# What's in the Brain Everything a goal's agents know, from agents and skills to memory, tools, connections and models, and how it changes. Canonical page: https://app.auto-lab.ai/docs/brain The **Brain** is everything your goal's agents know and use: their instructions, skills, memory, tools, connections, schedules, models and secrets. It also shows how that knowledge changes, who changed it and what is waiting for your approval. Open it from **Brain** in the goal's rail. ## The tabs The Brain opens on **Learning**. The other tabs follow in this order. | Tab | What it holds | |---|---| | **Learning** | What the goal learned from its own work, and the changes it proposes. See [Learning](/docs/brain/learning). | | **Agents** | The goal's agents, their instructions and what each one may use. See [Agents and skills](/docs/brain/agents-and-skills). | | **Skills** | Written procedures the agents open when a task calls for one. See [Skills](/docs/brain/agents-and-skills#skills). | | **Memory** | What the goal remembers, including the objective and the goal instructions. See [Memory and goal instructions](#memory-and-goal-instructions). | | **Tools** | Custom tools, written as code, that an agent can call while it works in a session. | | **Marketplace** | Ready-made skills and other items you can add to the goal. See [Marketplace](/docs/brain/agents-and-skills#add-a-skill-from-the-marketplace). | | **Connectors** | The apps and services the goal may use, and the channels that reach you. See [Connectors](/docs/connect/connectors) and [Channels](/docs/connect/channels). | | **Triggers** | What starts work from outside Chat, such as a timed trigger, a webhook or the **Daily digest**. See [Plans, schedules and triggers](/docs/goals/schedules). | | **Schedules** | The reminders, check-ups and routines the agent keeps for itself. Shown on goals that use Chat. | | **Review** | The Review Center: change requests and other work waiting for a decision. See [Approvals and autonomy](/docs/goals/approvals). | | **Models** | Which models the goal may use and which one it starts with. See [Models](/docs/brain/models). | | **Secrets** | API keys and other sensitive values the agents use. See [Secrets](/docs/connect/secrets). | | **Members ↗** | Opens the goal's access list in Organization settings. See [Roles and access](/docs/organization/access). | | **Settings** | The goal's settings, including **Autonomy**. See [Goal settings](/docs/goals/settings). | **Review** and **Marketplace** are on by default. You can turn either off for a goal in [Feature flags](/docs/goals/settings#feature-flags). As a goal member you see only **Learning**; see [Who can see and change the Brain](#who-can-see-and-change-the-brain). ## What each item tells you Cards and files across the Brain carry the same facts. | You see | What it means | |---|---| | **Updated 3h ago by you** | The last change that reached the goal's repository, and who made it: you, a teammate, Auto Lab, or a change request such as "change #12". | | **1 proposed change** | An open change request would change this item. Inside the file, a banner names the change with a **Review change** button. | | Tags | Memory files show their tags, or the folder they sit in when they have none. Use **Filter by tag** on the Memory tab. | | **Used in** | For a skill, memory file or tool: the saved sessions that opened, read or called it. | ## Change something You can edit an item yourself, or ask the agent to change it. A direct edit saves at once. A change made by the agent always goes through a change request that a person approves. ### Edit it yourself 1. Open **Brain › Memory**, **Brain › Tools** or **Brain › Skills** and select the item. For a skill, select the file in its file tree, usually `SKILL.md`. 2. Select **Edit source** and make your change. 3. Select **Save to project**. Auto Lab commits the file to the goal's repository and shows the commit. Saving does not start a session, run a tool or change a plan. The direct editor works on existing text files up to 256 KiB. It cannot create, rename or delete files, and binary and executable files stay read-only. Built-in skills are read-only too. To change an agent's instructions or access, open it in **Brain › Agents**. **Save** on the agent's page also commits the change to the goal's repository. ### Ask the agent to change it Use this when the change needs new files, several files or some judgement. 1. Select **Edit with agent** on a skill, memory file or tool. To add something new, select **Create with agent** on Memory or Tools, or **New** on Skills or Agents. 2. Auto Lab opens a new session with your request filled in. For **Edit with agent**, confirm with **Send** first. 3. The agent asks what you want, makes the change on a separate branch and opens a change request. 4. Review the change request, then apply or dismiss it. Nothing changes until someone applies it. See [Approvals and autonomy](/docs/goals/approvals) for how change requests are reviewed. ### When someone saved first If the file changed after you opened it, Auto Lab keeps your draft and asks you to compare. Select **Compare with latest** to see both versions. Then select **Keep draft with latest revision**, adjust your draft and save again, or select **Discard draft and reload**. ## Memory and goal instructions Memory is the goal's notebook. The agent reads it as it works and writes to it as it learns. The most important parts, such as a one-page profile, key facts and lessons, are in front of the agent on every turn. **Brain › Memory** shows these files and folders: | File or folder | Holds | |---|---| | `objective.md` | The goal: the outcome, how it is measured, the target and the constraints | | `instructions.md` | **Goal instructions**: standing rules a person approved | | `knowledge/` | Facts, procedures, preferences, decisions and lessons | | `entities/` | One file for each person and organization the goal deals with | | `workstreams/` | Work that is active, completed or set aside for someday | | `timeline/` | What happened each day, with daily, weekly and monthly summaries | | `comms/` | One file for each outside conversation | | `playbook.md` | The lessons every run reads, strongest first | | `profile.md` | A one-page summary the agent reads first, rebuilt each night | | `heartbeat.md` | The checklist the heartbeat looks at | | `MEMORY.md` | An index of what memory holds | Some files appear only once the goal has used them. ### Goal instructions `instructions.md` is a short list of standing instructions. The agent reads them on every turn, right after its built-in instructions, and follows them where the two differ. Keep each instruction to one line. The agent reads up to about 1,600 characters of the list. You can edit the file directly. [Learning](/docs/brain/learning) may propose one line to add, reword or remove, and that proposal always waits for a person. ### The objective `objective.md` is read-only in the Brain, because the goal card on the Overview keeps its own copy of the objective. Change it with **Edit goal** on the Overview. See [Overview, Needs you and Activity](/docs/goals/overview). ## Agents, skills, memory and tools are files Agents, skills, memory and tools are files in the goal's repository, under `.kortix/`. **Files** shows that folder as **System files**. The goal manifest, `kortix.yaml`, holds each agent's access rules. This is why every change to them has an author, a date and a history, and why a change can be reviewed before it lands or undone after. You never need to open the repository to use the Brain. Developers can read [The goal's repository](/docs/developers/repository). ## Who can see and change the Brain | Who | Can | |---|---| | Every member of the goal | Open **Learning** | | Goal admins (shown as **Project admin**) | Open every tab, see the change history, edit items, and use **Undo**, **Pin** and **Archive** on the Learning tab | Organization owners and admins are admins on every goal. A custom role can add any of these rights to other people. See [Roles and access](/docs/organization/access).