What the operator does with what you say

For every message, the operator first decides whether to answer or to act. A question gets an answer and nothing is saved. Anything you hand over to keep or to do becomes a task, unless you ask for a note, name a list, or give the operator a standing rule. You can tell what will happen before you press send, and what you ask for outright always beats the operator's guess.

Answer or act

A question about the world gets an answer. A question about your own things ("what is my tax number?") gets a search of your tasks and notes first, then an answer. A thought or a vent with nothing to do in it gets a reply the way a person would give one, and nothing is saved. If you want it kept, say "save that".

When there is something to do, the default is a task. A note is created only when you clearly ask for one: "make a note that the wifi password is on the fridge" is a note, while "note down the wifi password" is still a task. An item for a list you already have goes onto that list ("add this film to my watchlist"). A standing rule for the operator ("always answer me in bullets") is kept as an instruction, not as a task. The operator checks for a question, a list and an instruction before it falls back to a task.

How a task comes out

One clear thing to do makes one task: "call the dentist tomorrow". A few separate things make one task each: "call Mara and print the documents" makes two. The split is on separate outcomes, never on commas, so "email Sam the deck and copy Noor" stays one task. One goal with steps makes one task with the steps as a checklist inside it: "pack for the trip: passport, charger, boots". A long, rambling message about one goal makes one task with the whole thing kept in its body.

Dates and times move out of the words and into the due date. "By Friday" sets the task due Friday and "remind me tonight" sets it due this evening. When you say several, the last one wins. A "remind me" with no time never gets an invented date: the task is captured without one, and the operator asks when to remind you, because a reminder needs a time and a made-up one would buzz your phone at a moment you never chose.

Titles come out clean. They start with a verb, drop the "remind me to" framing and carry no date, so "remind me to renew my passport" becomes a task called Renew passport. The operator files a task onto the list you name or the list you are standing in, and otherwise onto Tasks. It never guesses a list from the content, and a shared list takes an item only when you name it. It does not check for duplicates either: say "buy milk" twice and you get two tasks, and a stray one is one tap to delete. Nothing you say is ever lost, and a complaint is never turned into a task. Read more in create a task.

It knows where you are standing

You have one conversation with the operator, the same one on the Mac, in the browser and on the iPhone, and it runs for weeks. Switch topics without announcing it: the operator reads each message on its own terms and knows which screen it came from. When your chat is open on a task or a note, "this" or "it" means that one. When you are standing in a list, new things land on that list. A blank task you just created is the one you are filling in, so "create a task to cancel the gym membership" fills in the empty one on your screen instead of making a second.

Edits add, they never replace. "Add the flight number to that note" keeps every existing word, and the operator rewrites a whole body only when you clearly ask it to. Highlighted text is the target: select a passage, say "fix this", and only that passage changes. "The second one" and "the dentist task" resolve the way a person would read them. The whole conversation on an item is covered in the conversation on a task or note.

When it acts and when it asks

The operator goes ahead with the safe, undoable things: it creates and edits items, sets dates, checks things off and moves them between lists, with no "are you sure?" in prose. Anything risky pauses on a card in the chat before it runs: a delete, a big batch change, anything that leaves Roma such as a message sent in your name. The card is the confirmation, and approvals explains what shows on it.

It never asks where to save something. It saves to the obvious place and says where it went in a word. Asking you to choose is rare and always in prose, for a genuine "which one?" when two or three tasks match what you said. There are no pickers and no buttons: the operator ends its turn with the question, and your next message is the answer.

Where generated content lands follows one test: did you ask to save it? "Draft a message to the host" puts the draft in the reply and offers to save it. "Add these steps to the task" writes into the task, adding rather than replacing. A piece of research you did not ask to save goes to the chat, and the operator offers to add it when it belongs in the item you have open, as web search and research explains.

How it talks

It keeps its replies short and plain, warm in tone, with no filler and no lectures. It calls things by their real names (a task, an item, a note, a list) and otherwise uses your words. It says what it did once: anything it read, edited or moved is named as a chip right in the sentence, and what it created shows as a row under the message, so it says "Added 3 tasks" and never repeats the titles. It replies in your language, and what it saves stays in the language you wrote it in. When it cannot finish, it says so plainly, after trying another route. It never makes up facts, dates or done states, and it never promises something it cannot do, such as a phone call.

Questions people ask

Does every message become a task?

No. A question gets an answer, and a thought or a vent with nothing to do in it gets a reply and nothing saved. Only something you hand over to keep or to do becomes a task, and even then the operator checks first whether you asked for a note, named a list or gave it a standing rule.

How do I get a note instead of a task?

Say so: "make a note that" or "save this as a note" creates a note on your Notes list. Standing in a note or in the Notes list also makes a note the obvious thing. "Note down the address" without that framing is still a task.

Will the operator ask me where to file something?

No. It files a task onto the list you named or the list you are standing in, and otherwise onto Tasks, then says where it went in a word. You can move it afterwards in one step.

Can I tell the operator how to behave from now on?

Yes. A standing rule addressed to the operator, such as "always answer in bullets" or "never use exclamation marks", is kept as an instruction and shapes every later reply. A fact about yourself is not a rule and is not kept unless you ask for it to be.