> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.aident.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Playbooks
> The canvas where you design every automation
A **Playbook** is the canvas Aident uses to describe an automation. It has three sections, and all of them appear on screen at once when you open the editor. The shape is the same for every playbook, so once you've seen one, you've seen them all.
You shape a playbook by talking to **Aiden** in the side chat — describe what you want, and Aiden updates the relevant section. Each section below explains what lives there and what it controls.
## The Three Sections
What you want done, and what success looks like.
The apps your playbook needs — Gmail, Slack, and the rest.
The input it takes in, the steps it follows, and the output it returns.
The headings on the canvas read **🎯 Goal**, **⚙️ Integrations**, **📄 Plan**, stacked top-to-bottom.
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## 🎯 Goal
The **Goal** section is a short write-up of what the playbook is for — the problem it solves, the scope it covers, and how you'll know it worked. It's the source of truth Aiden uses when drafting and refining everything else.
A complete Goal usually expresses:
* **What should happen** — the outcome the playbook is responsible for.
* **When it's done** — what success looks like.
* **Where the result goes** — who sees it, and in which channel or format.
When you ask Aiden to start a new playbook, the description you type becomes the first draft of the Goal. Sharper descriptions produce sharper goals.
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## ⚙️ Integrations
The **Integrations** section lists every app the playbook depends on, shown as **integration pills**. Each pill carries a color that signals its readiness.
Connected and authenticated. The playbook can use this app right away.
The app hasn't been signed in to yet. Until it's connected, any step that depends on it can't run.
Aiden couldn't resolve this app for one of the steps. Asking Aiden to fix it from the side chat repairs the reference.
Integrations aren't picked manually. Aiden infers them from the Goal and the Steps in your Plan, and the pill list updates whenever the playbook changes.
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## 📄 Plan
The **Plan** section is the executable part of the playbook. It's split into three pieces — Input, Steps, and Output — that together describe how a single run flows from beginning to end.
### Input
The **Input** card at the top of Plan describes what the playbook expects to receive each time it runs. Inputs come from a manual run, a trigger event, or a scheduled run.
There are two shapes:
* **Freeform** — a single text prompt.
* **Fields** — named pieces of data with types: **String**, **Number**, **Boolean**, **Array**, or **Object**.
The number on the Input card reflects how many fields are configured. Clicking the card opens the **Input** drawer, where you switch between Freeform and Fields and define each field's name, description, type, and whether it's required.
### Steps
The **Steps** are the ordered list of actions the playbook follows. Each step is a line of plain English that describes one thing the playbook does, in the order it does it.
Two things show up inside a step:
* **Skills** — the named actions Aident knows how to perform, shown as pills inline in the step.
* **Input fields** — if you've defined any, steps reference them by name so values flow through.
Aiden drafts the Steps from your Goal and refines them as the Goal evolves. Asking Aiden to add, remove, reorder, or reword a step from the side chat is the normal way to change them.
### Output
The **Output** card at the bottom of Plan describes the shape of what the playbook returns when it finishes. The shape determines how the result appears on the Dashboard and how downstream tools or playbooks consume it.
There are five shapes:
* **Freeform** — plain text. Best for summaries, drafts, and reports.
* **Markdown** — formatted text. Best for document-style results.
* **Web Page** — HTML output. Best when the result should render as a page.
* **JSON** — named fields with types. Best when another tool or playbook will read the result.
* **CSV** — rows and columns. Best for lists you'll open in a spreadsheet.
For JSON output, each field has a name and a type: **String**, **Number**, **Boolean**, **Array**, or **Object**. For CSV output, each column has a name and a type: **String**, **Number**, **Boolean**, or **Date**.
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## Working with Aiden
The chat panel beside the canvas is how you change a playbook. Asking Aiden to "tighten the Goal", "add a step that posts to Slack", or "switch from Gmail to Outlook" updates the right section automatically. The canvas stays read-only while Aiden is editing — that's how you know the change is in flight.
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## Next Steps
Configure when your playbook runs and what it takes in
Sign in to the apps your playbook uses