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A chat with an agent is where most artifacts start. When the agent creates or publishes an artifact, the conversation shows a progress card for that step and an artifact card for the result. Open on the card shows the artifact in a side viewer next to the conversation, where you can switch versions, leave comments for the agent and share a version, without leaving the chat. For documents, a Craft lock bar in the chat tells you who is editing right now. The chat shows the artifacts that this conversation produced. With the Artifacts library turned on, the full catalogue of your artifacts lives under Artifacts in the left navigation.
Everything on this page is off by default. Each surface needs these switches:A build-time variable is read when the web UI is built. Changing it on a running server has no effect until the UI is rebuilt and deployed. The build-time switch NEXT_PUBLIC_CHAT_ARTIFACT_CONTEXT belongs to an experiment whose server routes are not part of this release; leave it off.

Two things called “Artifacts”

The word appears in two places in a chat, and they are not the same: When an agent writes a file to its output folder, it appears only under Output files in the right drawer. When an agent creates a Project, Dashboard or Slides with its artifact tools, it appears as a card in the conversation and, with the Artifacts library turned on, in the library.

Ask an agent for a Project

You give the agent permission to create one Project for one message. The permission is not a setting and does not carry over to later messages.
  1. Open an agent session: New chat › Chat with an agent, or pick the agent under Agents in the chat sidebar. The button is not offered in group conversations, channels or direct messages with a person.
  2. In the composer, click Create artifact project. The button stays pressed and the composer shows Private project · Sharing requires your approval.
  3. Describe what the screens should contain and send the message. The button is released once the message is sent.
Click Create artifact project again before sending to withdraw the permission. The agent creates a private Project owned by you. Nobody else sees it until you share a version. If the agent’s crew is not on the workspace artifact policy, the agent cannot create the Project, even when you allowed it.

Turn on the artifact policy

A workspace owner or admin turns the policy on once per workspace. Read the current policy first; set needs its version and replaces the whole crew list:
Repeat --crew-id (or separate IDs with commas) for every crew that may create artifacts, including crews already on the list. See crewship workspace artifact-policy set.

Start a Word document from the composer

When the instance runs the document engine (CREWSHIP_DOCUMENTS_ENABLED), the composer also shows a + button (New artifact). It lists Word with starter prompts such as “A partner brief from this chat”. Click a starter prompt: it goes into the composer in front of any text you already typed, and Create document turns on for that message. Edit the text and send it. Create document, Create artifact project and their New artifact entries appear only to a member who may create artifacts: an Owner, Admin or Manager, or a member with the page.create capability. The server refuses the creation for anyone else.

Follow the agent’s work

When the agent calls one of its artifact tools, the step is shown as its own card. It is never folded into the collapsed Worked · N steps list. Restore vN-1 never deletes anything. It saves the earlier content as a new version and says Restored vN-1 as a new version · nothing deleted. If someone saved a newer version in the meantime, the card says Changed meanwhile and offers Reload.

The artifact card

When the step has finished, the artifact card appears below it. It always shows the artifact as it is now on the server, not what the agent wrote in the chat, and refreshes every five seconds while the page is visible.
  • The kind tile and badge: Project, Dashboard or Slides. A version that the chat cannot display says Artifact and Can’t show this version here.
  • The name and the newest version, for example v3.
  • Draft when the newest version is not the shared one, Shared v2 when a version is shared, and Agent working… while the agent answers a comment.
  • Comment opens the side viewer on the comments; Open opens it on the preview. The card that opened the viewer has a highlighted border.
If you cannot read the artifact, the card says Restricted item · you don’t have access and shows neither the name nor the kind. If the artifact could not be loaded, the card says Couldn’t load and offers Retry.

Review an artifact in the side viewer

  1. On an artifact card, click Open. The viewer opens to the right of the conversation. On a phone it fills the screen and has Back to chat.
  2. The header shows the name, the kind and Shared or Draft.
  3. Use the version switch to move between Latest · vN and Shared · vN. Owners see retained versions in History, with View and Restore as new version; non-owner editors do not get that history. An older version that is not the shared version shows Back to latest.
  4. If the Project has more than one screen, pick the screen in the screen switch above the preview.
  5. To close the viewer, click × (on a phone, Back to chat). Focus returns to the card that opened it.
The side pane shows one thing at a time. Opening a saved document in the same conversation replaces the artifact viewer, and the other way round. If you can edit the artifact, the toolbar also has Edit source, which opens the source editor. Only the owner gets Share (when the version you look at is not the shared one), Restore as new version and Send to agent; an editor who is not the owner sees none of them. Share asks for confirmation: “People with access will see vN. Later versions stay private until you share them.” Click Share vN to confirm.

Comment on a screen and send it to the agent

  1. In the viewer, click Select and click the part of the screen you want changed. Comments anchor to elements that have an id. A screen without any says so and suggests asking the agent to add them.
  2. Write the comment in the card that appears (“What should change here?”).
  3. Click Send to agent. Crewship saves the comment and submits its task in this conversation. The viewer says Comment sent to the agent after delivery; this does not confirm that a run has started. Click Save comment instead to keep the comment without requesting agent work.
Send to agent appears only to the owner, on a Project that an agent created in a chat. The Comments for agent list shows each comment with its state: Waiting, Agent working, Done · vN or Needs a new selection. A submitted task can remain Waiting; Agent working appears when its run starts. The agent’s replies appear under the comment. If the message to the agent did not go out, the viewer shows The agent did not start with Retry. The text you are writing is kept in this browser until you send or cancel it, so a reload does not lose it. The selected element has to be picked again.

When something gets in the way

See who is editing a document

A document that an agent saved for you in the conversation is listed under Saved documents in the chat. The list appears only when the instance runs the document engine (CREWSHIP_DOCUMENTS_ENABLED=true, off by default; see Private document engine). Click one to open it in the side pane. With the Craft lock bar enabled, a bar above the document shows who holds the edit lease, the right to edit the document. Only one person or agent holds it at a time. The chat never takes the lease itself. Releasing the lease and saving a version happen in the editor. If the request cannot be sent, the bar says Could not request edit. Without the Craft lock bar, the document panel shows Edit here instead. Open full editor remains available with or without the bar. A handoff belongs to the requesting admission session: opening a new editor afterwards does not transfer that session’s lease. Request handoff from an already-open editor when you intend to edit.