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What to ask it

Ten jobs worth handing over, each with a message you can paste. Replace the words in [brackets] with your own. Time and usage are rough estimates from our own use, not measurements on your machine; the Usage page shows what a job really used. Some of these need an extra (see tutorial 6); they say so.

None of these has yet been run on a clean install by someone new. Each has been done by agents on our own Hive with messages like these.

Start with 1 if you have never used it. For the overnight ones, read Keep work moving first.

1. A web page or small tool

Paste: "Make a one-page website for [what it is]. Put [the sections you want]. When it's done, attach it here." Happens: an agent writes the page, opens it to check, attaches it. Time: a few minutes. Usage: small. You get: a file you open in a browser. Then say "make the header blue" and it changes.

2. A printable kit or document

Paste: "Make a [murder mystery for 8 guests, about one hour]. I need a host guide, character sheets and clues, as one PDF I can print." Happens: it plans, writes, builds the pages, checks them. Time: 10 to 30 minutes. Usage: small to medium. You get: HTML and PDF.

3. A researched report with sources

Paste: "Find out [your question]. Use at least five sources, link each one, and say which claims you could not confirm. Give me a one-page summary first." Happens: it searches, reads, and writes the report with links. Time: 10 to 30 minutes. Usage: medium. You get: a document. Open two of the links yourself; agents can be wrong.

4. A spreadsheet from messy files

Paste: "I've attached [receipts, statements or a CSV]. Total them by category and month, flag anything odd, and give me a spreadsheet." Happens: it reads the files, builds the sheet, lists what it could not read. Time: a few minutes. Usage: small. You get: a .xlsx or .csv.

5. The overnight fix-and-test run

Paste: "Work in [path or repo]. Run the tests, fix the failures one at a time, and make a separate commit for each fix. Don't touch [what's off limits]. Stop after [N] fixes or when the tests pass. Write what you did and what is left in a file called MORNING.md." Happens: an agent works through the failures; a second one can check the first. Time: hours; leave it overnight. Usage: large, so ask for a plan and its cost first. You get: commits and a note on what is done and what stopped.

6. A second opinion on a design or code

Paste: "Review [attached design or repo] as a skeptical expert. List the five biggest risks, ranked, each with the evidence. Don't change anything." Happens: read-only review, so low risk. Time: 10 to 20 minutes. Usage: medium. You get: a ranked list.

7. A circuit board, brief to fab files

Needs the hwde extra. Paste: "Design a small board: [what it does, size, power, connectors]. Check it, and give me the files to order it." Happens: schematic, layout, automatic checks, fab files. Time: an hour or more. Usage: large. You get: the board files and a check report. Complex high-speed routing is still best left to a person.

8. A chip block

Needs the chip-flow extra. Paste: "Build [a small digital block] for [process] and run the checks. Report what passes and what fails." Time: hours. Usage: large. You get: the design and a pass/fail report.

9. A short film of your own project

Needs the video extra. Paste: "Make a 30-second film showing [what the project does]. Use the files in [folder]." Time: 10 to 30 minutes. Usage: medium. You get: a video file.

10. Something every morning

Paste: "Every morning at 7, [check X and write me a short note]. Tell me how you'll do it first." Happens: it sets up a scheduled job. Usage: none for plain scripts, small if an agent runs. You get: a note each morning. See scheduled work.

When it goes wrong

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