The Manas agent: when it answers, hands off and hands back
Exactly which requests Manas answers itself, which it hands to another agent, when an agent hands back to Manas, and what you see in the web app and in Slack.
When you talk to Manas, it decides for each message: answer it itself, or hand it to the agent built for the job. In the web app, every new message goes to Manas first. In Slack, the thread stays with the agent that answered, which hands anything that isn't its job back to Manas. This page lists what happens for each kind of request. For the short version, see How agents hand off.
Who answers what
| You ask | Who answers | What you see in the web app | What you see in Slack |
|---|---|---|---|
| An everyday question | Manas | Manas's answer | The answer. The footer names Manas. |
| Writing: a draft, summary, rewrite or reply | Manas | Manas's answer | The answer. The footer names Manas. |
| Something recent or factual | Manas, with web search | The answer, with where the facts came from | The same, with a step for the search |
| How to do something in Manas, which agent to use, what's new | Manas | Manas's answer, with the steps for the web app | Manas's answer, with the steps for Slack (+name, Switch agent, /manas settings) |
| Reading this Slack thread or channel | Manas, with the Slack read tools | Not available | The answer. In your DM with Manas this always works; in a channel only if the channel turned Slack read tools on in /manas settings |
| Numbers in a small file: total a column, clean a sheet, draw a chart | Manas, with Run Code | The answer and the code's results | The answer (Manas reads the file's text) |
| A big file, a video or audio file to edit or convert, a website to open or sign in to, a long job | Computer | Transferred to Computer, then Computer's answer and its live view | In your DM: Handed to Computer, and the footer Computer · via Manas. In a channel Computer isn't used: Manas answers from what it can read and offers Analyse the full file on my computer. |
| Your Google Drive: find a file, read a Doc or Sheet, make a new Doc or Sheet | Manas, with your Google Drive | The answer, or a link to connect Drive | The same in your DM. In a channel Manas has no Drive of its own; DM Manas instead. |
| A diagram, flowchart, data chart, small dashboard or web page | Manas, as an artifact | The artifact next to the chat, and a link to it as a page | A picture or a card with Open live preview. See Live artifacts. |
| Something to remember or forget, or "what do you remember?" | Manas, with your memory | The list, or a link to confirm the change | The list, or a card to confirm the change. In a channel there is no memory. |
| A picture made or changed: ad creative, banner, product shot, social post | Image Studio | Transferred to Image Studio, then the image in the same reply | A step Handed to Image Studio, the image, and the footer Image Studio · via Manas |
| A video, a video script or ad frames | Kala | Transferred to Kala, then Kala's answer | Handed to Kala, and the footer Kala · via Manas |
| A question about Kapiva's own figures (sales, orders, revenue or another metric), with no file given | Tattva | Transferred to Tattva. Tattva may ask "Which project? Reply with a number or the name:", then answers | Handed to Tattva, and the footer Tattva · via Manas |
| Something that matches what an agent shared with you is for | That agent | Transferred to that agent, then its answer | Handed to that agent, and its name in the footer with via Manas |
| Something only your own, unshared agent does | Manas. It doesn't hand off to it. | Manas's answer, which may tell you which agent to use | The same |
Tattva today answers only D2C revenue, RTO and retention (Kapiva's own website and app). For other figures, such as marketplaces, offline sales, inventory or marketing spend, Tattva says in one line that it doesn't cover them yet and offers to help with one of those. See Tattva.
Two agents are never handed to:
- Your own agent that nobody else can use. Pick it yourself:
+namein Slack, or start a chat with it in the web app. To get hand-offs to it, share it. See Share an agent. - Artifact AI. It only answers live pages, never people in a chat. See Live artifacts.
What happens to your next message
In the web app: every message goes to Manas first
In a chat with the Manas agent, the chat stays with Manas. Each new message goes to Manas again, and Manas decides afresh:
- "Make a square Instagram post for our Diwali sale" is handed to Image Studio, which makes the image.
- "Make it blue" is about that image, so Manas hands it to Image Studio again.
- "What was D2C revenue last month?" is a data question, so Manas hands it to Tattva. Tattva asks which project, and answers once you reply.
