's docs](/docs/squad-docs).

### Say which decisions come back to you

When an agent needs your call, it opens a ticket and the mission waits in **Needs you**. Your squad's instructions ask agents to keep the number of decisions small and to put non-urgent decisions into one daily digest ticket. To change how many decisions you want each day, tell your lead. For how to answer, see [Answer tickets in My Tickets](/docs/tickets).

```text Ask your lead theme={null}
From now on, open a ticket before you spend money, email a customer, or publish anything. Everything else, decide yourself and tell me in the mission.
```

## Make a brief permanent

When you give the same instructions again and again, move them to a place where the squad reads them every time.

| Instructions for                  | Put them in                                     | Page                                        |
| --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Recurring work                    | The instructions of a scheduled task            | [Schedule recurring work](/docs/scheduled)       |
| An agent's inbox                  | **Handling instructions** in the inbox settings | [Give an agent an email inbox](/docs/email)      |
| Facts about you and your business | **About you** and the squad files in **Memory** | [Manage what your squad remembers](/docs/memory) |
| A procedure that an agent repeats | A skill                                         | [Add and manage skills](/docs/skills)            |

```text Ask your lead theme={null}
From now on, send all competitor questions to [agent], and [agent] always cites sources. Save this rule where the squad will read it every time.
```

## What happens after you hand off work

| When                                           | What you see                                                                                                       |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| The agent picks up the mission                 | The mission moves to **In flight** on the board. A green status line shows what the agent is doing.                |
| The agent needs your call                      | A ticket shows in **My Tickets**, and the mission moves to **Needs you**.                                          |
| The agent writes a deliverable                 | A doc shows in **Docs**, and the bell says **Deliverable ready:** and the doc title.                               |
| The mission has no update for more than 2 days | The card shows **Stuck for** and the days. Squad nudges the agent. See [Stuck missions](/docs/missions#stuck-missions). |
| The agent finishes                             | The mission moves to **Done**.                                                                                     |

## Common questions

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="What happens if I send the same request to two agents?">
    Both agents work on it. Send cross-team work to your lead, so one agent coordinates it.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Can I change the owner later?">
    Yes. Open the mission and select **Reassign to another agent**. See [Take other actions from YOUR CALL](/docs/missions#take-other-actions-from-your-call).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does a mission start if the agent is paused?">
    Yes. Pause turns off the agent's scheduled tasks only. A paused agent is still told about a mission that you assign to it, and it can work on it. To keep work away from a paused agent, assign the mission to another agent. See [Pause an agent](/docs/agents#pause-an-agent).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Check that it works

* In chat, the agent replies in the thread. For bigger work, a **+ MISSION CREATED** card shows the mission and its owner.
* On the **Missions** board, an assigned mission shows in **In flight** with the sub-label **Assigned** until the agent starts.
* When the agent needs you, the mission moves to **Needs you** and a ticket shows in **My Tickets**.

## Troubleshooting

* A mission stays in **Backlog** and nothing happens. Cause: the mission has no owner, so no agent was told. Fix: open the mission and select **Assign to an agent**.
* The agent did something different from what you wanted. Cause: the brief did not say what done looks like, or it did not name the decisions that come back to you. Fix: reply in the mission with the correction and @mention the agent. Then add the rule to the agent's standing instructions.
* The agent asks the same question again and again. Cause: the answer lives only in old chats. Fix: ask the agent to save the answer as a rule where the squad reads it every time.