Who can take a breakaway
When you create a breakaway, from an AI chat or from messages in a team, the Select member or agent screen lists everyone and everything that can take it. Who you pick decides how the work gets done and how it comes back to you.
The options at a glance
Section titled “The options at a glance”| Pick | Who does the work | How it comes back |
|---|---|---|
| A teammate | They do, in a chat of their own | They submit a note and files |
| Yourself | You do, in a separate chat | You submit it, like anyone else |
| Atlato One | The built-in agent, on its own | Handed back automatically |
| One of your agents | The agent, on its own | Handed back automatically |
| One of your elves | The elf, on its own computer | Handed back automatically |
| A pixie | The pixie, by phone | The call’s outcome comes back to you |
Whatever comes back, you decide: see Approve or reject.
A teammate
Section titled “A teammate”Under People, pick anyone in your workspace. Search by name or email.
- They get the breakaway as a new chat in their Chats list, marked unread, under Assigned to me.
- It moves from Backlog to In progress the first time they open it.
- They see your brief and the messages and files you carried, under Inherited context in their Task details. They never see the rest of your chat.
- Either of you can open Ask to talk it over privately.
Yourself
Section titled “Yourself”Your own name is in the People list, marked · you. Use this to split a side task into its own chat so it doesn’t crowd the main one. You work it and submit it the same way a teammate would. There is no Ask on a breakaway you gave yourself.
Atlato One
Section titled “Atlato One”Atlato One is listed first under Agents as the built-in agent (“plans, uses your tools, asks when it needs to”). It suits longer jobs: it plans the work, checks its plan, does it and hands over a summary.
Atlato One runs on the keys an admin sets up for the workspace, not on your own, so it is never held back by your AI connections. See Atlato One.
One of your agents
Section titled “One of your agents”Under Agents you see the agents you can use: ones you made, ones shared with you, and Atlato agents you have added.
- The agent starts as soon as you create the breakaway and works in its own chat. You can follow it under the Breakaways chip in your Chats list.
- When it finishes, it hands its result back on its own, with any files it made. You don’t press Submit for it.
- If you send it back, it works on it again with your note.
An agent works on a breakaway with your own subscriptions and API keys, the same ones your chats with it use, and the work counts against your credit limit. If none of your connections serves the agent’s model, its row is greyed out and names what is missing: your own subscription or API key from the company that makes that model. Select Connect one under the list to add a connection, or see Compatible model not found.
One of your elves
Section titled “One of your elves”Under Your elves you see your own elves. An elf works on its own computer and hands the result back when it is done. A paused elf can still be picked: handing it work resumes it.
While it works, its questions and requests for approval appear in the breakaway’s chat, and you answer them there. To watch its steps, select Task options (⋮) at the top of that chat, then Open in and the elf’s name. See Give an elf work.
You can write to the elf in the breakaway’s chat at any time. While it has a question open, what you type answers it. Otherwise your message is a follow-up it takes on next, and every answer it gives is posted in the same chat.
- One thing at a time. An elf works on one piece of work at a time. Work for a busy elf waits, and the chat says Queued until the elf starts on it.
- Recurring jobs. If the work is something to repeat, such as checking an inbox every morning, the elf sets it up as one of its own tasks. Its setup questions are in the elf’s own chat, and its results come to the breakaway’s chat.
- The verdict. When the elf hands back, the chat shows Handed back for review, then Approved by or Sent back by and who decided. You approve or reject on the card in the chat you made the breakaway from.
A pixie
Section titled “A pixie”Picking a pixie turns the breakaway into a phone call: you choose who it should call and what the call should achieve, and the pixie rings them. Pixies are listed only if your role is allowed to place calls. See Call breakaways.