Working with agents
How Otto remembers across conversations
Otto uses several kinds of context, and each one has a different lifetime. Use the right kind for the information you want an agent to carry forward: a conversation for today’s details, identity for durable behavior, files for reference material, and memory or skills for approved patterns that should be reused.
Choose the right kind of context
| If you want Otto to remember… | Use… | It applies to… |
|---|---|---|
| The details and decisions in the work you are doing now | The current session | That conversation |
| A name, how it addresses you, or how it should behave | Identity and Personality | The agent’s future work |
| A brief, policy, or other source of truth | A file | Work where you provide that file |
| A repeatable checklist or house style | An approved skill | Work where that skill is available |
| A useful fact from earlier work | Long-term memory | Future work when Otto retrieves it |
This separation helps prevent a detail from one project being mistaken for a standing rule. For a full walkthrough of instructions, files, and connected apps, see Give an agent context.
What carries into a new conversation
A session contains the immediate conversation: your request, the details you shared, files you discussed, and decisions you made together. Start a separate session when a project should not inherit that working context. Use the main session when continuity is useful, such as tracking an open project over several conversations.
A new session does not replace durable agent settings. The agent’s identity and approved reusable context remain separate from the conversation itself. A connected app is also a separate access decision; having remembered a service or a previous result does not grant permission to use that service.
Store durable preferences in Identity
- Open the navigation menu and select the agent you want to change.
- Open the agent’s settings and select Identity.
- Set Agent name, What it calls you, or Personality.
- Select Save.
Use Personality for durable instructions such as “write concise status updates” or “ask before changing production data.” It accepts up to 8,000 characters. Put a project-specific instruction in the relevant session instead so it does not unintentionally affect unrelated work. Otto must be online to save agent settings; if the save fails, keep the page open, restore the connection, and try again.
Use memory and skills deliberately
When Otto recalls something incorrectly, correct it plainly and state whether the correction is temporary or should guide future work. Put a durable rule in Personality or an approved skill rather than relying on one passing message. A skill is a repeatable way of working—such as a checklist or house style—that Otto can propose for your review. It is not silently saved: you decide whether to keep the proposed instruction.
Long-term memory is useful for stable facts and decisions, but it is not a replacement for a source of truth. Keep changing information in a file or connected app, and tell Otto when a remembered fact is outdated. If the work should not share context, use a separate agent or separate workspace.
Dreaming and device data
If Dreaming is available in your device settings, it can organize and consolidate memories overnight. Dreaming uses your AI balance. Review the setting before enabling it if you want to control when background work uses that balance.
Your files, memories, connected credentials, and browser sessions are stored on your Otto device. A model or external service may still receive the information needed to complete a request. Do not add sensitive material merely because it might be useful, and review connected-app access separately.
If Otto remembers the wrong thing
- Say what is wrong and give the corrected value.
- Say whether the correction is only for this session or should be durable.
- Move durable instructions to Identity → Personality or an approved skill.
- Replace outdated files rather than asking Otto to choose between conflicting versions.
- Start a separate session or agent when the project should not inherit earlier assumptions.
- Review Privacy and credentials and connected-app access before sharing sensitive context.