Routines

A routine is something Alexein does for you on its own: a reminder at the time you set, your day in one message every morning, a summary of your open pull requests every Monday, a word when the school emails.

You set one up by asking, in your own words. A reminder or a brief you ask for is set up straight away: its card says "Done. I'll remind you today at 7:12 PM", with Edit and Undo. Anything that drafts or sends to someone else, and anything Alexein suggests on its own, shows a card first and waits for you to press Start.

Routines need your personal memory. With a project key, the app doesn't offer them.

The four kindsCopy Anchor Link

RemindersCopy Anchor Link

A reminder comes at the time you set, with what you asked to be reminded of. Alexein adds what it knows from memory when you set it up, so "Remind me tomorrow at 3 to call the plumber" can come with the plumber's name and number.

A reminder can come once, or repeat as often as every minute: "Remind me to drink water every 15 minutes between 9 and 6 on weekdays."

BriefsCopy Anchor Link

A morning brief brings your day in one message: the weather, today's calendar, the emails that need you, and what's coming up, such as a renewal or a birthday. An evening brief brings the same for tomorrow, the evening before. Each line links to where it came from. A brief ends with "That's all for today." It never becomes a feed.

The brief works with nothing connected: you get the weather and what's coming up from memory. Connect your calendar and Gmail for more.

A weekly update writes your update for the week from memory, your calendar and apps such as GitHub or Linear. It waits in Drafts until you send it. See Drafts and sending.

Say what you want in it: "Every weekday at 7:15, tell me the weather in Leeds, my meetings and any email from my manager. Keep it short."

Scheduled tasksCopy Anchor Link

A task is a question Alexein answers for you on a schedule. It looks in the places you name: memory, your email, your calendar, Slack, GitHub or Linear. Then it writes what it found.

• "Every Monday at 9, summarise my open pull requests."
• "Every evening at 6, tell me which emails I haven't replied to today."
• "Every Friday, list what my team shipped this week."

A task reads and tells you. If what it writes is for someone else, such as "post my standup in #eng", it becomes a draft for them. See Drafts and sending.

Only tell me when something changes. A task can stay quiet when it has nothing new. It still looks on schedule, but only tells you when its answer has something new. The quiet times show in Last 7. Tick it on the card's Edit, or say it: "Every hour, check if my PR was reviewed, and only tell me when something changes." It is on by default for a task that comes more than once a day.

AlertsCopy Anchor Link

An alert is Alexein keeping an eye on your email or Slack, and telling you right away when something comes in.

• Email: from someone, from anyone at a place, or about something. "Tell me straight away if the school emails." "Let me know when the accountant replies." "Tell me if Taha writes about the Lisbon contract."
• Slack: when someone mentions you, or mentions a word or a topic. "Tell me if someone mentions me on Slack." "Tell me when anyone says 'outage'."

Email alerts also cover parcels ("out for delivery"), flight changes and a shop's price-drop emails. Alexein can't watch prices on a website, or know where you are.

When an alert comes, Draft a reply opens a chat with a reply ready to review. A reply in the same email conversation joins the alert you already have rather than sending a new one, and you get at most 10 alerts a day: any more wait for your next brief.

When they comeCopy Anchor Link

Every routine that runs on time takes one of these shapes. Say it the way you would to a person.

• Monthly on the 31st means the last day of a shorter month.
• A reminder can repeat as often as every minute. Briefs and tasks repeat at most once an hour.
• A frequent reminder with no times given gets a sensible window, and the card says so: "I picked 9:00–18:00 on weekdays. Change it below."
• Alerts have no schedule: they come right away.
• Times follow your computer's clock, in 12 or 24 hours.

Set one up by askingCopy Anchor Link

Ask in a chat or in quick ask. Alexein answers with a card:

• What it will do, in one sentence: "I'll send you: the weather in Leeds, today's calendar, and emails that need you."
• When it comes, and when the first one comes, such as First one: tomorrow, Sat 7 Nov.
• Reaches you: here, by email, or on Slack.
• Any default it picked, such as "I picked 7:00. Change it below."
• At most one question, as buttons, such as Every day or Weekdays.

