Connections & Integrations
Connection Architecture
AI Employees connect to external services (like Gmail, or Salesforce) through integrations. Understanding how connections work is important because it affects what the AI Employee can do.
Account-Level Connections
Connections are managed at the account level, NOT the workspace level. This is an important distinction.
What this means:
When you connect an external service (like Gmail), that connection is created at your account level
You can then choose to share that connection with different people or workspaces
Multiple AI Employees can use the same connection if you share it with them
Connections are NOT automatically shared with your entire workspace
Flexible Sharing
When you create a connection, you decide who can use it:
Private — Only you can use it. The AI Employee can only access it if you're running it in manual mode
Shared with specific team members — You choose which teammates can use this connection
Shared with specific workspaces — You choose which workspaces can use this connection
Shared with specific AI Employees — You choose which AI Employees can use this connection
Shared with your entire team — Everyone on your team can use it
Important: In Motion, you cannot assign AI Employees to workspaces during setup. Skills are private by default, but you can share them to other workspaces after creation.
Permission Model
For connections, there is only one permission level: "Full access." This means if someone has access to a connection, they can use it fully. There are no partial permissions or read-only connections.
Who Can Revoke Connections
Anyone who has access to a connection can revoke it or change who it's shared with. You don't have to be a workspace admin to revoke a non-private connection. If you created a connection and shared it with your team, any team member with access to that connection can revoke it.
Selecting Connections When Building a Skill
When you're building a skill in the skill builder and you add a step that requires an external service, you need to select which connection to use for that step.
How to Select a Connection
When you add a step that uses an external service (like "send a message" or "update a Salesforce record"):
The skill builder shows you a list of available connections
You can choose from:
Connections you created privately
Connections that have been shared with you (directly or through a workspace)
Connections shared directly with the AI Employee
If you don't have an existing connection, you can create a new one by authenticating the service
Once you select or create the connection, the skill is ready to use
The skill will use that connection every time it runs
Third-Party Blocks & Connection Usage
When a skill uses a third-party service, it runs through a configured connection for that service.
How Third-Party Blocks Work
A "third-party block" is a step in a skill that does something in an external service. For example:
Updating a Salesforce record
Sending an email via Gmail or Outlook
Creating a Google Calendar event
Enriching data via Apollo
The Connection is Key
The connection is what gives the skill permission to act in that external service. Here's how it works:
You set up a skill with a step that uses an external service
You select which connection to use for that step
When the skill runs, it uses that connection
The action succeeds or fails based on the permissions of that connection
Example: Updating a Salesforce Record
Let's say you set up a skill to automatically update Salesforce records after sales meetings. Here's what happens:
You create the skill and add an "Update Salesforce Record" step
You select which Salesforce connection to use (your personal Salesforce account, a shared company account, etc.)
When the skill runs, it uses that Salesforce connection to update the record
If that Salesforce connection doesn't have permission to update certain fields, the update fails
The skill logs the error so you can see what went wrong
Connection Limitations
The AI Employee can only do what the connection allows. If the connection doesn't have the right permissions, the action fails. For example:
If you use a Gmail connection that only has access to your personal inbox, the skill cannot send emails from a shared team inbox
If you use a Salesforce connection that only has access to certain records, the skill cannot update records it doesn't have access to
If you use an Outlook connection that doesn't have permission to send from a shared mailbox, the skill cannot send emails from that mailbox
Connection Management
Once you've created connections, you can manage them from your workspace settings.
Updating Connections
You can update a connection at any time. For example:
Change which account the connection uses
Update permissions or credentials
Reconnect if a connection has expired
Revoking Connections
You can revoke a connection at any time. When you do:
The AI Employee can no longer use that connection
Any skills that depend on that connection will fail
You'll need to reconnect or select a different connection to get the skill working again
Important: Anyone with access to a non-private connection can revoke it. If you shared a connection with your team and someone revokes it, all dependent skills will fail for everyone.
Reconnecting After Revocation
If a connection is revoked and you want to use it again:
Go to your workspace settings
Find the integration that was revoked
Reconnect by authenticating again
Update any skills that were using that connection
Last updated
Was this helpful?