Operator

Operator is the chat where you ask Brev about your work and have it do things for you. It reads your goals and meetings, drafts goals and artifacts, and pulls data from the apps you connect.

Who can use it: by default, everyone except Observers and Guests, and a custom role can turn it off (see Roles and permissions). Each answer uses workspace credits.

Start a chat #

Ask Operator anything about your work:

1. Click the Operator bar at the bottom of the page. It reads like “Ask about your work”. If the page has no bar, click Operator in the sidebar.
2. In the message box, type your request. A starter prompt sends itself when you click it.
3. Press Enter, or click the send button.

You can also open the full-screen chat: click Operator in the sidebar, or press ⌘K and pick it.

The bar opens a fresh chat about the page you're on, with starter prompts for that page. The bar appears on pages it has a name for, such as Home, goals and views, and while work is running.

What the status line means #

• It shows the current step, so you can move to another page. The Operator bar keeps reporting, and clicking it opens the conversation.
• A timer counts up when there's no progress bar, so a slow step reads differently from a stuck one.
• In the full-screen chat, the chevron beside the status line opens the full list of steps.
• Repeated work is one line with a count, such as “Updating goals, 50 so far”, and failures are counted apart: “46 so far, 4 failed”.

Attach a file #

Give Operator something to work from, such as a spreadsheet of goals, a planning doc, or a photo of a whiteboard. To attach a file:

1. In the message box, click the + button, then Upload a file or image.
2. Pick the file. It appears as a chip while it uploads.
3. Type your request and send it.

You can also attach a file these ways:

• Drag it onto the chat, in any layout, or onto the new-artifact dialog.
• Paste a screenshot into the message box.
• Tell Operator you have a file, such as “our OKRs are in a spreadsheet”. It puts a drop area in its reply, and a file dropped there is sent with no message needed.

Formats

CSV, Excel, PDF, Markdown, plain text, JSON and images (PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF). Anything else is refused with a message naming the formats that work.

Size

Up to 4 MB per file. A file that can't be attached is named in a message while the rest go through.

Slide decks and Word documents

Export them as PDF first. PDF is also the format Operator reads best, since it sees the layout.

Images

Operator sees an image as a picture, so a screenshot of a goals sheet can be read and imported like a document.

Follow-up questions

Operator can still read your attached files later in the conversation.

Brev Recorder apps

Attach with the paperclip beside the message box. When Operator asks for a file, its reply offers Choose File…. The same formats and limit apply.

Ask about your goals, people and teams #

Ask in plain language, and Operator answers from your live goals:

1. Ask a question, such as “What's at risk?” or “Goals owned by Priya”. Operator answers with links to the goals or with live goal cards. For cards, start from the Ask about your goals task.
2. Click a card to open the goal's quick view, or a link to open the goal's page. Hover a card to see its status.
3. To log progress from the chat, hover a card and use its check-in button. On a phone, the button is always showing.

• You only see goals you can already access.
• For a long list, Operator shows the few that matter most and offers Show all, which lists the rest for the same time period. To add older goals, pick Include closed periods when it's offered, or ask for them.
• A grouped answer puts each group's cards under its own heading.

People and teams appear as small chips inside the sentence. A person's name opens their profile and a team's name opens the team's goals. Ask Operator to “list” people or a team's members to get a card list instead.

Import goals from a file #

Operator reads a spreadsheet, PDF or image and creates the goals it finds:

1. Attach your file (up to 4 MB, see Attach a file) and ask Operator to import it. You can attach several, and it reads them all before asking you to confirm.
2. Wait while it reads. A status line shows progress, such as “Reading your uploaded file, page 18 of 42”. You can leave the page, and it keeps going. If it's cut off part way, say continue.
3. Answer any questions in the card above the message box. The question about a missing time period also offers Cancel this import.
4. Check the plan, then confirm on the card. Nothing is created until you do. To back out, pick the card's option not to create them, or tell Operator you don't want the goals. You can't stop an import after you confirm.
5. Keep working while a progress bar counts the goals: “Creating your goals, 120 of 300”.
6. When it finishes, click View goals on the created-goals card. If goals are split across teams, it opens the view holding most of them, and a note says how many it shows.

