Choose a work mode

Start with the behavior the work needs, not the label. All four modes can use project context and agent capabilities; they differ mainly in who initiates the work, how continuity is kept, and what people return to afterward.

Need	Choose	Execution shape
A person steers the next step	Chat	One continuing interactive session
A persistent role should notice and act	Agent	One lifetime conversation with manual and autonomous turns
A defined job should run at a known time	Automation	A separate session for every run
People should return to a maintained artifact	Dashboard	Refresh sessions that publish versioned output

Use a chat for exploration

Choose a chat when a person should stay in the loop, the goal is still changing, or each next step depends on the last answer. Chats are also the best place to prototype instructions before turning them into repeatable work.

Use an agent for responsibility

Choose an agent when the work has an ongoing owner, a persistent conversation, and standing instructions that should survive beyond one run. An agent can receive direct messages, be woken manually, check in on a heartbeat, maintain task-specific wakeups, and participate through connected channels.

Do not choose an agent only to obtain a schedule. If every occurrence should start from a stable job definition with independent history, an automation is simpler.

Use an automation for a defined trigger

Choose an automation when the prompt and trigger are known in advance and each run can be evaluated as a repeatable job. Automations support manual-only, one-time, and recurring schedules. Missed recurring slots coalesce instead of creating a backlog of catch-up runs.

Use a dashboard for a maintained output

Choose a dashboard when the primary product is a refreshable HTML artifact rather than a conversation. The build chat is still available for iteration, but the live version is the object other people return to.

You can begin interactively and promote the stable pattern later. The important boundary is whether the work needs dialogue, durable responsibility, a trigger, or a materialized result.