Type: "Look at my calendar for next week and tell me what I need to prepare."
Work shows a plan. Read it.
Approve the plan.
Watch Work do the task.
CAUTION: Read each plan before you approve it. Work can act in your connected apps.
Result: you know how Work asks for approval before it acts.
Step 6: Build your first agent (15 minutes)
Your first agent sends you a brief each week.
In the sidebar, open Scheduled.
Create a new task. Or, in a Work chat, ask ChatGPT to run a task on a schedule.
Paste these instructions. Replace the text in square brackets.
Every [day] at [time], read my calendar for the next seven days and my email from the last seven days.
Give me:
1. The meetings that need preparation, and what to prepare.
2. The emails that wait for my reply.
3. What I delivered last week.
Then ask me what changed because of that work. Add my answer to a running log.
Set the day and the time.
Save the task.
Run the task one time now.
Read the brief.
If the brief is not useful, change the instructions and run it again.
On the Scheduled page you can pause, edit or delete a task. A task can run one time per hour at most. On the Free plan you can have three active tasks.
A task can also start when an event occurs, for example a new Gmail message. To set an event trigger, use the web or mobile app. Event triggers do not work on the Free and Go plans.
Result: each week you get a brief, and your log of delivered work grows.
Step 7: Build a tool with Codex (20 minutes)
Codex builds software from your description. You do not need to know how to code. Start with a small tool that you will use.
Make a new folder on your computer, for example "my-first-tool".
In the top left menu, select Codex.
Open your new folder.
Describe the tool. For example:
Build a one-page dashboard that I open in my browser.
It reads my weekly delivery log and shows what I delivered each month and what changed as a result.
Before you change any files, show me your plan.
Read the plan. Ask questions until the plan is clear.
Tell Codex to build the plan.
Read each change that Codex makes.
Ask Codex to open the result. Test it.
If something is wrong, tell Codex what you see. Codex fixes it.
CAUTION: Use a new, empty folder. Codex can read and change the files in the folder that you choose.
Result: you have a tool in your folder, and it works.
To run Codex tasks in the cloud, select Work in, then Cloud. Cloud tasks need Plus or a higher plan.
Step 8: Keep each piece of work in a Project (5 minutes)
Create a Project for one piece of work, for example your year-end review.
Attach your About Me and Voice profiles.
Add instructions that say what the Project is for.
Start each Chat or Work task for that work inside the Project.
CAUTION: Keep the memory setting of the Project on the default. Work does not run in Projects set to project-only memory.
Result: each task starts with the context of that work.
Step 9: Skills, plugins and custom GPTs
Skills: personal skills are available on Business, Enterprise and Edu plans. To make one, select Plugins, then the Skills tab. Create the skill with chat or in the editor.
Plugins: browse the Plugin Directory and install one plugin for your job. After one week, remove it if you do not use it.
Custom GPTs: OpenAI plans to retire custom GPTs and move them to plugins. Keep the custom GPTs that you have. Build new work as a Project, a scheduled task or a plugin.