Fix goals that couldn't be created #

Each failed goal is listed by name with a short reason:

1. On the created-goals card, open the toggle under the count to read each reason, such as a missing time period. The list shows 25 at a time, with the total and Load more. With no card, the toggle is above the message box.
2. Fix the file or the workspace, then import again.

Create goals #

Operator can draft one goal, metric or project for you to review:

1. Ask for it, such as “Add a metric for support response time”. Operator may ask for missing details first, then shows it as a card and saves nothing yet. In Slack and Teams there's no card: Operator describes the goal and creates it once you agree.
2. Click Open form. The create dialog opens filled in.
3. Check the details and click the create button, such as Create Metric.

To have Operator create it without the form, say “just create it”. See Create with Operator.

• Click View goals to open your goals view with the chat docked beside it, filtered to the new goals' time periods.
• The card shows five goals at a time, and you scroll inside it for the rest. A very large set lists the first 50 with a link to the others.
• Click a row to open its quick view. An objective with its key results is one row, with a chip that expands it.

When a time period doesn't exist #

Goals live in your organization's time periods. If you ask for a period that doesn't exist, Operator stops and says so rather than picking the closest one.

• An org admin can have Operator add it, matching your naming and fiscal dates, unless it overlaps a period of the same type.
• Anyone else is told an admin needs to add it.
• Admins also manage periods in Settings > Time periods.

Connect apps so Operator can read them #

A connector lets Operator pull live data from another app while you chat. Each person connects their own account, so Operator only reaches data you've authorized. Guests can't connect, and neither can Observers by default.

Connect an app once, and Operator can use it in any chat:

1. In Settings, open Connections. In the full-screen chat, Connectors in its sidebar opens the same page.
2. Find the app, by its section or with Search connections.
3. Some apps connect separately for Operator and for auto-tracking goals. If the app is listed twice, use the row that says it gives Brev context, not the one that tracks goals. If its row has a chevron, open it.
4. Click Connect on the row, or beside Operator access in an opened row, then sign in. See what each connector needs.

You don't have to name the tool. Operator decides when a connected source is worth checking, and says which source each fact came from. Questions your Brev workspace already answers, like goal status, stay in Brev.

Why Operator asks before changing something #

Web pages and apps like GitHub or HubSpot can hold text written outside your company. Once a conversation has read them, Operator describes any change it wants to make and waits for your yes.

Drafts in an artifact and reminders to yourself don't need your yes. A scheduled run skips the change and says so in its summary.

Turn a connector off for one conversation #

A connector you turn off stays connected everywhere else:

1. In the message box, click the + button.
2. Open Connectors.
3. Clear its checkbox.

To add a connector from here, type in the search box. Other apps appear under More connectors, and picking one opens it on the Connections page. Manage connectors opens that page too.

When a connector needs attention #

A connection that stops working shows Needs attention on its row. To fix it:

1. Click Reconnect and sign in to the app again. If GitHub shows Install on GitHub instead, click that and install the app on the repositories you want Operator to read.
2. If that can't fix it, disconnect the app and connect it again.

GitHub asks for an install when your connection can't see any repositories, usually because the Brev GitHub App was never installed. Its row returns to Connected the next time Brev checks the connection.

Disconnect an app #

Remove a connection you no longer want:

1. On the Connections page, click the app's trash button, or Disconnect on an app connected through Composio.
2. Confirm with Delete.

Where connectors don't work #

• In a shared Slack or Teams channel, Operator doesn't read these apps, because everyone would see the reply. It names the app and asks you to send the question in a DM.
• When Brev takes a request away as a longer background job, that job can't read them either. Brev names the app and asks you to send that part as its own message, in your DM with Brev or in Operator chat.

