> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Work with an employee > Give an employee work in its direct message: attach files, answer its questions, approve what it prepares, and pick up the files it delivers. Each employee has a direct message with you. Use it for work that one employee can do on its own: "analyze this spreadsheet", "draft replies to these three customer emails", "make a banner for the Bloom launch". The employee follows its instructions, reads your [company profile](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/company-profile.md) and its [memory](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/knowledge-memory-skills.md#memory), and uses its tools and apps until the job is done. ## Send your first message **1. Open the direct message** Click **AI Employees** in the sidebar, then click the employee under **Direct messages**. **2. Start with an idea, or write your own** A new employee shows what it can do here as cards. A card that needs details puts its prompt in the message box for you to finish; the others send right away. **3. Send it** Type your message and press Enter. The employee replies in the chat and shows each step it takes, such as searching the web or writing a file. You can close the tab while an employee works. The work carries on, and the reply is in the chat when you're back. ## What an employee can do Every employee has the same standing equipment: | | | | - | - | | **Web search** | Looks things up and reads pages. | | **Browser** | Opens websites and works in them. | | **A computer** | Reads files, runs code, works through spreadsheets, and writes documents, on [a computer of its own](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/computer.md). | | **Images, video, music, and speech** | Makes them with the same models as Marky. | | **Your apps** | Works with the [apps you connect to it](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/apps.md), such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Notion, or Stripe. | | **Knowledge** | Searches the [documents and pages you add](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/knowledge-memory-skills.md#knowledge). | | **Memory** | Remembers you, your business, and its work across conversations. | | **Skills** | Follows [step-by-step guides](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/knowledge-memory-skills.md#skills) for jobs like research reports and data analysis. | | **Routines** | Sets up [work it does on its own](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/routines.md) when you ask, for example "every Monday at 9, send me last week's sales". | | **Group chats** | Posts in [group chats](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/group-chats.md) it's in, and hands work to teammates. | Building websites, slide decks, and deep research are Marky's jobs, so employees don't do them. Ask [Marky](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/marky/overview.md) instead. ## Attach files Click **+** next to the message box and pick your files. They're uploaded to the employee's [computer](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/computer.md), so it can read them now and find them again later. To dictate instead of typing, click the microphone and speak, for up to 10 minutes. The text appears in the message box for you to check and send. ## While the employee works * **Steps.** Each tool the employee uses shows as a short line in its reply. Click one to see it on **the employee's computer**, the panel that shows what it did, step by step. On a wide screen the panel opens beside the chat by itself; on a smaller one, open it from the button at the top. * **Questions.** When it needs a decision, the employee asks with a card. Click an answer, or type your own. * **Apps it needs.** If the job needs an app the employee doesn't have, it asks for it with **Connect** and **Not now** buttons, or **Allow** if you already connected that app. After you connect, it carries on where it stopped. * **Approvals.** Before it sends an email, changes your calendar, or changes something in an app, it shows an approval card and waits. See [Approvals](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/approvals.md). * **Files.** Documents, images, and other files it delivers show as cards you can open or download. ![A direct message with Nova: a request for the best-selling scents with an orders file attached, then her steps, such as Reading skill data-analysis, Writing file chart.py and Render the September chart, and the chart file with a Download button](https://mintcdn.com/easy-peasyai/n4m2_eaKJOfCT0eD/images/ai-employees/direct-messages-steps.webp?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=n4m2_eaKJOfCT0eD\&q=85\&s=500429eac19aafb2768e87b50ccefe1e) To stop the employee, click the stop button in the message box. If a reply was cut off, the chat says so, and you can tell the employee to continue. ## Conversations An employee can have several conversations with you. Click **Conversations** at the top of the chat to switch between them, or **New conversation** to start a clean one. Conversations get a title from their first message. Your employee remembers what matters across conversations, and its [computer](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/computer.md) keeps its files, so a new conversation can build on earlier work: "Use the price list you made on Tuesday." Results of scheduled [routines](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/routines.md) also land in the employee's direct message. ## The buttons at the top | Button | What it does | | - | - | | **Call** | Starts a [voice call](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/voice-calls.md) with the employee. | | Files | Opens the files on [the employee's computer](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/computer.md). | | Computer | Shows the steps the employee took on its computer in this conversation. It appears after the first step. | | The bell | Mutes browser notifications from this employee. It shows once you turned notifications on with the bell in the sidebar. | | **Conversations** | Switches conversations, or starts a new one. | | **Manage** | Opens the employee's [workspace](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/overview.md#employee-workspace): profile, apps, knowledge, skills, routines, and memory. | ## Know when an employee needs you The **Direct messages** list shows each employee's state: * **Working…** while it works on something. * **Waiting for you** when it asked a question or needs an approval. * **Stopped** when its last reply was cut off. Open the chat to continue. The **AI Employees** tab title shows how many employees are waiting for you. To get browser notifications when an employee needs you or finishes, click the bell at the top of the sidebar. > [accordion] The employee says an app isn't connected > > Open **Manage** > **Apps** and check that the app is under **Connected for**, followed by the employee's name. Connecting an app for Marky doesn't give it to your employees: each employee gets only the apps you turn on for it. Grok and DeepSeek models can't use Gmail, Google Calendar, or Google Drive, so switch such an employee to another model. See [Apps](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/apps.md). > [accordion] Can my employee build a website or slides? > > No. Websites, slide decks, and deep research are Marky's jobs. Your employee can write the copy and make the images, and Marky can build the site or the deck from them. > [accordion] What does a message cost? > > The same as a message to Marky on the same model: words for what the employee writes and reads, plus image & video credits for anything it generates. See [Limits and usage](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/limits-and-usage.md). > [card] [Approvals](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/approvals.md) > > What employees ask you before they act. > [card] [Group chats](https://easy-peasy.ai/docs/ai-employees/group-chats.md) > > Put several employees on one job. This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.