The assistant answers questions about a meeting, during it or after it, and can work in a folder on your computer. It runs on your own Claude Code or Codex. It is experimental, and off until you switch it on under Settings → Experimental.
The ear is a short line of words that floats over your other windows and says what the assistant is doing. Drag it anywhere and it comes back to that spot each time it appears. The bubble is the panel that opens when you click the ear, with the question field, the answers and the controls.
Two things need a Mac: letting other people on a call speak to the assistant, and answers said out loud during a meeting. On Windows the assistant speaks outside a meeting and not during one.
Set it up
- Install Claude Code or Codex and sign in to it.
- In talat, open Settings → Experimental and switch on “Assistant”. An Assistant page appears in Settings.
- Open Settings → Assistant. The assistant is called Ada. To change that, type a name of at least 3 letters and press Enter. You say this name to speak to it.
- Choose a “Backend”: “Claude Code” or “Codex”.
- Under “Where it works”, click “Choose folder” and pick the folder the assistant works in.
- Switch on “Assistant” at the top of the page.
- The ear comes on screen. Click it, type a question and press Enter. Before your first meeting, ask it about the folder.
The line under “Backend” says whether Claude Code or Codex is ready. If it is not ready when you ask something, the answer says so and has a button to fix it.
| The line says | What to do |
|---|---|
| “Signed in” | Nothing to do. |
| “Not signed in” | Click “Sign in”. A terminal window opens for you to sign in. Then click “Check again”. |
| “Claude Code is not installed” or “Codex is not installed” | Click “How to install”, install it, then click “Check again”. |
| “API key is only set in your terminal” | The key works in your terminal and not in talat. Click “Sign in”, or “Sign in with key” on Codex. |
The ear comes on screen when you switch the assistant on, when talat opens and when a meeting starts. It leaves 10 minutes after it was last used. The “Window” group in Settings → Assistant changes that.
| Switch | What it does | To begin with |
|---|---|---|
| “Keep on screen” | Stops the ear leaving between meetings. | Off |
| “Appear before scheduled meetings” | 5 minutes before a scheduled meeting with a join link, the ear comes on screen and shows how long is left. | On |
| “Float above other windows” | Keeps the ear and the bubble over the app you are in. | On |
talat’s menu bar or tray menu also switches the assistant on and off, and has “Hide until the next meeting” and “Show assistant”.
Ask it something
| How | When | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Whenever the ear is on screen. | Click the ear to open the bubble, type the question and press Enter. |
| Hold to talk | Whenever the ear is on screen. | Press and hold the ear, or “Hold to talk” in the bubble. Say the question and let go. |
| Say its name | During a meeting, with “On address” switched on in the bubble. | Say the name and the question: “Ada, what did we agree about the launch date?” |
| After a meeting | For 60 seconds after a meeting ends, with “On address” switched on. | Say what you need, without the name. The ear counts the time down, and “Stop listening” in the bubble ends it early. |
“On address” is a switch in the bubble, and “Answer to its name” in Settings > Assistant is the same switch. It decides whether the assistant answers when it hears its name, and it is off for a new assistant. While it is off the ear says “Not listening” during a meeting. You can type a question or hold the ear to talk whether it is on or off.
Saying the name does not always mean you are talking to the assistant. Each line with the name in it is sent to Claude Code or Codex with the conversation around it. Claude Code or Codex decides whether the line was meant for the assistant. If it was not, the assistant does nothing, and the bubble says “The assistant decided this wasn’t meant for it.” with “Ask anyway”.
When you type or hold to talk, the answer opens in the bubble. When you ask by name, nothing opens: the ear says “Ada has an answer” and “Read” opens it.
After it answers something said by name, you can reply without the name. The ear counts down. It says “Anyone” for 15 seconds if the answer ended with a question, and anyone it can hear can reply. Otherwise it says “Same voice” for 8 seconds, and only the person who asked can. Each answer starts a new count.
While the assistant works on a question, the ear says “Answering”. After 5 seconds it says what the assistant is doing, such as “Reading files” or “Running a command”. From 20 seconds it also shows how long it has been working.
Who can speak to it
“Who can speak to it” in Settings → Assistant has two choices.
- “Only me”. The assistant answers speech from your microphone. A new assistant starts on this.
- “Anyone on the call”. It also answers people on the call who say its name. A request from the call cannot change files or search your other meetings. Any command or MCP server call it needs waits for you to allow it, whatever the folder’s settings. This choice needs Claude Code and a Mac.