Ask for a connector we don't have #

Tell the Brev team what you need:

1. On the Connections page, click Request a connector. It also appears when a search finds nothing.
2. Name the tool and what you'd use it for.
3. Click Send request. The Brev team reviews every request.

Auto-track a goal from a connection #

A metric goal can keep its value up to date from some of these connections:

1. On the goal, choose Auto-track.
2. Pick the app. If you haven't connected it, the dialog opens its sign-in window and brings you back.
3. Pick a metric, with an optional filter such as a department, then click Continue and Connect.

• BambooHR: headcount, open roles, applicants, time off requests

The number refreshes on the same schedule as other auto-tracked goals, read-only, and counts only what the person who set it up can see. Disconnecting the app removes auto-track from the goals that used it. If that person leaves the organization, the goal stops updating until someone connects it again.

Answer Operator's questions #

When Operator asks you something, a card appears above the message box once it has finished its reply. To answer it:

1. Pick an option. On a card with one question, your pick sends at once. For a question that takes several answers, tick them.
2. If the card shows a pager like “1 of 3”, keep going. Use Skip for a question you'd rather not answer.
3. When you're done, click the arrow or press ⌘Enter (Ctrl+Enter on Windows). Your answers go back together as one reply.

Add your own

A box on a question that takes several answers, for an answer the list is missing.

Something else

A box on a question with no fixed answers, such as a metric name, for typing your own.

Or reply directly…

The message box stays open. Typing a reply and sending it replaces the questions still open. While an import's own question is waiting, a reply can't cancel the import.

The X on the card

Hides the card without sending anything. It comes back if you reload the conversation, and on an import, Show the options brings it back.

Keyboard

Press ↓ in an empty message box to move into the card. Arrow keys move, Enter or a number picks, and any other key starts a reply.

Links to a page in Brev stay in the reply as their own cards, and opening one closes the question asked alongside it.

Create an artifact #

Operator can draft an artifact from a template or a description:

1. Ask Operator to create one. In the full-screen chat, a live preview of the draft opens beside the conversation.
2. On the draft's card in the chat, click View draft. The card reads Viewing now while it's on screen. In the floating or sidebar chat, the button is View and opens the artifact's page.
3. To edit the draft, click Edit in the preview. It's locked while Operator is working. You can also edit it on the artifact's page.

Start from a suggested task #

A task makes Operator go straight to the right approach. Start a new conversation in the floating or sidebar chat, then:

1. In the header, click Tasks.
2. Pick Draft goals from a document, Create an artifact, Ask about your goals, or Track a goal with live data. It shows as a chip above the message box.
3. Send your message to start it. Click the x on the chip to clear it.

The panel also lists longer jobs under In progress, including ones that just finished or failed, when there's something to show. Click Tasks again to go back to the chat.

If you ask for something a conversation isn't set up for, Operator checks what Brev can do, and points you to the right task. If that task needs a data source you haven't connected, it shows a card that opens Settings > Connections.

Send a teammate a message #

Operator can pass a note or link to a teammate for you, if your organization has connected Slack or Teams:

1. Say what you want said, such as “Send Priya the link to the Q3 board and say I'll follow up Monday”. It goes at once, to at most three people each time you ask.
2. Check Operator's reply. It says who was reached.

It arrives as a Slack direct message, or a Microsoft Teams chat where that's on, with a line saying you asked Brev to send it. Operator tells you who it didn't reach.

Does naming someone notify them? #

Naming someone in an answer never notifies them. The one exception is Slack, when you ask Brev to ping, tag, DM, cc, remind, notify or loop someone in. Then the people you named are posted as real Slack mentions. If a name could mean more than one teammate, Brev tags nobody and says who it could have meant.

Invite someone from chat #

Add someone to your workspace from the Brev web chat:

1. Ask, such as “invite [email protected] and send an invitation”.
2. Check the card, which shows the address, role and whether an email goes out. A name and job title you give are saved only if the person is new to Brev.
3. Click Confirm. Nothing happens until you do.

