Help and guide

The daily loop

Morning sync. Click Morning sync in the menu to start the day. Creative Chief reads your calendar, your task lists, your projects and yesterday's notes, adds the repeating to-dos due today, runs your auto-checks, and helps you plan. Talk it through in the message box. Click End skill when you're done. The button's tag shows Active while it runs and Done afterwards.

During the day. Use Main Chat for anything: questions, new tasks, quick thoughts, project news. The Today panel keeps the day's calendar and tasks in view.

Evening debrief. Click Evening debrief to close the day. It records what happened in your daily notes, sorts the quick thoughts you captured, and updates your projects.

Weekly rollup. On the day your week ends (set in your profile), Creative Chief also offers a weekly rollup: a summary of the week's daily notes, saved in your weekly folder.

The Today panel

A column on the right with today's calendar, upcoming deadlines, your task lists, the week ahead and today's auto-checks. It is read straight from Google, so it costs nothing (no Gemini calls).

• Tick a task off right there. Tasks due today, overdue or with no date are listed; tasks due later fold under Later, with their dates.
• Click Refresh to read it again.
• In a narrow window or on a phone, open it with the Today button at the top right.
• Choose what it shows under 4. Today panel in Settings. If you turn everything off, the panel goes away.

Main Chat and capture

Type in the message box and press Enter (on a phone, use the send button). While an answer runs, the send button becomes Stop.

• Quick thoughts. Ideas, dreams and notes to self go on your Quick Thoughts list. The evening debrief sorts them.
• Remember. Say "remember that..." and Creative Chief adds a dated line to the Remember section of your profile, so it knows it from then on.
• The inbox. Say "put this in my inbox" for something longer that needs sorting later.
• Before it changes a file, Creative Chief may ask you first, showing each old line and what it becomes. Click OK or Cancel.

The line above the message box says how much of today's chat Gemini remembers. Start fresh makes it forget the conversation so far (the chat stays on screen). Clear today's Main Chat in Settings clears the screen too.

Tasks, repeating to-dos and deadlines

• Tasks. A new task goes on your To Do list, due today unless you give a date. Anything at a time of day becomes a calendar event instead (Creative Chief offers a same-day task too).
• Your own lists (the ones you ticked in your profile) are never written to unless you ask.
• Repeating to-dos. Lines like "take out the trash every Monday" in your profile. Morning sync adds each one to your To Do list on the days it is due. Change them from your profile (click your name).
• Deadlines. A project's deadlines show in the Today panel. With Keep project deadlines on my main calendar on in Settings, each one is an all-day event with reminders, and goes on your task list once it is close. Say "the cover art is done" to mark one done.
• Finished tasks from earlier days are cleared off Creative Chief's lists at morning sync, if that setting is on. They are hidden in Google Tasks, not deleted.

Auto-checks

Jobs Creative Chief does on its own at morning sync. Add them in your profile (click your name), one per line as "When: what to do", for example "Every Monday: check my email for this week's school newsletter and add a task for anything I need to sign". You can put a short name first: "School newsletter: Every Monday: ...".

The Today panel lists today's auto-checks as Done or Waiting, with Run again. Turn them all off with Run my auto-checks at morning sync in Settings.

Projects

Each project you connect has a button under Projects in the menu. Click it to open the project's page, read from its Doc (no Gemini calls): status, next action, what it's blocked on, deadlines and decisions. Open project Doc opens the Doc itself; Refresh reads it again.

Ask about it. While a project's page is open, the message box asks about that project: Creative Chief already has its file loaded. Click Main Chat to go back.

Connect a new project (in the menu) gives a project its own file, a row on your dashboard, and its deadlines on your calendar. Fill in what you know; everything but the name is optional. Nothing that already exists is overwritten.

Shared projects and Project chat

For a Drive folder you share with other people, turn on Shared with others when you connect it. Creative Chief adds a project-notes folder to it (a status board, an activity log and a readme), and the project's page gets two tabs: Details and Project chat.

• Project chat is a conversation everyone on the folder can read and post to. It is saved in a Doc in the shared folder. A New tag shows when someone else has posted.
• Add to project on a message records it as a decision on the project's status board.
• Wrap up reads the chat and suggests changes to the project (status, next action, deadlines, decisions) as a checklist. Tick what you want and confirm; only the ticked items change. Wrap up is the only part of Project chat that calls Gemini.