Then choose:

• Start: it is set up. "Done. Your first brief comes tomorrow at 7:15." See it in Routines shows it.
• Edit: change When, What and Reaches you before you start it. When offers Once, Every day, Weekdays, Specific days, Every few minutes or hours, Monthly and Yearly, with an optional end date.
• Not now: nothing is set up. "Not set up. Ask again any time."

Until you press Start, a card like this sets nothing up. If you already have one just like it, the card says so, such as "You already have this reminder: Take a break · Every 2 hours", with See it in Routines.

A reminder or a brief you ask for skips this card: it's set up at once, and its card is the receipt. Edit opens it to change, and Undo removes it: "Undone. Nothing is set up."

Ask for several at once, and you get a card for each.

Change or delete one by askingCopy Anchor Link

Say what to change: "Move my brief to 8." "Make the water reminder every hour." "Stop emailing me the Friday update." Alexein shows the change on a card, how it is now and how it will be. Save changes makes it; Not now leaves it: "No change made."

Say what to delete: "Delete my water reminder." A Delete a routine card names it. Delete removes it, with Undo for a few seconds; Keep it leaves it as it is.

You can also ask "What are you keeping an eye on?", "Skip my brief tomorrow, I'm off sick" or "Pause the Friday update".

The Routines screenCopy Anchor Link

Routines (⇧⌘R, or Ctrl+Shift+R) is in the sidebar and the menu bar or tray. It shows what Alexein does for you on its own. The ⓘ by the title opens How routines work.

TabsCopy Anchor Link

All, Reminders, Briefs, Tasks and Alerts, each with how many it holds. A kind you have none of isn't shown. Drafts comes last while you have any, with how many wait to be sent. The ← and → keys move between them.

Up nextCopy Anchor Link

On All, Up next shows the next three to come, across all your routines, such as "4:00 pm Take a break · Tomorrow 7:15 am Morning brief". Choose one to see it.

Each routineCopy Anchor Link

Each row shows its name, when it comes, and when it comes next: "Next: tomorrow 7:15", "Skipped next", or "Paused until Mon 17 Nov".

• The on/off switch pauses and resumes it. Nothing comes while it's off.
• Only here marks a reminder that comes more often than once an hour. It comes here only, never by email.
• Only changes marks a task that tells you only when something is new.
• Drafts for #team or Sends to #team marks one that writes for someone else, and says where.
• Duplicate marks one just like another you have. Its menu offers Delete duplicate.

Each row's menu has:

• Get it now: get it now, without waiting for its time. Its times stay the same. A one-time reminder comes only at its time, and an alert has nothing to get.
• Skip the next one: skip just the next one. It comes as usual after that. "Skipped tomorrow's brief. It's back on Monday."
• Edit and Delete. Delete offers Undo.

Open a row to see Last 7: its last seven times, one line each, such as "Thu 7:15 · Looked at 12 new emails and 3 events", or Nothing yet. It also says where it reaches you.

I'm away…Copy Anchor Link

I'm away… pauses everything until the day you're back. Pick the date under Back on, and choose what waits:

• Briefs, updates and scheduled tasks
• Reminders
• What I keep an eye on (alerts wait until you're back)

Choose Pause until then. A band says "Paused until Mon 17 Nov", with Resume now.

New routineCopy Anchor Link

New routine starts a chat with "Set up a routine: " ready to finish. An empty tab offers examples: choose one to drop it into a chat.

Where they reach youCopy Anchor Link

• Here. When Alexein isn't in front, a notification on your computer. When it is, a banner in the window, with a soft chime. Today's brief and anything new sit in one row at the top of the sidebar, such as "Your day" with "3 new". See all in Routines lists them all.
• By email. Turn on Email me my routines under Settings › Routines, or say "by email" when you set one up. Email reaches you when your computer is closed. Email is never sent more than once an hour, so a frequent reminder comes here only.
• On Slack. A direct message from the Alexein bot. Say "on Slack" when you set one up. Slack needs Alexein's bot in your workspace; if it isn't ready, the card shows Reconnect Slack.

Each routine says where it reaches you, and you can change it on the card's Edit.

A notification isn't shown late: one that came while your computer was closed or asleep waits in the sidebar instead.

