# 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.

Canonical page: https://app.auto-lab.ai/docs/goals/setup

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](/docs/goals#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](/docs/goals/approvals).

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](/docs/connect/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](/docs/connect/connectors) and [Website logins and secure links](/docs/connect/website-logins).

## 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:

1. checks that you can edit the goal, merge changes and run triggers. Otherwise it says "Ask the owner to launch."
2. saves the goal sentence and reads its number again.
3. 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.
4. moves the Delegation dial from **Ask first** to the level you chose under **On its own**.
5. turns on **Escalate what needs you** for your channel, when that channel is linked to the goal.
6. 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](/docs/goals/schedules).

## 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.