How to reuse a question: starters, skills, digests and saved prompts

The Agent panel gives you four ways to reuse a good question instead of typing it again: starter questions in an empty chat, skills, seven built-in Digests, and prompts you or your team have saved. See What is the Agent? for the Agent itself, and How to ask the Agent a question for asking in the first place.

What are the starter questions?

A new, empty chat reads "Ask about your work." with a row of topics under it, such as Tasks, Purchase orders, Suppliers, Documents and Sales. Each topic shows up to three questions, such as What needs my attention? under Tasks.

Choosing one puts the question in the message box without sending it, so you can change it first. The hint under the list says so: "Choose a question, then make it yours." Press Enter when it reads the way you want.

Sales holds the first three digests: Yesterday's numbers, Where are we weak and This week vs last. With a task, project, purchase order, supplier or document open, its topic comes first with questions about that record, such as Summarize this task.

Why is a topic missing?

Each topic needs its part of Tideswell switched on and the permission to see it. Purchase orders needs View purchase orders and the buying calendar, Suppliers needs View suppliers, and Sales needs See sales, inventory, reports and the daily brief.

All seven digests stay under Saved prompts either way.

What is a skill?

A reusable task with a name, instructions and the inputs it asks for. Type / in an empty message box, or press + and choose Skills, to open the Skills window and search them.

Tideswell ships three starters: Review this page, Summarize notes and Prepare a follow-up task. Choose one, fill in its inputs, then press Run skill. It runs once, and any change it suggests still waits for your approval, per How to approve, refuse or undo a suggested change.

A starter skill offers Customize, which saves your own copy to change, and your own skills offer Edit.

A skill that needs a page open reads Page required, and one you cannot use right now says why under Unavailable.

How do you make your own skill?

Press New skill at the foot of the Skills window, or type the task in the message box and choose + › Save as skill.

1. Give it a Name and a Description.
2. Write the Instructions, referring to each input by name.
3. Under Inputs, press Add input for each thing the skill should ask for, and tick Required where it must be filled in.
4. Choose whether it needs a page open: No page required or Any selected page.
5. Press Save skill.

Only you can use and edit a skill you make. Instructions never give the Agent more access than you have, and never skip an approval.

What are the seven digests?

Prepared questions, the same in every workspace:

• Yesterday's numbers: revenue, orders and average order value against the same day last week, calling out anything that moved more than 20%.
• Where are we weak: this week's sales broken down, then where you are underperforming and what to do about it, ranked by the size of the opportunity.
• This week vs last: this week so far against the same stretch last week, with what is driving the difference at product level.
• Running low: products by days of cover, lowest first, flagging strong sellers.
• Dead stock: what has not sold in 60 days, and how much cash is tied up in it.
• Stuck orders: how many paid orders are still waiting to ship.
• Email & SMS check: how your Klaviyo flows and segments are performing, and which is slipping. It needs Klaviyo connected, per How to connect Klaviyo.

Why use a digest instead of typing?

Because the prompt behind each one is sharper than what most people type.

Yesterday's numbers asks for the comparison against the same weekday last week rather than the day before, and sets a threshold for what counts as worth mentioning. Where are we weak asks for a ranking by opportunity size, which turns a paragraph into a plan for the morning.

How do you pick a digest or a saved prompt?

Press the + button beside the message box and choose Saved prompts. A menu opens with three groups: Your prompts, From your team and Digests. Your own prompts that you have shared carry a Shared tag.

Keep typing to narrow the list, and use the arrow keys and Enter to pick one. Escape closes the menu.

Does picking one send it?

No. Picking a digest or a saved prompt fills the message box and waits, so you can change "last 30 days" to "last 90" before pressing Send.

It fills the conversation that is open. To ask a digest on its own, press New chat first, so the answer does not pick up context from an unrelated thread.

How do you save a prompt?

1. Type the question in the message box.
2. Press + and choose Save as prompt. It stays greyed out while the box is empty.
3. In the Save as prompt dialog, give it a Title and adjust the text if you want.
4. Turn on Share with team if your colleagues should see it too.
5. Press Save.

Save the question after you have refined it rather than before. The version worth keeping is usually the third one you tried, once you had added the comparison and the ranking.

How do you edit, share or delete one?

Open the menu, then click the ⋯ button on one of your own prompts, or highlight it and press the right arrow key. From there you can Rename it, Edit its text, choose Share with team or Stop sharing with team, or Delete it.

Make sure before you delete a prompt, because it cannot be undone. Only you can change your own prompts; a colleague can use one you have shared without being able to edit it.

What is worth saving?

Questions that carry your business's own specifics, because those are the ones the digests cannot know.

• The comparison your trade is judged on, such as this month against the same month last year for a seasonal brand.
• A question about one supplier, such as Portside Mills, or one category you watch closely.
• The question you ask before a weekly meeting, so the same thing is asked the same way every week.

A question asked identically each week produces answers you can compare, and a slightly reworded one does not. Save a task with inputs, such as "review this supplier's terms", as a skill instead.

Should you share it?

Share the ones that encode how your business thinks. A prompt that ranks by opportunity size, or that knows your season runs March to September, teaches everybody who uses it.

Keep personal working notes to yourself. The From your team group is more useful when it is short.

Which digests are worth a daily habit?

Yesterday's numbers first thing, and Stuck orders if you ship a lot.

Running low and Dead stock are weekly rather than daily. Both have full screens with more control, at How to find out what you need to reorder and How to find items running out, oversold, or not selling, and the digests are the quick version.

Where are we weak is the one to run before a trading meeting rather than during it.

Are digests on the iPhone app too?

Yes. The iPhone app's Home tab shows the digests as buttons that ask straight away, and your saved prompts are there as well. See Using Tideswell on your phone.