Next steps after a meeting
When a meeting of 150 words or more ends, the assistant reads its transcript and suggests up to 3 next steps. The ear says “Ada has next steps”. Each step has “Do it” and “Skip”, and the line above them says what “Do it” lets the assistant do. Nothing is changed until you click “Do it”. This happens with “On address” on or off.
Folders
The assistant works in a folder. It can read and edit the files there, and the folder’s own settings decide what else it can do. Add folders under “Where it works” in Settings → Assistant. A question runs in the folder marked “In use”, unless the meeting has been given a folder of its own.
To change folder:
- In Settings, click “Use” beside a folder.
- In the bubble, click the folder’s name and pick another, or “Add folder”.
- With “On address” on, say the assistant’s name, “switch to” and the folder’s name: “Ada, switch to website”. If that folder lets the assistant do more than the current one, the bubble asks first, with “Switch” and “Not now”.
- For one meeting, open the meeting’s settings. Under “Assistant”, “Folder” offers “Use current folder”, “Off for this meeting” and each of your folders.
Changing folder while the assistant is working stops what it is doing.
With “Off for this meeting”, the assistant does nothing in that meeting, and what was said in it is not sent with later questions. “Read-only talat MCP” does not show the assistant that meeting. If you set the meeting back to a folder, the assistant can read all of it again.
Commands
Each folder has a “Commands” choice. A new folder starts on “Off”.
| Choice | With Claude Code | With Codex |
|---|---|---|
| “Off” | It reads and edits files in the folder and cannot run commands. MCP server calls wait for you to allow them. | It runs commands in the folder, without the network. |
| “Ask me first” | Every command and MCP server call waits for you to allow it. A command you allow can reach files outside the folder. | Codex cannot ask. Its commands can reach the network on questions you type, and not on spoken ones. |
| “Just run it” | Commands and MCP server calls run without asking. It can reach anything your account can, including outside the folder. | Its commands can reach the network on typed and spoken questions. |
With Codex, the assistant reads files anywhere on the computer and writes only in the folder and to temporary files, and a step you start with “Do it” cannot use the network. Choosing “Just run it” with Claude Code asks you to confirm first.
When the assistant wants to run a command, the ear says “Wants to run a command” with “Review”. The bubble shows the command as it will run, with “Allow” and “Don’t run”. For a call to an MCP server the ear says “Wants to use a tool”, and the buttons are “Allow” and “Don’t use”. Nothing runs until you choose.
Some of these requests have a third button. For a command it names the programs it covers, such as “Always allow gh”. For a call to an MCP server it reads “Always allow”, and covers the tool named above it. From then on, under “Ask me first”, those programs or that tool run in that folder without asking, and so does anything those programs run themselves. The folder lists them in Settings under “Runs without asking”, each with “Remove”.
MCP servers
A folder’s “MCP servers” row lists the servers your Claude Code setup has for that folder. Each has its own switch, and the assistant cannot use a server until you switch it on. Codex has none: the row says “Not available with Codex.”
Opening the row asks Claude Code to check every server, which starts each one. A server that is on is also started when the ear comes on screen, before any question.
The assistant can call a server that is on, and the server receives what the assistant sends it. Calls wait for you to allow them unless the folder is on “Just run it”. A call that comes from a request on the call always waits. If Claude Code stops approving a server, talat stops running it.
| A row says | What it means |
|---|---|
| “Needs approval in Claude Code” | Claude Code has not approved this server for the folder. It cannot be switched on until it is approved there. |
| “Needs sign-in” | Sign in to the server from Claude Code. It cannot be switched on until then. |
| “Switched off in Claude Code” | The server is switched off for this folder in Claude Code. It cannot be switched on until that changes. |
| “Changed since you allowed it” | The server’s setup is not the one you switched on. It is off until you switch it on again. |
| “Can’t connect” | The server did not answer when Claude Code checked it. |
| “From a Claude Code plugin, not supported yet” | The server cannot be switched on. |
| “Needs plugin settings talat can’t read yet” | The server cannot be switched on. |
| “Not found” | The server cannot be switched on. |
“Read-only talat MCP” in Settings → Assistant is separate. It lets the assistant search and read your meetings in every folder, with Claude Code or Codex, without asking each time. It is off to begin with. To connect other tools to your meetings, see MCP server.
Search the web
Each folder has a “Search the web” switch, on for a new folder. The assistant does not ask before a search, and a search can include words from your meetings. Searches are run by the program’s provider, not on your computer. With Codex the switch also lets it open pages.
Voice
The assistant can say its answers out loud. The voice is made on your computer. On Windows it speaks outside a meeting and not during one.
- In Settings → Assistant, under “Window”, click “Download” on the “Voice pack” row.
