Set up and launch a goal
Describe the outcome, set the goal up with its agent, launch the first week, and change the goal later.
Setting up a goal takes about two minutes. You describe the outcome, the goal's own agent asks for what it still needs, and you launch a first week of work. Nothing runs on its own until you launch.
Describe
Choose New goal and answer "What should Auto Lab work toward?" in a sentence or two. Choose Start.
Set up together
The goal's agent asks only for what is missing. The Goal brief on the right fills in as you answer. Then choose Draft my first week.
Launch
Read the first week, ask for any changes, and choose Launch. The goal opens on its Overview.
Only organization owners and admins can create a goal, and only people who can change a goal can set it up.
Write a good goal sentence
The agent reads the number in your sentence as what it tracks, and shows it as a Tracking line under the goal. A good sentence names one outcome, a number, what is counted, and a period or a date.
| You write | Under the goal |
|---|---|
| Find 10 qualified leads a week for our Series A outreach | Tracking 10 qualified leads per week |
| Book 15 demos per week, counted in HubSpot | Tracking 15 demos per week |
| Publish 3 blog posts a month | Tracking 3 blog posts per month |
| Grow MRR to $50k by December 31 | Tracking $50,000 MRR by Dec 31 |
| Keep first response time under 4 hours | Tracking at most 4 hours |
| Send me a competitor brief every week | Tracking 1 competitor brief per week |
| Get more leads | No Tracking line. Progress counts the plan's tasks done. |
- Say the period plainly: "a day", "per week", "a month", "weekly", or "by" and a date.
- Use "at most", "under", "within" or "no more than" for something you want to keep low.
- Say where the number lives, such as "counted in HubSpot", and the agent reads it there. For work it does itself, such as leads it finds or briefs it sends, it counts its own work. Otherwise it asks you for the number when it checks in.
- Leave other numbers out. In "Follow up with every new customer in their first two weeks", the agent tracks "2 weeks".
- The agent never asks you for a target. To change the number, change the sentence.
Describe
On the Describe page, write your sentence, or start from an example: Weekly competitor brief, Qualify inbound leads, Customer onboarding follow-ups or Recruiting coordinator.
- Add a doc or spec attaches up to 10 files of 20 MB each, such as a brief, a spreadsheet or a PDF. The agent reads them with your sentence.
- Auto Lab suggests a name and an icon: "We'll call it … · Rename".
- If you can create goals in more than one organization, pick the Organization.
- Have code already? Import a GitHub repository switches the goal from an Auto Lab managed repository to one in GitHub. See What a goal is.
Start creates the goal and opens its setup.
Set up together
The agent opens with one sentence saying the goal as it understands it and the role it will play. Then it asks at most two questions at a time, each with options. Pick an option, type your own answer, or choose Skip.
It always asks where to reach you. It asks how much it may do alone, and for rules, only when the goal acts on the outside world, for example by sending email, writing to a CRM, posting or spending. If your goal names a team, it offers to share the goal. It never asks for a number.
The Goal brief
The brief shows what is stored, so it looks the same after a reload. Every row can be changed in place.
| Row | What it holds | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Your sentence, with its Tracking line. | What the agent works toward and the number on the Overview. |
| Role | The agent's job in a few words, such as "market researcher". Shows "From your goal" until set. | How the agent describes its own job in its instructions. |
| Works with | The apps and websites the goal uses. | What the agent can read and use. See below. |
| Reaches you | Where updates and questions go. Here in Auto Lab by default. | Where the plan's routine and check-ups deliver after Launch. Microsoft Teams gets escalations only; routine output stays in Chat. |
| On its own | Asks before acting, Acts within your rules (default) or Acts on its own. | How often the agent asks before it acts. After Launch this is the Delegation dial. |
| Rules | Plain rules, one per line, such as "never email customers without asking". | Instructions the agent follows once the plan is approved. |
| Access | Only you (default) or Everyone in your organization. | Records who the goal is for. It adds no one: use Settings › Access. |
Changing the goal, role, rules or access needs permission to edit the goal. Connecting tools and changing On its own need permission to manage connectors. Goal admins have both. Read more about the three levels in Approvals and autonomy.
