> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.zero.inc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.zero.inc/getting-started/chat.md).

# Chat

Most of what you would do in Zero by clicking, you can do by asking. Chat searches your records, reads the email and meetings attached to them, drafts the follow-up, updates the record, and builds the list or report — in one conversation, without you assembling filters first.

{% embed url="<https://youtu.be/3Fz51GRRFcE>" %}

## Opening a chat

Chat opens in a side panel next to whatever you are looking at, so you can keep working while it answers.

* **Cmd + J** opens or closes the panel anywhere in your workspace.
* The **Chat about …** pill at the bottom of a page opens a chat scoped to that page. Drag it by its Zero badge if it covers something.
* The composer on **Home** starts a chat from a blank slate. The **Build with Zero** categories above it — **Lead List and Sequence**, **Agent**, **Report**, **Analysis of your CRM data** — show example requests if you want a sense of what to ask for.
* **Chat history** in the sidebar reopens earlier conversations, and the **+** next to **Chats** starts a fresh one. Pin the chats you keep coming back to.

<figure><img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/zero-production-api-docs/images/chat-panel.png" alt="Record-scoped chat panel open beside a company record, showing an empty conversation, an attached-record pill and the composer"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Context comes along

This is the part that makes Chat worth using over a general chatbot: when you open it from a page, that page comes with it. "Draft a follow-up" from inside a deal means *this* deal, with its emails and meeting notes, not a blank draft.

Records, lists, the inbox, tasks, the calendar, sequences, agents, reports, lead search and settings pages all attach themselves this way — as the page as a whole, or as the single record, thread, task or event you have open. In a list, select rows first and use the floating toolbar to chat about just those records.

Attached context shows above the composer. Clear it if you want to ask something general instead.

## Chat in Slack

You can also ask from Slack. Direct-message the **Zero** bot, or mention **@Zero** in a channel or thread — in a thread it reads the earlier messages, so it can pick up the customer question or deal discussion already in front of it. The bot uses your own Zero permissions, so it sees only what you see.

Setup takes two steps, both on the [Slack](/settings/integrations/slack.md) page: an admin connects the integration once, then each person connects their own Slack account under **Settings → Connections → Connected Apps → Slack**.

## What to ask for

Chat is most useful when the answer needs context from more than one place.

**Find and summarize.** Companies, contacts, deals, tasks, notes, activities, issues, invoices, files, lists and reports.

* "Show me open deals closing this month, grouped by owner."
* "Which contacts at Acme have open tasks?"

**Build the right list or report.** Chat can create regular or dynamic company/contact/deal lists, and dynamic lists of other record types such as Sequences, tasks, meetings and invoices. It can set columns, filters, grouping and saved views. These other lists show individual records and are read-only; charts summarize them.

* “Create a list of active participations in our UK and Nordic sequences, including contact email and company.”
* “Show me customer meetings this month in a reusable list.”
* “Compare sequence outcomes in a report, counting participations and unique contacts separately.”
* “List companies that have a Slack channel, with the channel name as a column.”

Describe the work you want to track. Chat can recommend an **Other** record type when it fits better than one row per contact or company. See [Lists](/getting-started/key-concepts/lists.md) and [Reports](/features/reports.md).

**Read the pipeline.** Chat can compare a deal against its history and its communications, not just its stage.

* "Find deals that look at risk and explain why."
* "Which high-value deals have gone quiet?"
* "What should I follow up on today?"

**Catch up on a relationship.** Emails, meetings, notes, LinkedIn activity, support issues and tasks, pulled together.

* "What has happened with this customer since our last meeting?"
* "Prepare me for today's meetings."

**Change things.** Create and update records, add notes and tasks, add records to lists, send email from your connected mailbox, schedule calendar events, and make the same change across many records at once.

* "Move this deal to the next stage."
* "Draft a follow-up email based on the meeting notes."
* "Set the industry to Fintech for every company in this list."

**Research and prospect.** Chat can search the web, read a page, build a lead search for companies or contacts, and verify email addresses before you reach out.

* "What does this company do, based on their website?"
* "Create a lead search for Series A fintech companies in Germany."

It also reaches your agents and AI properties (run them, switch them on or off, rename or archive them), your custom properties and pipelines — it will create a property when none fits — the connection status of your mailbox, calendar and connected apps, Zero's own documentation, and any [MCP Connectors](/settings/mcp-connectors.md) you enable from the composer's **+** menu. Use **Attach files** in that menu to hand it a spreadsheet — handy for cleaning up a CSV before an import.

## Approvals

With manual approval on, Zero actions such as creating, updating or archiving records, sending email, scheduling or editing calendar events, verifying addresses, creating a lead search or a custom property, and running an agent stop for your approval first. The approval card shows what is about to happen, and for email you can edit the draft before it goes.

Use the approval control in the composer to auto-approve eligible Zero actions in this chat or in this chat and new chats. **Approval settings** lets you choose which actions get auto-approved; some actions always require manual approval. Pending approvals still need your review.

In Zero's chat panel, enabled external [MCP Connectors](/settings/mcp-connectors.md) tools run without per-call approval, regardless of the approval mode. This includes tools that change data or send messages in connected apps. You control which connector tools are available through the composer's **+** menu.

When you work through recommendations in chat, **↑** and **↓** move between them and **Cmd + Enter** approves the pending changes and marks the recommendation done.

## Tips

* Name the record, list, report or timeframe you mean. `@` mentions work for companies, contacts, deals, users and lists.
* Ask for the shape you want: "make this a short bullet list", "group by owner".
* For broad analysis, ask Chat to show the records it used and the assumptions it made.
* Ask it to open something — "show me that list" — and it navigates there.

## Common questions

**Why did Chat not find something I expected?**\
The record may be archived, not yet synced, or outside the timeframe you asked about. Try naming it directly or widening the date range.

**Can Chat use my emails and meetings?**\
Yes, once your mailbox or calendar is connected and that data is linked to CRM records.


---

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