How It Works
Town Assistant operates behind the scenes — connected to your email, calendar, and the tools you already use. It runs workflows automatically, responds when you reach out, and learns from every task to do more for you over time.
Your assistant
When you sign up, you name your assistant and get a dedicated email address — like alex@town.com. This is how you reach your assistant from anywhere: email it, and it takes care of the rest.
Your assistant has access to:
- Email — Read, search, label, archive, and send
- Calendar — View events, check availability, create meetings
- Drive — Access documents and files
- Connected apps — GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, HubSpot, Dropbox, Asana, and custom integrations
Workflows
Workflows are tasks your assistant handles behind the scenes. Each workflow has four parts:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Trigger | When the workflow runs (new email arrives, on a schedule, you click Run, a voice recording is transcribed, etc.) |
| Instructions | What the workflow does — written in plain language or as a series of steps |
| Tools | What actions are available (read emails, add labels, send messages, search the web, etc.) |
| Mode | How much autonomy your assistant has (autonomous, approval-required, or read-only) |
How a workflow runs
Triggers
Triggers determine when a workflow activates.
| Trigger | When it fires | Example use |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming email | Every new email | Auto-label triage |
| Email to assistant | When you email yourname@town.com | Ask for help with anything |
| Schedule | On a recurring schedule (daily, weekly, etc.) | Morning briefing at 7 AM |
| Calendar event | When a meeting starts, ends, or changes | Send prep notes before a call |
| Voice recording | When a recording is transcribed | Summarize a meeting or voice note |
| Slack mention | When someone @mentions your assistant in Slack | Answer team questions |
| Manual | When you click Run | On-demand reports |
Tools
Tools are the actions your assistant can take. Each workflow only has access to the tools you choose to enable.
Email — Read, search, label, archive, draft, and send emails
Calendar — View your schedule, create meetings, edit events
Research — Search the web, run calculations, analyze data
Content — Browse and organize your content library, manage documents
Integrations — Work with GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, HubSpot, Dropbox, and Asana when those apps are connected
Your assistant only uses tools you explicitly enable. If a tool isn’t enabled on a workflow, that workflow can’t use it.
Modes
Modes control how much autonomy your assistant has.
Autonomous — Actions execute immediately without asking. Best for low-risk, high-frequency workflows like labeling emails.
Approval required — Sensitive actions wait for your approval. You receive a notification with approve/reject options. Best for workflows that send emails or modify important data.
Read-only — The workflow can analyze but not change anything. Best for testing new workflows or running analytics.
Talking to your assistant
Your assistant doesn’t just work in the background — you can reach out to it directly.
Email your assistant
Send an email to yourname@town.com with any request:
- “Research this company before my call tomorrow”
- “What emails did I get from John last month?”
- “Create a workflow that reminds me about PRs waiting for review”
- “Change my morning briefing to include weather updates”
Your assistant reads your message, uses its available tools, and replies with results.
Think it. It’s done.
Your assistant can create and update workflows on your behalf. Complex tasks done in minutes — do it once, or turn it into a workflow that runs automatically.
“Create a workflow that labels emails from my team and keeps them in inbox”
Your assistant will:
- Understand what you want
- Generate the workflow
- Test it (if needed)
- Enable it for you
You can also ask it to adjust existing workflows:
“Stop archiving emails from newsletter@example.com”
Stock vs custom workflows
Stock workflows are pre-built automations that work out of the box:
- Auto-label — Labels incoming email automatically. See what matters without sorting.
- Auto-schedule — Detects meeting requests and replies with your availability.
- Auto-draft — Drafts replies in your voice, ready to review and send.
- Morning Briefing — Your schedule, urgent items, and updates, delivered every morning.
Custom workflows are ones you create yourself:
- Talk to your assistant — Describe what you want, iterate together, set it live
- Configure manually — Set up every detail yourself
Both types use the same system. You can customize any stock workflow or export its settings and build on them.
You’re always in control
Nothing happens without your knowledge. Your assistant respects the boundaries you set:
- Per-tool approval — Require approval for specific actions, even in autonomous mode
- Built-in protections — Certain risky action combinations are blocked automatically
- Full history — Every action, decision, and result is logged so you can review what happened
Learn more in Safety.
What’s next?
- Workflows — Explore stock workflows
- Custom workflows — Create your own
- Integrations — Connect more apps
- Using Town — Email, web, and mobile access