Anyone who can invite in Settings > Members can confirm here, with the same result. No email goes out unless you ask for an invitation. Operator can't make anyone an admin, remove someone or change a role.

Save a set of goals as a view #

Ask Operator for a saved set of goals you can reopen:

1. Ask, such as “Save the marketing team's at-risk goals as a view”. You can filter by team, owner, status, time period or tag.
2. Open the goals menu in the sidebar and find it under My views, using the name Operator gives you.

The view is private to you. Operator can also add, remove and reorder the KPI cards on an Organization or team view. Sharing, renaming, re-filtering and deleting views are yours to do in the app.

Set up a routine or reminder #

Have Brev run a request on a schedule, or remind you once. Results arrive as a Slack or Teams DM, so your organization needs one connected, and you can have up to 25 active routines:

1. Open Operator, or a Slack or Teams DM with Brev.
2. Say what you want and when, such as “Every Monday at 9, summarize my open actions” or “Remind me to post my update tomorrow at 9”.

Cancel a routine #

Stop a routine you no longer need:

1. Ask Brev what routines you have.
2. Ask it to cancel the one you want. In a channel, anyone who isn't a guest can reply in a post's thread with @Brev stop, and Brev confirms in the thread.

Post to a channel #

To post on a schedule in a channel you're in:

1. In your DM with Brev, name a channel you're in: “every Monday at 9, post our OKR status in #gtm-ops-team”. A private Slack channel needs Brev invited first, a guest can't set one up, and channels shared outside your workspace or excluded by an admin are refused. So is a public Slack channel your auto-join setting keeps Brev out of.
2. Confirm when Brev asks.

• Each post uses only what everyone in the channel may see, such as public goals.
• If Brev can no longer post there, the routine pauses and says why.

Shape an OKR brief #

An OKR brief leads with key results at risk or behind and goals with no recent check-in, then an on-track count, recent wins, and asks. It uses public goals and their check-ins only.

1. Ask for a routine that posts your OKR status to a channel.
2. Add lines to narrow or shape it, such as “Teams: Sales, Support”, “Objectives: Grow revenue”, “Sections: attention, wins, asks”, “Length: short” or “Tone: upbeat”.

Choose where the chat sits #

The chat can dock beside the page, float, or fill the screen:

1. In the chat header, click the layout icon (its tooltip says Chat layout).
2. Pick Sidebar, Floating or Full screen.

Sidebar

The default on desktop. A full-height panel on the right that pushes the page over. Its close button puts it away while the conversation keeps going. It isn't offered on a phone, where the chat floats.

Floating

A smaller panel in the bottom-right corner. Minimize folds it into the Operator bar, and the conversation keeps running.

Full screen

The same conversation as a full-page workspace, with its own sidebar. Pick Floating or Sidebar to go back to the page you came from. Where the app's icon rail isn't shown, use Back to app.

Changing the layout keeps your conversation, and a refresh keeps the one in the floating or sidebar chat. The chat reopens by itself after a refresh only if you docked it open.

A refresh reopens the full-screen conversation from its URL. Operator in the sidebar or New chat starts a new one, and past chats are under Recents.

Find, rename, favorite or delete a conversation #

To rename or delete a conversation in the full-screen chat:

1. In the sidebar, find it under Recents or with Search chats.
2. Hover its row, open the menu, and click Rename or Delete. The row updates, or leaves the list, straight away.

The sidebar also has:

New chat

Starts a fresh conversation.

Favorites

The conversations you pin. Use Add to favorites in a conversation's menu.

Search chats

Filters conversations by title.

Once a conversation is underway, its title shows at the top of the window. Click it for New conversation, Add to favorites and Rename, or use the ⋯ menu to delete the conversation. The chevron at the top left hides the chat's sidebar.

