What external agents are
An external agent is an AI agent you already use somewhere else, connected to Tana with your own account. It is the same agent you know, with the tools you have connected to it and what it has learned about you, now working inside your meetings and chats.
This is different from the agents you build in Tana. Those live in Tana and run on Tana’s AI. An external agent belongs to you, runs on your own Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable or cfo.ai account, and comes along to every meeting you join.
| Agent | What it is good for in Tana | Where it works |
|---|---|---|
| Claude | Looking things up and getting work done in your connected tools, and working in your code with Claude Code | Tana Desktop on Mac, Windows and Linux |
| ChatGPT | Looking things up and getting work done in your connected apps, and working in your code with Codex | Tana Desktop on Mac, Windows and Linux |
| Lovable | Building a working app or website from what is being discussed | Any computer |
| Ari | Answering finance questions from your own numbers in cfo.ai | Any computer |
You can connect more than one, and switch between them from one message to the next.
Getting started
Every agent you can connect is listed there, with a switch or a button beside it.
- Claude and ChatGPT run on your computer, so you need Tana Desktop and the Claude or ChatGPT app installed there. Open that app once and sign in, then turn the agent on in Tana and choose Sign in. If you already use Claude Code or Codex in a terminal on that computer, you don’t need the app. The line under the agent’s name shows which account it uses, and lets you switch accounts or sign out.
- Lovable and Ari run in the cloud, with nothing to install. Choose Connect for Lovable or Sign in to cfo.ai for Ari, and sign in with your account there. Disconnect removes the connection again.
Open a meeting and say “Hey Claude”, or your own agent’s name, followed by what you want. Or type your request in the meeting’s Agents chat.
Each agent has its own guide with the full setup: Claude, ChatGPT, Lovable and Ari.
If Claude or ChatGPT will not connect, Get help ↗ at the bottom of Settings, External agents opens Fix problems connecting Claude or ChatGPT. Send feedback beside it tells us what went wrong.
In a meeting
Meetings are where an external agent does its best work, because it has what is happening in the call to work from. It works in meetings you host in Tana and in Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls that Tana captures. No bot joins the call: your agent works beside you, and the other participants see nothing unless you share it.
What your agent knows about the call
Claude and ChatGPT follow the call as it happens: the live transcript, the meeting chat and any screen that is shared. You never have to brief them on what was just said.
Lovable and Ari work from what you ask, the chat and what is on the shared screen.
Ask out loud
Say “Hey Claude” followed by your request, the same way you would turn to a colleague. Use the name of the agent you want: “Hey ChatGPT”, “Hey Lovable” or “Hey Ari”. The answer arrives in your Agents chat.
Ask in the chat
The Agents chat beside the meeting is private to you. Pick your agent under Who answers here and every message you write there goes to it. You can also mention an agent by name, such as @Claude, to ask that one directly.
On an empty composer the send button reads Nudge. It asks your agent to do the most useful thing from the last few minutes of the meeting, or to say there is nothing to do.
Suggestions
While you talk, Tana notices things an agent could take off your hands, such as updating a slide with the number someone just mentioned, and sends each suggestion to the person it concerns. Yours show up in your Agents chat. Your agent picks them up, does what it can, and asks before acting, with options you can answer in one click.
Private until you share
Only you see what you ask and what your agent answers. Under an answer, Share with everyone posts it to the Meeting chat, where it appears under your name and your agent’s, for example “Jane’s Claude”. Don’t share keeps it to yourself.
Everyone in the meeting can bring their own agent. One person’s Claude and another’s ChatGPT work side by side, each private to its owner.
See Chat in the call for how the meeting’s chats and views fit together.
Outside meetings
Your agent also works in any chat that only you can read. Mention it by name, or pick it under Who answers here, and it answers in place of Tana’s own assistant. It can read your Tana content to answer, and propose new documents, tasks and edits for you to review.
What each agent brings
Claude
Claude brings the connectors, skills and memory you have set up with it, so it can check a Linear issue, find an email, or update a slide deck while the meeting goes on. It runs through Claude Code, so you can also point it at a repository or folder and have it work in your code.
It runs on your own Claude account, signed in as you, on a subscription or an Anthropic Console account. See Use Claude in Tana for setup and details.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT brings your connected apps, projects and memory. Ask it to look something up in your CRM, chart a number, or draft the proposal you are discussing. It runs through Codex, so it can work in a repository or folder too.
It runs on your own ChatGPT account, signed in as you. See Use ChatGPT in Tana for setup and details.
Lovable
Lovable builds apps and websites. Describe what you want, or share a sketch or an existing site on screen, and it builds a first version you can click through before the meeting ends. Its answer links to the project’s preview.
The first time you ask in a chat, Tana asks which Lovable project to build in. Pick one of your projects or start a new one, and Lovable keeps building there for the rest of the chat. Settings, External agents shows the project it starts in, with Forget to clear it.
Lovable starts building as soon as you ask, on your own Lovable account. It is in beta in Tana. See Use Lovable in Tana for setup and details.
Ari
Ari is the AI CFO from cfo.ai. Ask it what you would ask a CFO, such as whether you can afford two more hires or how long your cash will last, and it answers from the financial model in your cfo.ai account. Its answer links to the chat in cfo.ai, where you can open any figure to see where it comes from.
If you belong to more than one cfo.ai workspace, Tana asks which one to use the first time you ask. Ari asks before it builds or changes anything in your model. See Use Ari in Tana for setup and details.
Staying in control
Approvals
Before Claude or ChatGPT changes anything in Tana, it asks you, with Allow once or Deny. Every change then goes through proposals, so you review it before it lands. It also asks before it works in a folder on your computer for the first time, with Trust Folder.
The ⋯ menu on the agent’s chat sets how often it asks. Auto lets the agent decide what needs your approval, and Manual always asks first. In ChatGPT these are called Approve for me and Ask for approval. A new chat starts in the mode you last picked. The same menu sets the Repository or folder the agent works in and its Model.
Lovable and Ari work in your own Lovable and cfo.ai accounts, not in Tana. When one of them stops to ask you something, the question shows up as a card in the chat.
Your account, your plan
An external agent runs on the account you connected, signed in as you. What it does in Tana uses the tokens or credits of your own subscription, for example your Claude or ChatGPT plan, the same as using the agent anywhere else. Any rules your admin has set for that account still apply.
Memory
Settings, My memory lists what your agents remember for you in Tana. Only you can see it.
Where it works
- Claude and ChatGPT need Tana Desktop on Mac, Windows or Linux, with the Claude or ChatGPT app installed on the same computer, or Claude Code or Codex if you already use it in a terminal. On Linux, Claude runs through Claude Code. They are not available on mobile or in a browser.
- Lovable and Ari work on any computer, in Tana Desktop or in a browser. To use them in Zoom, Google Meet or Microsoft Teams calls you need Tana Desktop on Mac or Windows, which is what captures those calls.