- "Summarise this for my manager" is writing, so Manas answers itself.
In the web app, Transferred to Image Studio shows the hand-off.
The next message went to Manas again, which handed it to Tattva this time.
In Slack: the thread stays with the agent that answered
After a hand-off, your next message in the thread goes straight to the agent that answered. Image Studio, Tattva and Computer keep only their own work. For anything else they hand back to Manas at once, without answering first, and Manas answers or hands it on, all in the same reply.
Four messages in one Slack thread. Each goes to the agent that answered last, which keeps it or hands it back.
So in one thread:
- "Make a square Instagram post for our Diwali sale" goes to Manas, which hands it to Image Studio. Image Studio makes the image.
- "Make it blue" goes straight to Image Studio, which answered last.
- "What was D2C revenue last month?" goes to Image Studio. It isn't a picture, so Image Studio hands it back to Manas, and Manas hands it to Tattva. Tattva asks which project, and answers once you reply.
- "Summarise this for my manager" goes to Tattva. It isn't a data question, so Tattva hands it back to Manas, which writes the summary.
A hand-back shows as a step Handed to Manas, then a step Handed to the next agent if Manas passes it on. The footer names the agent that answered, via the agent your message reached first, for example Tattva · via Image Studio · as you.
What each agent keeps, and what it hands back
These rules apply whenever a request reaches Image Studio, Tattva or Computer: in a Slack thread they answered last, or in a chat you started with them yourself.
- Image Studio keeps making or changing pictures, including a new picture based on a photo you attached. It hands back data questions, dashboards, diagrams, flowcharts and data charts, writing, general questions such as "what can you do?", Google Drive, documents and other files, code and web lookups.
- Tattva keeps business and data questions it answers with Tattva, and dashboards, tables or charts built from Tattva's figures (made-up figures only when you ask for a sample dashboard, labelled as dummy data). It hands back pictures and logos, writing, general questions, Google Drive, files you attached (it can't read them), code and web lookups.
- Computer keeps websites and sign-ins, files on your computer or that you give it (reading, summarising, analysing, converting), commands and long jobs, and copying files to and from Google Drive. It hands back pictures and logos, writing that isn't about a file it is working on, general questions, and questions about Kapiva figures when you give no file.
Kala and agents shared with you have no hand-back. Once a Slack thread is with one of them, or you started a web chat with one, it answers every message itself. Bring Manas back yourself (see below).
When you pick an agent yourself
If you choose an agent yourself, every message in that conversation goes straight to it. Image Studio, Tattva and Computer still hand back what isn't their job; Kala and other agents answer everything themselves.
Picking an agent yourself pins the conversation to it. Switch back to Manas when you want it again.
You pick an agent when you:
- start a message with + and its name, for example
+kala write a 15 s script; - press Switch agent under an answer and choose one;
- use the Ask an agent shortcut.
From then on, the thread stays with that agent. To get Manas back, start a message with +manas, or press Switch agent and choose Manas.
You pick an agent when you start a chat with it from the Agent Marketplace, or choose it under Select a model → Agents. That chat goes straight to that agent.
To get Manas again, start a chat with the Manas agent.
Which agents Manas can hand off to
Manas only hands off to agents you are allowed to use:
- Agents in the Agent Marketplace, which everyone at Kapiva can use.
- Agents a colleague has shared with you, your team, or (for use in Slack channels) with channels. See Share an agent.
Also:
- Manas can hand off to at most 20 agents. If more are shared, the ones updated most recently count.
- When a colleague newly shares an agent, it can take up to an hour before Manas starts handing off to it.
- If an agent isn't shared with you, Manas simply answers itself. Nothing breaks.
- In a Slack channel, Manas answers as the channel, so it hands off only to agents shared with the channel, and never to Computer. Tattva there sees only the Tattva projects the channel has been added to. See Who sees what.
Good to know
- A hand-off or hand-back uses your daily allowance like any other answer.
- The Slack footer always names the agent that actually answered.
- An agent may ask you one thing first, such as Image Studio asking what the image is for, or Tattva asking which project. Just answer in your next message: in Slack it goes straight to the same agent, and in the web app Manas passes it back to that agent.