Drafts and sendingCopy Anchor Link

A routine tells you what it found. Some routines write something for someone else: a weekly update for your team, a standup for a Slack channel, a monthly email to investors. For those, you choose What happens on the card:

The place is a Slack channel, such as #team-updates, a person's direct messages, such as Abbas Askari, or one or more email addresses. A weekly update drafts by default. A task drafts only when what it writes is for someone else.

With Send it for me, the message goes from your own Slack or Gmail, as if you had sent it. Your copy, which says "Sent to Abbas Askari" with the words that went, comes where the card's Your copy line says: here in the app, by email or in Slack from Alexein.

"Send me my tasks on Slack" or "email me my PRs" is not a draft. It only says how the answer reaches you, and you get it as usual.

Where your drafts areCopy Anchor Link

• Routines › Drafts. The ones waiting to be sent come first, newest first. Below them, what was sent or discarded in the last 7 days.
• The sidebar. Routines shows how many drafts are waiting.
• In Slack or email. When a draft is ready, the routine's message says so, with a link that opens it in Alexein.

Open a draft to see where it goes, change its words (and an email's subject), then choose:

• Send to #team-updates: it goes from your own Slack or Gmail, as you.
• Copy: copy the words, to send them yourself. A draft with nowhere set to go offers this first.
• Edit with Alexein: change it in a chat.
• Discard: set it aside. Nothing is sent.

What it's based on under the draft shows the lines it was written from, with links.

If a send doesn't go, for example because Slack isn't connected, the draft says why and waits in Drafts.

Sending for youCopy Anchor Link

Send it for me is turned on only in the app, on the card or the routine's Edit, and only for the place you chose there. Alexein never picks someone to send to on its own. An answer with nothing in it is never sent. To go back to drafts, say "draft my weekly update instead of sending it", or change it on Edit.

Quiet hoursCopy Anchor Link

Between the hours you choose, alerts wait until quiet hours end, and nothing makes a sound. A repeating reminder skips its times in quiet hours. A one-time reminder you set for a time in quiet hours still comes, and anything you set to come right away still comes.

Set them under Settings › Routines › Quiet hours. The quiet hours chip on the Routines screen shows them.

Feedback on a briefCopy Anchor Link

Under each brief, tell Alexein what you'd like next time:

• Shorter: the next brief is shorter.
• Longer: the next brief is a bit longer.
• Just right: the next brief stays like this.
• More of this or Less of this, on a section.
• Change this brief: change what it covers, or when it comes.

You give one feedback per brief. It then says what the next one does, such as "Got it. The next one is shorter.", with Undo until the next brief comes. Your choice is also saved to your memory as a preference ("Prefers a shorter morning brief"), unless memory is paused, so the apps you connect to Alexein know it too.

SuggestionsCopy Anchor Link

Alexein may offer a routine, once, and always says why:

• From a chat. Tell it a plan with a day or time, such as "Hike on Friday at 8", and it may offer a reminder: "You mentioned the hike on Friday." Ask for the same thing twice, and it may offer to do it for you: "You asked about the weather twice this week." Not now lasts a month; Don't suggest this stops it. Turn these off with Settings › Routines › Suggest routines.
• From your email and messages. Alexein can spot a date in what comes in, such as "Dentist on Tue at 15:00 · from Dr Khan's email", and offer a reminder. It shows in your brief under Want reminders?, or on its own. Nothing is set until you choose Remind me; No says "Okay, no reminder." Turn this on or off with Settings › Routines › Suggest reminders from my email and messages.

Routine settingsCopy Anchor Link

Settings › Routines, also opened from the Routines screen:

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

You can have 10 routines running at once. Reminders don't count, except ones that come more often than once an hour, and you can have 3 of those. At the limit, the card says "You have 10 routines running, which is the most for now. Pause or delete one to add this."

Good to knowCopy Anchor Link

• They run even when your computer is closed. Alexein keeps the clock on its servers. Turn on email to get them when your laptop is shut.
• Nothing goes to anyone else without your OK. A draft waits in Drafts until you press Send. Only a routine you set to Send it for me sends on its own, and only to the place you chose.
• If a routine can't go on, it pauses, and its row says why in one line. Put it right, then turn it back on.
• They use your seat's credits. A brief, an alert or a reminder uses credits as a chat answer does.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Chat and memory: how approvals work.
• Shortcuts and settings: notifications, sound and starting at login.
• Troubleshooting: what a message means.