brains is an agentic work platform. You have one memory layer your brain (your email, calendar, Drive, chats, and notes); on top of it you can build four kinds of objects that automate the work around that memory:
- Boards — typed, queryable datasets. Lists, trackers, CRMs, pipelines.
- Automations — sandboxed TypeScript that runs on a schedule with scoped access to your brain. Cron jobs with judgment.
- Workflows — goal-shaped containers that bundle a board, a set of paused template automations, KPIs, deadlines, and a team roster. Status flips pause/un-pause every attached automation together.
- Integrations — the inputs and outputs to the outside world. Gmail, Calendar, Drive, GitHub, Monday, Telegram, and anything else you want to plug in via a recipe.
Everything in brains is built on a single low-level surface: the MCP server. Every UI affordance and every automation talks to the same MCP tools. That means whatever the product can do, you can do too — in code, from your own automations, or from your own LLM session over the Model Context Protocol.
How to read these docs
Start with Boards if you want to track or model something. Move to Automations when you want that tracking to run on a schedule. Reach for Workflows when you have a goal with a deadline and a team. Open Integrations when you need to pull from or write to an external system (or build your own).
Each page covers the concept, the mental model, and how to build and customize. Code snippets are concrete — you can copy them into an automation or a custom recipe.
The fastest path to "I built something"
Open the app, start a chat with Claude in any brain, and ask:
"Create a board for tracking job applications."
Claude will run the create_board_flow playbook — purpose, schema, seed
rows, optional skills, optional dashboard. You'll have a working board in
under five minutes. The same shape works for automations
(create_automation_flow) and workflows (create_workflow_flow).
The rest of these docs are for when you want to know exactly what the playbook is doing and how to do it yourself.