Creating Tasks

This guide walks you through building a reusable workflow task — naming it, defining steps, picking an agent mode, saving it, and running it.

Tasks are like saved recipes — define the steps once, and Obvious follows them every time.

Prerequisites

You need Editor access to create tasks. Check your access level via the Share button in the project header.

The quickest way: ask the agent

Tell the agent what you want the task to do, and it handles the rest.

Create a task that runs a data quality check on my sales sheet every Monday at 9am

The agent builds the task, configures gates and conditions if needed, and saves it. You can review and edit from there.

To build one manually

Step 1: Open the task creator

Type / in the chat input and select New task. A modal appears titled Create Task.

Step 2: Name your task

Enter a clear, action-oriented name specific enough that you'll know what it does six months from now.

Step 3: Add a description (optional)

Explain why this task exists and when you'd run it.

Step 4: Define your steps

Click + Add step to start building your workflow. Each step is one action — not multiple.

For each step:

1. Enter the step description: "Check for duplicate emails in the customer sheet," "Send a Slack message to #data-team," and so on.

2. Click + Add step to continue.

3. Drag steps to reorder them.

4. Click × to remove a step.

Click Advanced below any step to configure a gate, condition, or output schema.

Use the Mode dropdown (in the Schedule & Mode section) to choose the agent mode for the entire task — all steps run in this mode:

• Auto — The default. Good for most workflows.

• Fast — Quick, straightforward tasks.

• Deep Work — Complex, multi-step analysis or research.

• Analyst — Statistical analysis, trend detection, and reporting.

Step 5: Save

Click Create task. Your task appears in the project task list and is ready to run.

Step gates

Gates run a step, then pause the task until a condition is met before continuing. Without a gate, each step runs as soon as the previous one finishes. With a gate, the step runs and then the task waits.

To add a gate, click Advanced below any step, then click Add gate.

Gate types

Approval — Runs the step, then waits for one or more people to review and approve before the task continues. Obvious notifies them. Use this when a human should sign off on what the step produced before the workflow moves on.

Auto condition — Evaluates the step's condition automatically. If it passes, the step continues; if not, the step is blocked. The step must also have a condition configured — the auto condition gate uses it as the pass/fail rule.

Timeout — Waits a set number of minutes, then auto-approves and continues regardless. Use this to build a deliberate pause into your workflow.

If a gate is rejected

When an approval gate is rejected or an auto-condition fails, you choose the fallback:

• Retry step — Runs the step again.

• Abort task — Stops the run immediately.

• Route to step — Jumps to a specific step instead of continuing in sequence.

Paused runs

A step waiting on a gate shows Paused in your run history. Approval gates stay paused until someone acts. Timeout gates clear when the wait elapses. Other runs in your project are unaffected.

When you trigger a task from chat — via / or by typing the task name — approval cards appear directly in your thread. For scheduled tasks, approval cards appear in the orchestrator thread.

Conditional branching

Conditions let a step route to a different next step depending on what the previous step produced. To add a condition, click Advanced below any step, then click Add condition.

Configure a condition

• Field (path into step output) — The part of the step's output to check. Enter a path like result.status or count.

• Operator — How to evaluate it: equals, contains, greater than, less than, or exists.

• Value — What to compare against. Not required for exists.

• If true → go to step — Which step to run when the condition passes.

• If false → go to step — Which step to run when it doesn't.

Conditions evaluate automatically — no human involvement required. You can add both a gate and a condition to the same step: the gate controls whether the step runs; the condition determines where the task goes next.

Output schemas

Output schemas let you define exactly what a step's result must look like. Obvious validates the step's output after it completes — if it doesn't match, the task fails immediately. You catch shape mismatches before they cause problems downstream.

To add an output schema, click Advanced below any step, then click Add output schema. Enter a JSON Schema (draft-07) describing the expected output.

Output schemas are optional. Use them when downstream steps depend on structured output.

Running your task

• From the Tasks drawer: Use the status filter to view All, Scheduled, Paused, or Draft tasks, then click ⋯ and select Run now.

• From chat: Type / and select your task from the list.

Progress appears in chat — which steps completed, which are running, and any issues.

What to do if this didn't work

The task won't save. Every step needs a description. Empty steps block saving.

The task didn't run as expected. If a step references a sheet or field that no longer exists, the step fails. Edit the task and update those steps.

A run is stuck on Paused. An approval gate is waiting. Open the run from your run history to approve or reject it.

A condition is routing to the wrong step. Check the field path. result.status must be entered as result.status — not status alone.

A step failed with an output schema error. The step returned output that doesn't match the schema you defined. Check the required fields and property types in your schema, then update either the schema or the step description.

You want to edit or delete the task. Open the Tasks drawer, click ⋯ on the task, and select Edit or Delete.

Still stuck? Email help@obvious.ai with the task name and what you expected to happen.