# Share context (/ai-teammates/share-context)



The more your AI teammate knows about what you're working on, the better they can help — and context you share doesn't always stay between the two of you. Some of it sticks with the teammate personally; some of it lands on surfaces the whole team can see.

<LivePreview component="AssistantChat" />

## What is sharing context? [#what-is-sharing-context]

There are two different scopes to keep straight. Inside a single conversation, what you share — memory, a message, a file — stays with the teammate you told and the thread you said it in. Separately, a lot of what happens once a teammate is actually working doesn't stay siloed: a task it creates sits on the shared board, an automation it runs can notify people who never saw the source channel, and a report it publishes lands in a gallery the whole workspace can open. The first half of this page covers sharing context 1:1; the second half covers where that context surfaces beyond the conversation it started in.

## How to share context in a conversation [#how-to-share-context-in-a-conversation]

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Step 1: Tell them once so it becomes memory [#step-1-tell-them-once-so-it-becomes-memory]

    Stable, always-relevant background — your product, your stack, team conventions — sticks through memory: tell your teammate once, in conversation, and they remember it for future work instead of you repeating it. Review or remove what they've kept under **Teammate Settings → Memory**.

    See [How AI teammate memory works](/ai-teammates/memory) for the full picture.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 2: Include it in the message where you need it [#step-2-include-it-in-the-message-where-you-need-it]

    For task-specific context, just include it in the message where you're asking for help. Your teammate reads the full thread before responding, so anything you've shared in the conversation is already available.

    ```
    @Alex Here's the brief from our last planning meeting [paste text].
    Can you turn this into a project spec with clear acceptance criteria?
    ```
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 3: Attach a file [#step-3-attach-a-file]

    Drop a file into the channel message composer and mention your teammate, referencing the file. Your teammate can read it directly rather than working from a description of it.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 4: Connect a structured source with a skill [#step-4-connect-a-structured-source-with-a-skill]

    Some sources — GitHub repositories, web pages, databases — are better connected through skills than copy-pasted. A skill gives your teammate direct, live access instead of a stale paste you have to refresh by hand.

    [Browse skills →](/connect/skills-and-plugins)
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How context becomes visible across the team [#how-context-becomes-visible-across-the-team]

<Steps>
  <Step>
    ### Step 1: Tasks — one board for people and AI teammates [#step-1-tasks--one-board-for-people-and-ai-teammates]

    The task board isn't scoped to whoever created a task — it's one shared board for every human and every AI teammate in the workspace, so a task's activity log (status changes, comments, the context behind why it's blocked) is visible to anyone who opens it, not just the assignee.

    A teammate can also turn a channel's context straight into a task without either of you leaving the conversation — ask it directly, and Helio links the new task back to that channel automatically so anyone who opens it later can jump straight to the discussion behind it:

    > @Apache, create a high-priority task to document API credential sharing, assign it to Trace, and link it to #docs.

    <LivePreview component="TaskBoard" scenario="{ select: &#x22;t_004&#x22; }" />

    See [How to track tasks on Helio's task board](/work/tasks) for the full picture.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 2: Automations — carry context to people who weren't in the room [#step-2-automations--carry-context-to-people-who-werent-in-the-room]

    An automation can keep other people current without you relaying anything by hand. Give a teammate a standing job — "watch #partnerships for launch blockers and post updates" — and add colleagues as **subscribers** on that automation: they get notified with the run results too, not just the automation's owner. It's a way to keep a colleague current on what a teammate is tracking, even if they were never in the source channel.

    <LivePreview component="AutomationView" scenario="{ select: &#x22;auto_partner_launch&#x22; }" />

    See [How to create and manage automations in Helio](/work/automation) for triggers, schedules, and subscribers in full.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    ### Step 3: Artifacts — published work, visible to the whole workspace [#step-3-artifacts--published-work-visible-to-the-whole-workspace]

    When an AI teammate publishes a report, dashboard, or generated page as an artifact, it doesn't stay locked to the conversation it was made in. Artifacts is a workspace-wide gallery — anyone can open, search, and filter every artifact any teammate has published, not just the person who asked for it.

    <LivePreview component="Artifacts" />

    See [How to view and share Artifacts in Helio](/work/artifacts) for the full walkthrough.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What to share vs what to leave out [#what-to-share-vs-what-to-leave-out]

Share context that helps your teammate do their job better. Don't include:

* Sensitive credentials or secrets (use skills with proper auth instead)
* More information than the task requires

<Cards>
  <Card title="Give instructions" href="/ai-teammates/give-instructions" description="The levers that shape how a teammate behaves." />

  <Card title="How AI teammate memory works" href="/ai-teammates/memory" description="How your teammate builds and uses persistent memory over time." />

  <Card title="Skills & Plugins" href="/connect/skills-and-plugins" description="Connect your teammate to external tools and data sources." />
</Cards>