Start a Sydekick conversation
How do I start a new Sydekick conversation?
There is no Sydekick page in the left navigation. You reach it three ways: type into the composer on Home, select the Sydekick button in the top bar (or press S), or open the panel and select Maximize to full screen. Each starts from a blank conversation unless a turn of yours is still running, in which case the panel takes you back to it. Everything you have asked is kept in one conversation list, so you can come back to it from any of the three.
Key facts
| Ways in | The composer on Home, the Sydekick button in the top bar (shortcut S), the panel's Maximize to full screen |
| Starting fresh | + (New conversation) in the panel or full-screen header. A new conversation is only saved when you send the first message |
| Who can read it | Everyone in your workspace who can see the client. The composer says Visible to everyone in your workspace |
| Finding old ones | Your recent conversations in the panel, Recent chats on Home, the full list at Maximize to full screen with Mine, All, Starred and Done |
| What it can do alongside | One conversation runs one turn at a time. Several conversations can run together, up to your plan's number of task slots |
| Before you act | Check any value you will act on against the product screen it came from |
Why this matters
Sydekick reads the whole thread, so a question about reviews asked halfway through a conversation about listings is answered against all of it. Start a new conversation when you change subject, and keep the list tidy so your team can find the work again.
Steps
From Home, type your request in the composer under the greeting and send it. Home does not keep the conversation on the page: it opens Sydekick full screen and starts the request there as a new conversation, with the scope and skill you chose in the composer. Home never adds to an old conversation.
From any other page, select the Sydekick button at the right of the top bar, or press S when the cursor is not in a text field. The panel slides in on the right.
Read the new-conversation screen. It shows the composer with a chip named after the page you came from, a line saying the conversation is visible to everyone in your workspace, and Your recent conversations, your five latest.
Remove the page chip with its × if you want to talk about something other than the page you are on. The chip is a hint, not a scope: it tells Sydekick which page you opened it from. To pin the request to one client or location, use Scope; see choosing the client, location and skill.
Type your request and send it. While Sydekick works, Send becomes Stop.
To change subject, select + (New conversation) in the header. Do this before you ask about something different, because Sydekick reads everything earlier in the thread.
To read or search your earlier conversations, open one from Your recent conversations or from the arrow beside the conversation title in the panel, or select Maximize to full screen for the full list.
Your conversations
In full screen the list is on the left. Mine shows conversations you started; All shows every conversation you can see, with the initials of whoever started each one. Your choice is remembered for next time. Typing in Search looks through all conversations, whichever tab you are on.
Starred conversations sit at the top, finished ones are folded under Done, and each row shows the client and location it was about. Select the ... on a row for its menu.
- Rename and Mark done change the conversation for everyone in the workspace, and Mark done moves it under Done until someone sends a new message in it. Star is yours alone.
- Copy link copies an address that anyone in your workspace can open.
- Delete is for conversations you started. On a conversation someone else started, the menu inside the open conversation offers Remove from list instead, which hides it from your list and leaves it in place for everyone else.
When more than one person has written in a conversation, their avatars appear in the header. The menu beside the title has the same actions.
Home's Recent chats
Recent chats beside the prompt chips on Home lists up to five of your open conversations, newest first, and selecting one opens it in full screen. It only lists conversations that are not tied to a client, so a conversation you scoped to one client appears in the panel's Your recent conversations and the full list but not in this popover. All chats opens the full list.
When Sydekick is still working
A conversation can keep working after you close the panel or move to another page.
- The Sydekick button animates while a task runs. Hover over it to see Sydekick tasks, with each task's state and how many of your plan's task slots are in use.
- In the conversation list a running one is marked Working and one waiting for you is marked Needs your approval. Other states you may see are Needs your answer, Ready, Finished and Couldn't finish.
- A long turn shows This is taking a while. You can minimize Sydekick, it keeps going, and Notify me turns on a notification for when it is done.
- A conversation runs one turn at a time. If you send a message while it is still working, it is not sent: the message stays in the box and you can send it when the reply arrives.
- If every task slot on your plan is busy, Sydekick shows a card with Stop and Upgrade plan and keeps your message.
- Stop releases the box straight away and asks the agent to stop. It does not undo anything the agent has already done, so check the result before assuming nothing changed.
What you'll see when it's done
- A conversation in the list under its title, with the client and location it was about
- Your own messages with your initials, and replies from Sydekick under them
- The conversation under Done if you marked it done, or under Starred if you starred it
- Conversations started in Slack or another connected channel open as view only, with a note that the conversation started outside the web app
Check anything you would act on
Sydekick can help you understand what happened, which locations may need attention, and what a screen is showing. When information will affect an action or decision, confirm the current value on the relevant product screen before acting. Learn more in telling whether an answer is trustworthy.
Watch out for
- Conversations are shared. Anyone in your workspace who can see the client can open yours, and renaming or marking one done changes it for them too.
- Home starts a new conversation each time. To continue an earlier one, open it from the list instead of typing in the Home composer.
- Do not reuse one thread for unrelated work. Sydekick reads the whole thread, so older messages can colour a later answer.
- A page chip is not a scope. It names the page you came from. Pin a client or location with Scope.
Questions people ask
Why does Sydekick say "Your agent isn't set up yet"?
Sydekick runs on an agent that has to be set up for your account first. Until it is, the panel shows that message and an Enable agent button instead of the composer. See setting up and testing Sydekick.
Does Sydekick see what is on my screen?
It sees which page you are on and, when you chose one, the client and location in the top bar, and it tells you so with the chip above the message box. It does not read the individual rows you have scrolled to. The chip is context, not a screenshot.
Can I stop it once it has started?
Yes. Send becomes Stop while it is working. Stopping does not undo anything it has already finished, and if the connection drops before Sydekick confirms the stop, the panel says it is disconnected from the response and the agent may still be working. Reopen the conversation to check.
Will starting a new conversation leave an empty one behind?
No. A new conversation is saved when you send the first message, so selecting + more than once does not add blank rows to the list.
Why can't I find a conversation I scoped to one client in Home's Recent chats?
Recent chats on Home lists open conversations that are not tied to a client. Find the others in the panel's Your recent conversations or in the full-screen list.
Who can see my conversations?
Everyone in your workspace who has access to the client the conversation is about. Anything you ask Sydekick appears in a shared list, so keep personal notes out of it.