For Reaches you, the agent asks "Where should I reach you?" and offers Slack and Here in Auto Lab. Email, iMessage and Microsoft Teams appear when they are switched on for the goal. Slack asks you to Add to Slack and pick a channel first. See Channels.
Connect the tools it works with
Every app or site you name becomes a card in the conversation and a chip on the Works with row:
| Chip | Card | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| connected | Connected | Nothing. The goal already has the app. |
| needs connect | Connect | Choose Connect and sign in to the app. Without permission, the card says "Ask an admin to connect …" and may offer Copy link to send them. |
| web | Ready | Nothing. It is a public site the agent reads with its own browser. |
| needs sign-in | Sign in | Choose Sign in. The agent sends a login link and you type the password there, never in chat. |
If a name matches several apps, the card asks "Which one do you use?". To add something you did not mention, choose Add another tool, or Add or Manage on the Works with row. See Connectors and Website logins and secure links.
Launch
Once the goal is filled in, choose Draft my first week. A line above the button says what is still open, such as a connection or a channel. You can skip both: the agent asks again when it needs them.
The First week opens on the right: usually 5 to 12 tasks, each with a day and an owner (Agent or You), then Check-ins, Reaches you, On its own, Tracking, Rules and Access. You only get a task for something the agent cannot do itself, such as a login, a connection or a decision you have not given yet. Ask for changes in the conversation, such as "make it daily", and the agent redrafts. Brief goes back to the brief, and See the first week returns to the plan.
When you choose Launch, Auto Lab:
- checks that you can edit the goal, merge changes and run triggers. Otherwise it says "Ask the owner to launch."
- saves the goal sentence and reads its number again.
- approves the first week: the tasks appear on the Overview, and the routine and check-ups start, delivering to where the goal reaches you. The first routine run is queued straight away.
- moves the Delegation dial from Ask first to the level you chose under On its own.
- turns on Escalate what needs you for your channel, when that channel is linked to the goal.
- ends setup: the Set up row leaves the sidebar and you land on the Overview.
Before Launch
Until you launch:
- The goal runs at Asks before acting (Ask first on the Delegation dial): every connector call waits for your approval, reads included.
- Apps connected during setup are read-only to the agent.
- There are no tasks and no schedules. The agent's own background jobs, such as its evening recap, start at Launch.
Finish later, at the top of the setup page, takes you to the Overview. The Set up row in the sidebar brings you back, and shows where you stopped, such as "2 of 3".
Edit the goal later
Choose the pencil (Edit goal) on the Overview's goal card, or Edit goal in Settings › General. Setup opens again in edit mode, under Overview › Edit goal. Change things in either of two ways:
- Say it, for example "Make it 15 demos a week, and look for leads on LinkedIn too." The agent rewrites the goal sentence, so the Tracking line follows, and adds any new source as a card.
- Edit the brief: the goal is a text field, and every other row has its own button, such as Edit, Change or Share. Changes save as you go.
When a change affects the plan, the agent shows the difference in the conversation, with tasks marked New, Changed or Dropped. Choose Update plan to apply it, or Keep current plan. The plan does not change until you choose Update plan.
If you change the goal but not the plan, the brief says The plan still follows the old goal. Choose Update plan there and the agent redrafts the week. Done returns to the Overview. Plan changes the agent proposes on its own later are covered in Plans, schedules and triggers.
Set up with the form instead
If the agent cannot be reached, setup says "The agent can't be reached right now." and offers Set up with the form instead. Older goals that do not run in Chat always use the form.
The form asks the same things in steps: Objective, Measure, Tools, Work, Channels, Autonomy and Plan. Finish later leaves at any step, and the Set up row counts the steps, such as "3 of 8". The Autonomy step offers Ask first, Within policy and Act freely, then Continue to plan drafts the week for you to approve.