Conversations from other places are listed here too:

• Slack and Teams: a conversation you started by messaging Brev shows the app's logo, and links back with Open in Slack or Open in Teams. New replies in the thread appear without a reload. Replies you type here stay in Brev.
• Brev Recorder apps: conversations carry over both ways. On a Mac they're in the Operator window's sidebar, and on an iPhone under Chats in the Chat tab.

Prompts that work well #

Reading, then writing

“Summarize Q2 progress on Win 250K in New ARR and send the summary to Priya”.

Several steps

“For each goal on my team that's behind, draft a check-in”.

Across apps

“Find calendar conflicts with our quarterly review and propose three alternatives”.

Questions an import may ask #

Teams that don't exist yet

One new team is asked about on its own. With two or more, you see the proposed structure and pick Create team structure, Import without teams, or Decide team by team.

Moving or leaving out a team

To move a team, reply in the message box, such as “put Nursing under Care Delivery”. To leave one out, pick Decide team by team.

Goals that already exist

If rows match goals you already have by name, Operator tells you and offers to leave them out. Check its plan before you confirm.

Owners who aren't members

For owners named by email, pick one option for them all: Add them now, send invites later; Add them and email each an invite once their goals are created; Assign those goals to me for now; or Leave them company-owned.

Owners you add but don't invite yet

Either add choice makes them pending members who own their goals. Invite them later from Settings > Members with Send invitation. An owner named only by name has no address, so Operator names them instead.

A period with matching dates

If the dates in the file exactly match one of your periods, such as FY26 for your 2026 year, the goals go there without asking. The plan says so.

A period with a matching name

A matching name counts if its start and end are each within one calendar day, and the plan notes the difference. Only the file's own date columns count.

No clear period

If nothing matches, or two periods match equally well, you're asked.

The card offers only the choices your role can make. If it can't load a question, it shows Try again. If you answer in another tab, it shows the question the import is asking now.

Import the same file again #

Importing again is safe, including after a partial import:

1. Attach the file and ask Operator to import it. A matched goal is left as it is, so a changed target or owner isn't applied. A goal renamed in the sheet counts as new, and so do the children of a renamed parent.
2. Read the created-goals card, such as “40 goals created” and “260 already existed”.

Operator recognises an imported goal with the same name, parent and time period, even from a different file.

A goal Operator creates on its own in conversation isn't matched.

Where Operator gets its context #

Your workspace

Goals, KPIs, projects, cadences and check-ins, pulled live.

Connected apps

Calendar events, Slack channels, Sheets cells, HubSpot pipelines and more.

The public web

Operator can search and read public pages when the answer isn't in your workspace or apps, and it cites its sources.

The goal you have open

Open a goal in the quick view, or tick several in a list, and “what is the status of this goal?” just works. A selected goal takes priority over the page it's on, and Operator reads its recent check-ins too.

The page you're on

On a page about one thing (a meeting, goal, saved view, team or artifact), Operator knows which, so “how did this go?” needs no explaining. This also holds for a chat carried over or reopened from Recents.

Other pages

On a page that isn't about one thing, Operator falls back to what you opened the chat from. It ignores a page your question has nothing to do with.

Company profile

The facts admins fill in under Settings > General, such as industry and size. See Company profile.

Context never widens what you can see. Operator reads what you would, with your own permissions. A selection counts only on the pages that show it.

Your conversations are private #

Each conversation belongs to the person who started it. Nobody else in your organization can open it or see it in their Recents, and no admin setting reads someone else's chats. A teammate who opens a shared link gets a new, empty chat.

To pass on what Operator found, copy the answer or ask Operator to send it.

What Operator won't do #

Operator sticks to work. It declines requests that could hurt someone, does not take sides on religion or politics, and steers personal questions back to your work. Answers on health, alcohol, legal or money questions stay general and come with a caution.

Report a bad answer #

Operator's answers are AI-generated, so review them before you act on them. To report a bad answer, email [email protected].

