Creating Tasks

Tasks in Obvious are reusable automated workflows. Define a series of steps once — with gates, conditions, and scheduled triggers — and run them on demand or automatically. This guide covers how to create, configure, and run tasks.

Prerequisites

You need Editor access in a project 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

1. Open the task creator.

   • Type / in the chat input and select New task.

   • A modal appears titled Create Task.

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

3. Add a description (optional). Explain why this task exists and when you'd run it.

4. Assign the task (optional).

   • Click the assignee in the modal to open the member list. The task defaults to you.

   • Search by name or email to select any active workspace member.

   • One assignee per task.

   • The person who creates the task and the assigned user both have full write access: either can edit the task, update or delete todo items within it, and manage attachments.

5. Define your steps.

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

   • For each step:

     • Enter the step description.

     • Click + Add step to continue.

     • Drag steps to reorder them.

     • 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)

6. Save. Click Create task. Obvious takes you to the Tasks page where your new task appears and is ready to run.

Step gates

A gate pauses a task run after a step completes and waits for a condition to be met before the next step runs. Without a gate, steps run back to back automatically.

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 page: 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.

• From the companion pane: Click the Todos icon in the assistant header to open the companion pane alongside your conversation. It has full feature parity with the Tasks page: same filters, bulk actions, and inline editing.

When you group the unified inbox by Assignee, tasks sort into distinct buckets: individual human names, Build agents (tasks from autobuild), and Assistant (agent-assigned tasks that aren't autobuild).

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

Rename a task inline

In the task list, click the task title to edit it directly. Type the new name and press Enter to save, or Escape to cancel. You do not need to open the task editor to rename it.

The same inline rename works in the unified inbox task panel: click the task title in the detail view, type the new name, and press Enter to save or Escape to cancel. Status, priority, and assignee changes made in the unified inbox also appear immediately without a page refresh.

Respond to agent subtasks

When a task involves an agent working through a plan, the Plan tab in the task panel shows each subtask the agent created. Some subtasks pause and wait for your input. Those show a Respond button.

Click Respond, type your reply in the text box that appears, and click Submit. The agent resumes automatically once you submit.

For subtasks tied to a pull request review, a Resolve button appears instead. Click it after approving the PR on GitHub to mark the subtask complete and let the agent continue.

Completed subtasks you responded to show a read-only Your response panel with your reply text.

View PR artifacts in task detail

When a task produces a pull request, the PR appears as a tab inside the task panel. Click it to read the PR contents without leaving the task.

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 page, 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.