Tools the Assistant Uses

The assistant has access to a small set of tools and picks the right one for each question on its own. You'll see a step appear in the conversation when a tool is running — "Searching the web for…", "Reading document…", "Generating image…" — and the result is folded into the final answer.

This page is a reference for what each tool does and when it kicks in.

Knowledge tools

Searching your data

Searches across what you've connected: Vault files, meetings, calendar events, smart form submissions, and (if integrated) mail. Results respect your existing permissions — the assistant only ever surfaces things you can already access.

Triggered automatically for questions like "What did the legal team conclude about the contract?" or "Find the spec for project Phoenix."

Calendar search

Looks up events on your connected calendar by date range or keyword. Returns titles, times, attendees, and meeting links.

Triggered by questions like "What's on my calendar tomorrow?" or "Find my next meeting with the finance team."

Web search

Pulls live information from the web for things like current news, prices, weather, or general knowledge that wouldn't be in your internal data.

Web search is opt-in at the workspace level. If your admin hasn't enabled it, this tool isn't available.

Reading documents

Opens an attached file and extracts the relevant content. Used automatically when you ask about a file you've uploaded or referenced.

Content creation tools

Document creator

Drafts long-form text — letters, reports, briefs, proposals, blog posts — and opens it in a side canvas where you can edit, regenerate sections, copy, or download.

Spreadsheet creator

Builds structured tables: trackers, comparisons, extracted data. Like documents, spreadsheets open in the canvas and can be edited inline or downloaded.

Document & spreadsheet updater

Modifies an existing document or spreadsheet. You can ask for things like "Add a column for owner", "Remove duplicates", "Sort by date", or "Rewrite the second section in a more casual tone."

Data tools

Chart generator

Renders interactive charts directly in the conversation. Supports bar, line, area, pie, radar, and radial layouts. You can hover for tooltips and download the chart as an image.

Spreadsheet analysis

Runs a query against a CSV in the Vault to filter, group, or summarize data without you having to open the file. Useful when you ask things like "In sales-q3.csv, what was the total revenue per region?"

Media tools

Image generator

Generates one to four images from a text description. You can pick a style — Photorealistic, Illustration, Minimalist, Abstract, or Infographic. Images render in the conversation and can be downloaded or saved to the Vault.

Video generator

Generates a short video from a prompt. Video generation takes longer than image generation — typically a few minutes. The video appears as a playable element in the conversation when it's ready.

Calendar actions

The assistant can also create, edit, or delete calendar events on your behalf. This is the only tool that always asks for confirmation: you'll see a preview of the change and must approve before anything is sent to your calendar.

Profile lookup

A small helper that reads your own profile data (name, role, timezone, recent activity) when relevant to a request. Doesn't expose any private data — only what's already on your profile.

How tool steps look

When a tool runs, you'll see a collapsible step like:

↳ Searching the web for "EU AI Act enforcement timeline"

Click the step to expand details or collapse it once you've seen the result. The final answer below the step integrates whatever the tool found.

What you can't ask for

The assistant won't:

• Access data you don't have permission to see in the source system.
• Send messages, emails, or notifications outside MainBranch on your behalf (other than calendar events, which require confirmation).
• Modify or delete files in third-party systems.

If you ask for something outside these limits it will explain why it can't.