Working on Complex Tasks in Assistant

Overview

Assistant handles complex, multi-step requests by planning its approach before starting work, checking in with you when a task needs input, and reporting progress as it goes.

Describe your full objective and Assistant proposes a plan, gathers relevant materials, asks clarifying questions when needed, and delivers a finished output. Because tasks run independently, you can start several at once and track each one's status from the Active Threads Panel, without waiting for one to finish before starting the next.

Running a Complex Task

1. Start the Task

When starting a complex task with Assistant, you can describe the whole task up front and let Assistant plan and execute the task. You can also request a detailed plan so you can review and edit the plan before Assistant begins.

Describe the Full Objective

Draft a prompt in Assistant describing the full scope of work, not just the first step. The more specific your prompt, the better the plan and the final output.

Include your full objective, any formatting requirements, and references to relevant templates or precedents. You can also use the Improve button to help write a more detailed prompt.

Example:

Instead of: "Review these contracts,” try "Review all contracts in this data room, extract key terms, and draft a summary memo aligned to our firm template."

Request a Plan

You can ask Assistant to generate a structured plan for your task before it starts any work. You can then review, edit, or approve the plan before Assistant runs.

To request a plan:

1. Ask Assistant directly for a plan, or
2. Type /plan in the prompt box before or after drafting your prompt.

When a plan is ready, you have two options:

• Approve: Assistant proceeds exactly as written.
• Edit: Describe your changes in plain language and Assistant updates the plan.

2. Answer Clarifying Questions

If Assistant encounters something ambiguous mid-task, it pauses and asks for clarifying information before continuing.

For example, if you ask Assistant to review all agreements in a data room without specifying a format, it might ask which template to use for the summary memo before moving on.

• Choose from the options provided, type your own answer, or skip to let Assistant use its best judgment.
• Not every task triggers a clarifying question. Assistant asks only when it needs input to avoid rework.

3. Monitor Progress in the Context Panel

While your task is running, you can monitor its progress in the Context Panel on the right-hand side.

The Context Panel shows:

• Progress Tracker: A live list of what Assistant is working on now and what's next, so you can audit progress as it goes.
• Outputs: Files and drafts Assistant has generated, ready to open, download, or save to your vault.
• Sources: The documents and materials Assistant referenced, organized separately from outputs for easy review.

4. Review Your Outputs

When the task is complete:

1. Open generated files from the Context Panel.
2. Review the results against your expectations and the cited sources.
3. Continue refining in the same thread, or start the next task.

Running Tasks in Parallel

You don't need to stay in the thread once a task is running. Move on to other work, start another task, or close Harvey entirely.

Active Threads Panel

You can check on your active threads from the Active Threads Panel in the sidebar. The panel lists your active threads, each with a status indicator showing whether it's running, done, or waiting for your input.

Email Notifications

If your task is running long, a notification banner appears above the prompt box giving you the option to receive an email when the task completes.

Select Notify Me to receive the email. You can close the page and return later even without requesting a notification.

FAQs