05 · The new-task bar, switch by switch

Six controls sit around the input box. They look minor and they decide where it works, how it works, what it works with, and where it stops to ask you.

Control	Decides	Cost of getting it wrong
Workspace	Where it reads files and writes results	Output in the wrong place, or files touched that should not have been
Work mode	Plan first, or execute immediately	Twenty minutes in before you notice it went the wrong way
Model tier	Reasoning depth and credit burn	Flagship model on a trivial task
Skills	Whether it can do a class of work at all	Cannot read PDFs, cannot produce decks
Connectors	Whether it can reach external services	Cannot send mail, cannot read Tencent Docs
Permissions	Whether it pauses before dangerous actions	You find out after the files are gone

This page walks through each. Mode and model are involved enough to get their own page: 06 Work modes and model tiers.

1. Set a workspace

The workspace is the folder this task mainly reads from and writes to. Whatever directory you pick when creating a task — or the one WorkBuddy creates automatically — is the workspace for that task.

Click "select workspace" (选择工作空间) at the bottom left of the input box and locate the folder in the picker. No typing paths needed. Without one, WorkBuddy creates an isolated space for you.

How to divide workspaces

Make one per kind of work rather than piling everything into a single folder:

• invoices
• weekly-report
• photos-to-process
• client-data-cleanup

Two benefits: you can find things, and default permissions can judge "is this operation within the scope of this task" far more accurately, which reduces both false alarms and missed ones.

Three hard rules

1. Never put a workspace inside WorkBuddy's install directory. Updates clear and rewrite that directory.
2. Before touching anything important, make a new folder and put only copies in it. Default permissions reduce accident risk; they are not a backup.
3. Do not use the Assistant as a workspace. The Assistant has a fixed dedicated directory, designed for remote triggering, not for sitting at your desk — its history visibility rules differ from ordinary tasks.

2. Work mode

Three modes, switched in the + menu to the left of the input box:

Mode	What it does	For
Default (Agent)	Executes and completes the instruction, may modify files	Document generation, spreadsheets, file tidying
Plan (计划)	Plans first, executes after you confirm	Multi-step work, when you want to review the scope of changes
Ask (仅问答)	Answers only, does not execute	Understanding something, clarifying a requirement

Default is Agent. Plan and Ask are mutually exclusive; turning one off returns to default. When you are in a non-default mode, a badge appears below the input box — click its × to exit.

One-line test: if how to do it is more worth discussing than doing it, turn on Plan; if you just want an answer, use default. See 06.

3. Model

WorkBuddy bundles several major models and can also connect your own. The selector offers three tiers:

• Fast — simple, well-defined tasks; quickest response, lowest cost
• Balanced — most tasks; use this when unsure
• Maximum — complex tasks; slower and pricier, but more reliable when the work is genuinely hard

Three advanced switches sit behind it: thinking effort, context window and Max mode. The defaults suit nearly everything — read 06 before you touch them.

4. Choose Skills

Skills (技能) extend what WorkBuddy can do — each packages a set of executable scripts and workflows so the AI can perform concrete actions with your authorisation.

Select an installed Skill in the conversation and it gets called automatically during execution:

Skill example	Effect
Deck builder	Turns data into a presentation
Poster generator	Produces an event poster from a brief
Automated reporting	Merges several spreadsheets and outputs a chart report

WorkBuddy ships 20+ Skills covering documents, data reporting, poster design and file organisation, supports importing community Skills, and can create custom Skills from a natural-language description.

Only enable what this task needs

The more Skills are enabled, the more often the model calls the wrong one and the more noise you get. A document task does not need a video downloader switched on.

Install, enable, audit and uninstall are covered in Skills; ten free Skills worth installing first are in Ten free Skills.

5. Connect third-party services

Connectors (连接器) bridge WorkBuddy and external services so it can read and act on third-party data. There is a quick manager on the input bar.

Officially supported today: QQ Mail, Tencent Docs, Tencent Lexiang, Tencent Meeting, TAPD and Tencent Drive, plus custom connectors (which are MCP services under the hood).

Four typical uses:

Scenario	Example
Data lookup	Query a database, search documents
Service call	Send mail, create a calendar event
File management	Read cloud-drive files, upload attachments
Notification	Send a WeCom or Feishu message

See Connectors.

6. Permissions

This is the one most worth your time. The permission control sits at the bottom of the input box as a persistent status button, showing "default permissions" (默认权限) unless changed.

	Default permissions	Full access
File access	Inside the sandbox; crossing the boundary needs approval	Anywhere on the computer
Delete / modify files	Confirmed each time	Mostly executed directly
Terminal commands	System-level commands need confirmation	Runs commands, installs software, changes system settings
Internet access	Controlled; sensitive actions confirmed	Visits sites, sends data
Interruption rate	Higher	Very low
Scope	This task	Global — every task in this client
Risk	Low	High

Full access is a global switch

This is the most misread thing in the product: it is not scoped to the current task. Turning it on switches every existing task and every task you create afterwards in this client to full access; turning it off mid-conversation returns them all to the default confirmation flow.

Switching brings up a confirmation dialog listing exactly what is being opened up: file operations, terminal commands, internet access. Confirm your current task and files are recoverable before you tick the risk acknowledgement. If unsure, cancel.

Stay on default permissions day to day. Only switch to full access on recoverable, isolated work — Docker, a VM, a throwaway test directory — and switch it back when done.

The full sandbox mechanism, the Security Centre settings and how to read a confirmation dialog are in Permission modes and the sandbox.

After you hit send

You go straight into the conversation page — no "preparing to execute…" interstitial. The agent picking up the work and running it is all rendered live in the conversation.

Every conversation is an independent task with its own workspace and context. Running tasks appear in the sidebar and you can switch between them freely. WorkBuddy supports parallel tasks — one window writing a proposal, another crunching data, a third answering mail, none interfering with the others.

A five-point pre-flight check

Scan these before sending and you avoid most rework:

1. Is the workspace right? Do the important files have copies?
2. Does this need a plan first? If so, turn on Plan.
3. Does the model tier match the difficulty?
4. Are the Skills you need on, and the ones you do not need off?
5. Are you still on default permissions?

Next

06 Work modes and model tiers covers points two and three properly.