Routines in chat

Routines work from a connected chat as well as from the app. This guide covers Telegram, Slack and Discord, the chat apps you can connect today. WhatsApp, Google Chat and Microsoft Teams are not live yet. Connect a chat first in Private chat integrations. Chat apps need Plus or above.

Your brief on demand

Send brief today, or ask for your brief or agenda. If the latest brief is under 18 hours old, Otto sends it. Otherwise it builds a fresh snapshot from your calendar, tasks and important mail.

Manage routines

In a chat, ask Otto to:

• List your routines.
• Pause or resume one.
• Run one now.
• Skip its next run.
• Reschedule it, for example "every 2 hours" or "weekdays at 8".
• Change its destinations. Only chats you approved for this connection are offered, plus email and push.
• Change what it reads or when it runs, for example "only mail since the last run" or "brief me 15 minutes before each meeting".
• Remove it.

These apply to the mailbox that chat is linked to.

Create a routine from chat

Describe what you want, for example "every weekday at 8 send me my important unread". The chat you are in is the default destination. If the routine only delivers to this chat and to Otto, Otto asks you to confirm it in the chat with Turn it on. If it would email you, post to other chats or touch a team mailbox, Otto hands it off with Review in Otto so you can check it there first. If your plan does not allow it, Otto says so and links to the plan options.

Quiet hours

Messages to a chat wait out quiet hours, 22:00 to 07:00 in the routine's time zone by default, and arrive when the window ends. Change the window or turn it off per routine on its card in Settings → Automations. Quiet hours do not hold Otto's feed, email or push.

Act on a delivered update

The latest delivery in a chat stays actionable for 48 hours. Reply with:

• archive these, or archive 1, 3 for specific items.
• mark read
• reply to #2. Otto drafts the reply. Sending still needs your approval.
• mute 2h or mute until tomorrow, to pause that chat's updates.
• unmute
• stop these updates, to pause the routine behind that delivery.
• more, to see the rest of a long delivery.

Items in a delivery are numbered so you can point at one.

Common questions

Does "stop these updates" delete the routine? No. It pauses the routine. Resume it from the app or by asking Otto in the chat.

What does STOP do? WhatsApp keeps its standard opt-out meaning for the word STOP, which is separate from "stop these updates". WhatsApp is not connectable yet.

Can Otto send a reply for me from the chat? Otto drafts it and waits. Sending needs your approval.

Why is my brief missing some mailboxes in the chat? A chat shows only the mailboxes you approved for it. The others collapse to a "+N from other mailboxes" line. Everything is in Otto.

See the full routines guide, and Routine not arriving if a delivery goes missing.