Foundations

Definitions and Terminology

AI Employees are automated helpers in Motion that can do tasks or run skills for you. Think of them like team members who can work on their own once you set them up. Each AI Employee has a specific job (like managing your calendar or helping with sales) and can be set to work just for you or shared with your whole team.

Here are the key terms you need to know:

Terminology	Definition
AI Employees	An AI Employee is a digital helper in Motion that does work for you. Motion has seven AI Employees to choose from, each with a different job: Alfred (Executive Assistant), Chip (Sales Rep), Clide (Customer Support), Dot (Recruiter), Millie (Project Manager), Spec (Researcher), and Suki (Marketing Associate).
Skills	Skills are the specific tasks an AI Employee can do. Think of skills like abilities or superpowers. For example, Alfred might have a skill to "draft emails" or "organize your calendar." Some skills come pre-built and ready to use. Others you can create yourself to fit your exact needs.
Triggers	A trigger is what tells an AI Employee to start working. It's like a signal that says "now is the time to run this skill." Triggers can be things like "when I click a button," "when a new email arrives," or "every Monday at 9 AM."
Integration	An integration is a connection between Motion and another app you use, like Gmail or Salesforce. When an AI Employee needs to do something in one of these apps, it uses the integration to access it. You have to give permission for the AI Employee to use each integration.
RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)	RBAC is a system that controls what people (and AI Employees) can do in Motion based on their role. In Motion, there are two main roles: Admin and Member. Admins can do more things (like delete projects or change settings), while Members can do basic work (like create tasks or edit projects). AI Employees follow the same rules as the person who set them up.
Manual Mode	Manual mode means the AI Employee only works when you tell it to. You have to click a button or give a command to start the skill. Nothing happens automatically.
Autonomous Mode	Autonomous mode means the AI Employee works on its own in the background. Once you set it up, it runs automatically when certain things happen (like when a new email arrives or on a schedule you choose).

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Prebuilt AI Employees

Motion comes with seven prebuilt AI Employees, each designed for a specific job. Here's what each one does:

Alfred – Executive Assistant

Alfred helps you manage your day like a personal assistant would. He can draft your daily agenda, organize your emails, prepare you for meetings, and keep your team updated on what's happening. If you're a busy executive, Alfred is your go-to AI Employee.

Example setup: You could have Alfred automatically draft a summary of your meetings every day and send it to your team on Slack.

Chip – Sales Representative

Chip helps sales teams close deals faster. He can research prospects, track your sales pipeline, prepare you for sales calls, and even update your Customer Relation Management (CRM database) after meetings. If you're in sales, Chip helps you focus on actually selling instead of admin work.

Example setup: After a sales call, Chip could automatically update your Salesforce database with notes and move the deal to the next stage.

Clide – Customer Support Specialist

Clide helps customer support teams respond to customers faster. He can read support emails and suggest replies, which saves your team time on repetitive responses. If you handle customer support, Clide helps you keep up with volume.

Example setup: When a customer emails with a common question, Clide drafts a response that you can review and send.

Dot – Recruiter

Dot helps with hiring. He can analyze job interviews, give feedback on how the interview went, and prepare briefings on candidates before interviews. If you're hiring, Dot helps you make better hiring decisions.

Example setup: After an interview, Dot could analyze the conversation and give you feedback on the candidate's fit.

Millie – Project Manager

Millie keeps projects on track. She can monitor project status, send updates to your team on Slack, and remind everyone about important deadlines. If you manage projects, Millie keeps everyone aligned.

Example setup: Every Monday, Millie could send your team a Slack message with the week's priorities and any projects that are at risk.

Spec – Researcher

Spec finds information for you. He can research companies, research people, write cold emails, and pull data from the web. If you need to do research or outreach, Spec does the legwork so you don't have to.

Example setup: Before a sales call, Spec could research the company and the person you're meeting with, then send you a briefing with key facts.

Suki – Marketing Associate

Suki helps marketing teams stay on top of trends and social media. She can find viral content ideas, monitor social media for mentions of your brand, and help you plan content. If you do marketing, Suki helps you stay ahead of trends.

Example setup: Every morning, Suki could send you a list of trending topics in your industry so you can plan content.

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Manual vs. Autonomous Modes

AI Employees can work in two different ways. Understanding the difference is important because it changes how they behave and what they can do.

Manual Mode – You're in Control

In manual mode, the AI Employee only works when you tell it to. You have to click a button or give a command to start.

How it works:

• You open the AI Employee in Motion and click "Run Skill"

• The AI Employee does what you asked

• It stops when it's done

• Nothing happens automatically

When to use it:

• When you want to check the work before it happens

• When you're not sure if you want the skill to run

• When the task is one-time or doesn't happen regularly

Example: You're about to have a sales call. You open Chip and click "Prepare for this sales call." Chip researches the company and the person you're meeting with, then shows you the information. You review it, and then you're ready for the call.