Changed and Drawn from

When an answer changed anything, it ends with a Changed list naming each file and field, and each task or calendar event added, changed or deleted, so nothing changes silently. A plain question ("what's next on the poster?") never changes anything; ask for the change and it will. Drawn from lists the files and web pages it used. Each answer can also fold out the steps it took, with a line saying roughly what the message cost.

Updates

When a new release of the Creative Chief files is out, the Updates button in the menu shows a tag. Open it, click Check for updates, read what changes, then Apply update. Each changed file is backed up to your archive folder first. Your own files, rules, memory, custom skills, projects and daily and weekly notes are left alone.

The app itself (this website) updates on its own; reload the page to get the newest version.

Settings

Open Settings and setup at the bottom of the menu. Settings are stored only in this browser.

1. Gemini: Use Gemini, your key, My Gemini key has billing on, and Model. Leave Model on Automatic: if one model is busy, the next answers. Also whether Creative Chief may read web pages or search the web (search needs billing), run auto-checks, and clear finished tasks.
2. Google sign-in: sign in or out.
3. Creative Chief files: your folder (the install fills it in), Preload startup files (fewer Gemini calls), Keep today's Main Chat the same on all my devices, and Read answers aloud.
4. Today panel: what the panel shows, and whether deadlines go on your calendar and task list.
5. Save settings: Save to this browser, and Clear today's Main Chat.

Use Gemini off (No AI mode). Without Gemini, or without a key, Creative Chief reads each message with its own rules and shows a card to confirm: a task ("remind me to call the printer tomorrow"), an event ("dentist Friday at 3pm"), a quick thought ("idea: a moth zine"), something to remember ("remember Sam is away until Oct 30"), an inbox item ("inbox: risograph pricing"), a deadline done ("the proofs are done"), or "what's on today?". On a project page, "final art due Nov 15" sets a deadline; in Main Chat, name the project ("deadline for Poster: proofs Oct 20") or Creative Chief asks which one. "Add: dentist Oct 27 at 3:30pm at Main St Dental" puts it on the calendar with the place. Answer with Yes, No or Edit; a bare hour reads 1 to 6 as afternoon, so check the time on the card. If it can't tell, it offers Task, Quick thought, Remember or Inbox. Morning sync works too: it syncs your deadlines, clears finished tasks, shows what's new in shared projects and your inbox, then asks what you'll work on (saved in today's daily notes as Morning commitments) and which tasks to add for today. Questions, repeating tasks, Evening debrief, the weekly review and auto-checks need Gemini for now. With Gemini on, let the app take clear-cut capture itself (on by default) still handles "remind me to", "idea:", "remember" and "inbox:" with a card and no Gemini call.

First-time setup is only needed once. Your profile (name, calendars, lists, week, repeating to-dos, auto-checks) is changed later by clicking your name at the bottom of the menu.

Appearance

Under Appearance in Settings, pick a Look (Editorial, Fantasy, Cyberpunk, Granny Smith or Risograph) and a Mode (light, dark, or match your device). It changes straight away and is saved. This help page follows the same look.

Voice

Where your browser supports it, the microphone button in the message box types what you say. Nothing is sent until you send it. Read answers aloud in Settings reads each answer in your browser's own voice, at no extra cost. Both use your browser's speech features; see Your privacy.

More than one device

Your files live in Drive, so every device sees the same projects, tasks and notes. Settings are stored per browser: on a new device, open your invite link (or fill in Settings), add your key, sign in, and click Save to this browser. You don't install again.

With Keep today's Main Chat the same on all my devices on, today's chat, what Gemini remembers and your look follow you between devices.

Cost

Creative Chief uses your own Gemini key, so Google bills you directly (with billing on) or applies its free limits. There is no other charge.

• Each message that called Gemini ends with "This message: about $... (estimate)". Settings shows "Today on this device".
• These are estimates. Set a budget alert in Google Cloud.
• Free: everything with Use Gemini off (each message says "This message: No Gemini calls"), the Today panel, project pages, Project chat (except Wrap up), Updates, Read answers aloud, and the tour.
• Keep Preload startup files on and Model on Automatic for the lowest cost.