> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tess.im/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is Cowork

> Learn the fundamentals of Cowork — the Mesh Canvas where Digital Employees work with your team 24/7

# What is Cowork

Cowork is **Tess's** visual collaboration space where you hire, monitor, and guide autonomous **Digital Employees** on business work. You operate from the **Mesh Canvas** (Mission Control): agents, teammates, documents, and squads appear as live nodes you can interact with.

## Why Cowork?

Traditional automation handles one-off tasks. Cowork supports ongoing team-level work:

* **Digital Employees** run on a schedule (Work Cycle) or when you trigger them
* **Live collaboration** with teammate presence on the same canvas
* **Documents on the canvas** capture outputs you can open and share
* **Squads** group employees that work together
* **Human oversight** via plan approvals, input requests, and connector action reviews

## The Mesh Canvas

Open **Cowork** in the Tess sidebar. You land on the Mesh Canvas — your Mission Control view.

<Frame caption="Cowork Mesh Canvas with Digital Employees and the omnibar">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/tess-dfe1edf0/a6RL4DxfWKzE7hAY/images/Captura-de-tela-2026-07-10-105313.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=a6RL4DxfWKzE7hAY&q=85&s=1f34e25f6269fa1c9206b6c8998266fd" alt="Cowork Mesh Canvas" width="1603" height="870" data-path="images/Captura-de-tela-2026-07-10-105313.png" />
</Frame>

### What you see

* **Employee nodes** — hired Digital Employees with avatar and status; click to open the detail drawer
* **Teammate presence** — colleagues currently on Cowork
* **Document nodes** — files and outputs linked to employees
* **Squad nodes** — teams of employees working together
* **Omnibar** — bottom input for tasks or `/hire`
* **Hire** — dropdown to create employees (Open position, Talent Pool, and related options)
* **Mission Control / Day Planner** — upcoming wake-ups and pending items

## Core concepts

### Digital Employees

Agents you hire once and run repeatedly. In the Hire / Edit Employee form you set:

* **Identity** — name, avatar, voice, optional Goal
* **Work instructions** — how the employee should operate
* **Work Mode** — Supervised vs Autonomous
* **Work Cycle** — when the employee wakes (Time / Day / Week / Month / Interval / None)
* **Advanced settings** — personality, timezone, knowledge base, model, tools, Credits/day and Credits/month

You can also create an employee with `/hire` in the Omnibar (natural language; no field-by-field form).

### Documents & outputs

When employees produce files, they show up as document nodes on the canvas and in the employee drawer. Open a node to review or download workspace files.

### Squads

A **Squad** is how you assemble several Digital Employees (and shared files) around one initiative. Create and manage squads from Cowork — not from a separate “Project Rooms” product screen.

### Approvals & input

During a run, the employee may pause for **plan approval**, **input needed**, or **connector action** review. Those requests appear on the employee drawer and on the live run view — there is no separate approvals inbox.

## Getting started

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Cowork">
    In the Tess sidebar, click **Cowork**. You land on the Mesh Canvas (Mission Control).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Hire your first employee">
    Use **Hire → Open position** for the full form, or type `/hire …` in the Omnibar for a fast natural-language hire.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Watch the first run">
    The employee appears on the mesh. Open its drawer to see status, schedule, and timeline. Approve the first plan if prompted.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review outputs">
    Open document nodes or the drawer’s files section to collect results.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Scale with Squads">
    Create a Squad when several employees should share context and work together.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Features at a glance

| Feature               | What it does                                         | When to use                 |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------- |
| **Digital Employees** | Hire agents that run on a Work Cycle or on demand    | Recurring or delegated work |
| **Mesh Canvas**       | Mission Control view of people, agents, docs, squads | Day-to-day monitoring       |
| **Documents**         | Outputs visible on the canvas and in the drawer      | Reviewing deliverables      |
| **Squads**            | Coordinate multiple employees                        | Multi-agent initiatives     |
| **Approvals**         | Plan / input / connector gates in the drawer         | Supervised work             |
| **Voice**             | Call an employee from the drawer (when enabled)      | Live guidance during a run  |

## What's next?

* [Accessing Cowork](/en/cowork/primeiros-passos/accessing-cowork)
* [Main Interface (Mesh Canvas)](/en/cowork/primeiros-passos/interface-principal)
* [Creating a Digital Employee](/en/cowork/digital-employees/configuracao-basica/criando-um-digital-employee)

<Tip>
  Clear goals and work instructions up front reduce how often the employee needs to stop for approval or input.
</Tip>