- When the row says “Downloaded”, a list of voices appears under “Assistant”. “Play” previews a voice and “Choose” picks it.
- Switch on “Voice” in the bubble.
“Voice” appears in the bubble once a voice pack is downloaded. A spoken answer is one or two sentences. The full answer is in the bubble. Whether an answer is said depends on how you asked:
- You typed. The answer is shown in the bubble and not said.
- You held to talk. The answer is said straight away.
- You asked by name, or after a meeting. The answer waits. The ear says “Ada has an answer”, and “Hear” plays it.
Suggested next steps are never said out loud.
Stop it
- “Stop” on the ear stops what the assistant is doing. When it is only saying an answer, it stops the voice.
- “Stop” in the bubble stops what the assistant is doing while it works. Under an answer that is being said, it stops the voice.
- Saying “Ada, stop” stops what the assistant is doing, or the answer it is saying. “Cancel” and “never mind” work too. It has to come from your microphone, and it works with “On address” off.
- A shortcut stops what the assistant is doing, from any app. Set it at “Stop the assistant” in Settings → Assistant. None is set to begin with.
Stopping the assistant also ends any command it started and drops questions that were waiting behind it. To switch the assistant off altogether, switch off “Assistant” in Settings → Assistant.
What leaves your machine
talat itself sends nothing when the assistant is asked something. It starts Claude Code or Codex on your computer and hands it the question and some context. That program sends them to the provider it is set up to use, under your own account. Unless you have changed it, that is Anthropic for Claude Code and OpenAI for Codex.
The context is:
- Up to the last 200 utterances of the meeting’s transcript, with speaker names and times. Between meetings this is the last meeting talat recorded since it was opened. Nothing is included from a meeting set to “Off for this meeting”, or from any time “Assistant” was switched off in Settings → Assistant. Switching it off during a meeting also clears what the assistant had heard of that meeting until then.
- The previous question and its answer, for the rest of the meeting, or for 10 minutes outside one. The bubble shows “Follows on from:” while this applies, and “Start over” drops it.
- talat’s instructions to the assistant, the assistant’s name, and the date, time and time zone.
talat hands something over in these cases. Some of them happen without you asking.
| What starts it | When | What talat hands over |
|---|---|---|
| A question you type | Whenever you send one. | The question and the context. |
| Hold to talk | Whenever you let go. | What you said, as text, and the context. |
| A line with the assistant’s name in it, or a name under “Also answers to” | During a meeting, with “On address” on. From your microphone, and from the call as well with “Anyone on the call”. | The line, as text, and the context. It is handed over whether or not it was meant for the assistant. |
| “Ask anyway” | When you click it, under a line the assistant decided was not meant for it. | The same line again, and the context. |
| The next thing said after an answer | During a meeting, with “On address” on, for 15 or 8 seconds after each answer to a line said in the meeting. Hold to talk does not start one. With “Voice” on, the count starts when the answer has been said. | The line, as text, and the context. It needs no name in it. |
| What your microphone hears after a meeting | For 60 seconds after a meeting ends, with “On address” on. | What was said, as text, after 2 seconds of quiet, and the context. Everything said is handed over, a goodbye included. |
| A meeting ending | When a meeting of 150 words or more ends, with “On address” on or off. | Up to the last 600 utterances of the meeting, with speaker names and times, the folder’s name, talat’s instructions, the assistant’s name, and the date, time and time zone. |
| “Do it” on a next step | When you click it. | The step, and which meeting it came from. With “Read-only talat MCP” on, the assistant then reads that meeting’s transcript, all of it. |
Once it is running, the assistant also sends what it uses:
- The contents of files it reads.
- The output of commands it runs.
- What an MCP server that is switched on returns.
- What it reads from your meetings, with “Read-only talat MCP” on. A meeting set to “Off for this meeting” is left out. A meeting recorded while “Assistant” was switched off is not.
- Web searches, with “Search the web” on. The next steps suggested when a meeting ends never use a search.
Some of it goes somewhere other than the provider:
- An MCP server that is switched on receives what the assistant sends it. Where that goes is up to the server.
- A command the assistant runs can send data wherever that command sends it. With Codex, commands have no network while “Commands” is “Off”.
Claude Code and Codex also send information of their own, such as usage data. That is for their providers to describe, and their own settings control it.
Audio is never sent. Speech is turned into text on your computer, and the assistant’s voice is made on your computer.
With the assistant switched off, under Settings → Experimental or Settings → Assistant, nothing is handed to Claude Code or Codex.
What a provider keeps, and for how long, is set by your account with it. For the two defaults, see Anthropic’s privacy policy and OpenAI’s privacy policy. For anything else, get in touch.