Browsing Assistants
Your organization can have several assistants, each set up for a different kind of work. The Assistants page is where you see them all, find the one you need, and start a chat with it.
Opening the Assistants Page
Click Assistants in the sidebar.
Depending on your role, Assistants appears either directly in the sidebar list or inside the WorkSpace group — the page itself is the same either way.
The page has three parts:
| Part | What it does |
|---|---|
| Page title | Shows Assistants, with a line underneath telling you how many assistants match what you're currently searching and filtering for |
| Search and category filter | Top right — narrow the list down |
| Card grid | One card per assistant, laid out in columns that adapt to your screen width |
What Each Card Shows
Every assistant is shown as a card. Here's what's on it, top to bottom:
| Element | Details |
|---|---|
| Avatar | Either an illustrated character or an emoji. If you have access to the assistant, hovering over the card brings the character to life — it's a still picture otherwise |
| Name | The assistant's name |
| Lock badge | A small amber lock next to the name. It only appears when you don't have access to that assistant |
| Description | A short summary of what the assistant is for, shown on up to two lines. If nobody wrote one, the card shows No description |
| Category | A colored pill with the assistant's category |
| Action button | Start Chat if you have access, Request Access if you don't |
Assistants you can't use are also shown slightly dimmed, so you can tell at a glance which ones are ready for you.
If your device is set to reduce motion, avatars stay still and cards don't animate. Everything else works exactly the same.
Categories
Every assistant belongs to one category. These are the categories you may see on the cards and in the filter:
| Category | Typical use |
|---|---|
| General | Everyday questions and broad help |
| Support | Helping customers or colleagues with issues |
| Sales | Sales-related work |
| HR | People, policies and employment topics |
| Technical | Technical and IT topics |
| Finance | Financial topics |
| Legal | Legal and compliance topics |
| Marketing | Marketing topics |
| Other | Anything that doesn't fit the categories above |
The category is chosen by whoever set the assistant up. Use it as a hint about what the assistant is good at, not as a hard rule.
Finding an Assistant
Search
Use the Search... box at the top right. As you type, the grid narrows to assistants whose name or description contains what you typed. Capitalization doesn't matter.
Category filter
Use the dropdown next to the search box.
- All Categories is the default and shows everything.
- The rest of the list only contains categories that are actually in use in your organization, so you'll never filter down to an empty category by accident.
Search and the category filter work together — leave both on to combine them, or clear one to widen the results.
The line under the page title updates as you type and filter, so you can always see how many assistants are currently matching.
How the List Is Ordered
- Assistants you can use come first; the ones you'd need to request access for come after them.
- Within each of those two groups, assistants are listed alphabetically by name.
This means the assistants you can start using right now are always at the top of the page.
Which Assistants Appear
Only assistants that are currently active show up here. If an assistant your colleague mentioned isn't in the list at all, it has most likely been switched off or hasn't been set up yet — ask your admin.
Available vs. Restricted
Not every assistant is open to everyone. The button on the card tells you where you stand:
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Start Chat | You have access to this assistant | Click it and start working |
| Request Access (dimmed card, lock badge) | This assistant isn't open to you yet | Click it to ask your admin for access |
You have access to an assistant when any one of these is true:
- The assistant is open to your whole organization.
- The assistant is limited to certain departments and your department is one of them.
- Access was granted to you personally after an access request was approved, and that grant is still valid.
- You're an admin — admins can use every assistant.
Access granted to you personally can be time-limited. When it runs out, the assistant becomes restricted again and its card goes back to showing Request Access. You can simply request access again.
Requesting Access
- Click Request Access on the assistant's card. A Request Access window opens, showing that assistant's name and avatar.
- Under How long do you want access?, pick a duration.
- Click Send Request. The button shows Sending... while it's on its way.
Duration options
| Option | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 Day | Access for one day |
| 1 Week | Access for one week — this is selected by default |
| 1 Month | Access for one month |
| 3 Months | Access for three months |
| Permanent | Access with no end date |
| Custom Date | Opens a date picker so you can choose your own end date. The earliest date you can pick is tomorrow |
If you choose Custom Date, Send Request stays disabled until you actually pick a date.
To close the window without sending anything, click Cancel, the X in the corner, or press Esc.
The window tells you exactly what happens next: "Your request will be forwarded to your administrator. The admin can modify the duration or reject the request." So the duration you pick is a request, not a guarantee — your admin can shorten it, extend it, or turn the request down.
After you send a request
- You'll see a confirmation message: "Your access request has been sent. Awaiting admin approval."
- The card keeps showing Request Access while you wait — there's no separate "pending" badge on the card.
- Once your admin approves, the assistant simply becomes usable: the next time you open the Assistants page, the card is no longer dimmed and the button reads Start Chat.
Things to know before you request
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| You already have access | The request is refused — you don't need one |
| You already have a request waiting for that assistant | You can only have one open request per assistant at a time |
| Your earlier access expired | You're free to request access again |
If something can't go through, a short message appears explaining why.
Request access before you urgently need it. Approval depends on your admin, so a request sent the morning of a deadline may not arrive in time.
Starting a Chat
Click Start Chat on any card you have access to. The button briefly shows Starting..., then:
- A new conversation opens with that assistant already selected.
- The conversation is added to your recent chats in the sidebar, so you can come back to it later.
Each conversation stays tied to the assistant you started it with. To work with a different assistant, come back to this page and start a new chat from its card.
Learn more in Using Assistants and Starting a Chat.
Default Assistant
Most organizations have Arketic AI as the general-purpose assistant. It's the one that gets picked automatically when you start a new chat from the sidebar, and it's a good starting point for broad questions.
Your admin may have created additional specialized assistants for particular departments or topics.
If Something Looks Wrong
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Loading assistants... with a spinner | The page is still loading — give it a moment |
| Failed to load assistants with a Try Again button | The list couldn't be loaded. Click Try Again; if it keeps failing, contact your admin |
| No assistants found — "Try changing the filters" | Your search text or category filter is hiding everything. Clear the search box and set the dropdown back to All Categories |
| No assistants found — "No assistants created yet" | No assistants have been set up for your organization yet. Ask your admin |
Tips
- Start broad, then specialize. Use the general assistant for everyday questions, and pick a specialized one when your question is clearly about a specific area.
- Read the description before you start. The two-line summary on the card is the fastest way to tell two similar assistants apart.
- Search beats scrolling. If you already know part of a name, typing it is quicker than hunting through the grid.
- Filter by category when you're exploring. It's a good way to discover assistants your team has that you didn't know about.
Next Steps
- Using Assistants — chat with an assistant and get the most out of it
- Starting a Chat — how conversations work
- Interface Overview — find your way around the platform