Autonomous Mode – It Works on Its Own

In autonomous mode, the AI Employee works automatically in the background. Once you set it up, it runs without you having to do anything.

How it works:

• You set up a trigger (like "every Monday at 9 AM" or "when a new email arrives")

• The AI Employee watches for that trigger

• When the trigger happens, the skill runs automatically

• You get the results without having to ask

When to use it:

• When you want something to happen on a schedule

• When you want the AI Employee to react to events automatically

• When the task happens regularly

Example: You set up Millie to automatically update your Salesforce records every Friday at 5 PM after sales meetings. Every Friday, Millie automatically checks your recent sales meetings, pulls the details, and updates the corresponding Salesforce records. You don't have to do anything.

Key Difference: Whose Context Runs

This is really important to understand. When an AI Employee runs, it uses the permissions of a specific person. This person is called the "context."

In manual mode:

• The AI Employee runs under YOUR permissions

• It can only access what you can access

• If you can't see a project, the AI Employee can't see it either

In autonomous mode:

• The AI Employee runs under the permissions of the person who SET UP the skill

• If Sarah set up the skill, it runs under Sarah's permissions

• If Sarah can't access a workspace, the skill can't access it either

This is a safety feature. It prevents the AI Employee from accidentally sharing information with people who shouldn't see it.

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AI Skill Definitions

General Actions

These are common actions that can be used in many workflows, such as:

Step name	Definition
Conditional Split	A branching action that evaluates conditions to determine the next path in a workflow. Note: a conditional split can only be added after a step.
Generate Text	Produces written content automatically based on prompts, context, or AI instructions.
AI Instruction	Executes a specific AI-driven command or directive provided by the user to shape workflow output.
JSON Document Extraction	Extracts and structures key information from a JSON file or API response for use in workflows.
Research a Topic	Gathers insights, summaries, and details on a given subject using AI or connected data sources.
Research a Person	Searches relevant public information, background, and context about an individual.
Websearch (Exa)	Searches the web using Exa to retrieve accurate, up-to-date sources and results.
Google Search	Performs a search directly through Google to return relevant web results.

Motion Actions

These steps interact directly with Motion’s core features:

Step Name	Definition
Create Doc	Automatically generate a new document in Motion.
Append to Doc	Add content to an existing document in Motion.
Send Notification (Motion Inbox)	Deliver a notification directly to the Motion Inbox.
Create Motion Task	Add a new task to a project or workspace
Update Motion Task	Change details of an existing task.
Create Motion Project	Start a new project in Motion.
Update Motion Project	Change details of an existing project.
Search Motion Tasks	Find and retrieve tasks in Motion by filters or keywords.
Search Motion Projects	Find and retrieve projects in Motion by filters or keywords.
Search Motion Calendar	Look up scheduled events, meetings, or time blocks in Motion’s calendar.
Search Motion Documents	Locate documents stored in Motion by filters or keywords.
Select Available Timeslot	Search for and select an available timeslot within Motion’s calendar.

Integrations

These steps let your AI Employee work with other platforms and services you use:

Application	Definition
Google Search	Find information using Google.
Exa	Search or retrieve data from Exa.
Salesforce	Interact with Salesforce records.
Gmail and Outlook	Send, receive, or search emails.
Slack	Send messages, monitor channels, or react to activity in your team chat tools.
More Integrations (see below for details)	Connect with many other supported platforms, such as HubSpot, Figma, Reddit, and more. Each integration may have its own set of actions, like making API requests or updating records.

More Integrations

Each integration starts with this:

Describe an HTTP request to make with examples, the name of the platform or service, an API endpoint or URL, and any API keys or tokens required to make the call. This step is not "agentic"; you must extract the results in another step using the output of this step.

Integration	Integration	Integration
1Password Airtable Algolia Anrok Auth0 (Client Credentials) Azure DevOps Bill (Connect API) Brevo Canva Cloudentity Coda Commercetools CompanyCam Copper Discourse Dixa e-conomic Emarsys Core API (WSSE) Emarsys (OAuth) Entrata EvaluAgent Exa Figma FindyMail Fiserv	Gem Github Gmail Grafana Incident.io Insightly Klaviyo Lattice Loops.so Luma Mailgun Malwarebytes Medallia Metabase Microsoft Teams Mindbody Miro Mixpanel Next Cloud OCS Odoo (Client Credentials) OpenAI Outlook Pandadoc Paychex PostHog	Quickbase Recruiterflow Replicate Rippling Rock Gym Pro Rootly Salesforce SAP Concur SAP SuccessFactors Sedna SendGrid Sentry Shortcut Slack Smartrecruiters Spotify TapClicks Twilio UKG Pro Unanet Vimeo WhatsApp Business Workday xAI Xero (Client Credentials)