How Operator uses credits #

Each answer Operator finishes draws down credits, wherever you ask: here, in Slack, in Teams, in the Brev Recorder apps or from a scheduled run.

Track usage in Billing.

If something goes wrong #

“Checking whether your message went through…”

The connection dropped after you sent a message. Brev doesn't resend it, since Operator may already be working on it. It looks for the reply for up to five minutes. If none turns up, or you click Stop checking, you get Try again.

“Couldn't reach Brev. Try again.”

Operator itself isn't answering, so nothing is working on your message. Click Try again. Brev does retry by itself when Operator was too busy to start.

A change from Operator doesn't show

Goal changes, including tags, appear as they happen. Other changes appear a moment after a step while the chat is open. Changes made while the chat was closed, and some summary figures, can need a refresh.

A goal's connected value doesn't show

If Operator connects an integration to a goal, its progress value appears when that connection next fetches one.

A single goal wasn't created

There's no card, and Operator explains why in its reply.

Operator declines new requests

Your workspace has less than one answer's charge left, or its trial has ended. A workspace admin needs to add credits.

A file is refused

The message names the reason and the formats that work. Check the limits under Attach a file, and export slide decks and Word documents as PDF.

Operator can't use a connected app

It doesn't read connectors in a shared channel or a longer background job. Ask in a DM or in Operator chat, and check the connector isn't turned off for this conversation.

What each connector reads #

• HubSpot: contacts, companies, deals, tickets and pipelines, plus their calls, notes, meetings, emails and tasks. Read-only. If your account has Sensitive Data turned on, HubSpot blocks the activity records.
• GitHub: commit history, tags, issues, pull requests and diffs. Read-only. It sees the repositories the Brev GitHub App is installed on, so install the app on your organization to cover private repos.
• Linear: issues, projects, cycles, initiatives, milestones, documents, releases and status updates. Read-only.
• PostHog: insights, funnels, SQL, error tracking and feature flags. Read-only. It uses a key instead of a sign-in: create a personal API key with PostHog's "MCP Server" preset, which binds it to one project, and paste it in. Use Update key to replace it. PostHog Cloud (US and EU) is supported, and self-hosted instances are not.
• PostHog MCP: a separate Composio sign-in for reading metrics, trends, funnels, retention, dashboards and feature flag definitions. Your existing PostHog connection stays separate. This connector cannot change data or settings or run arbitrary SQL.
• Hex: sign in and pick the workspace (Team and Enterprise plans on app.hex.tech). Operator can find projects, read SQL and Python cells, run a SQL cell for its current result, and ask Hex's own agent a question.

On Hex, Operator never creates, edits or deletes projects or cells, but running a cell re-runs its saved query in the project's draft, which other editors see. The connection is in beta, and EU, single-tenant and HIPAA workspaces aren't supported yet.

Reading Hex results needs an Editor seat with Can Edit or Full Access. A sensitive data connection needs a Hex admin to allow it in MCP, API, and CLI.

The apps listed below connect through Composio, the connection service Brev uses. Connecting opens Composio's sign-in window. Brev never sees your password or your account's access tokens, and disconnecting revokes Composio's access.

• Google Sheets: Find spreadsheets in a connected Google account and read their tabs, ranges and rows to answer a question from the numbers a team tracks there. Read-only: the connector can read cells but never change them.
• BambooHR: Look up the team directory, departments, open roles, the hiring pipeline and time off in a connected BambooHR account, limited to what that person can see there. Read-only: the connector never changes records, and it does not read salaries, benefits, personal ids or reports.
• PostHog MCP: Read product metrics, funnels, retention, dashboards and feature flag definitions through a separate PostHog MCP sign-in. Cannot change PostHog data or settings.

You may also see other apps Brev has enabled through Composio. They work the same way, and Operator can use only their read-only tools. If access is removed on the app's side, the row asks you to reconnect within a few minutes. Most apps appear once, through either Brev's connector or Composio.