Time required: 5 minutes

Prerequisites:

Expected results: After reading this article, you will know how to phrase requests so Gustav gets them right, how to review its drafts, how to set personal instructions, when to use Fast versus Normal, and what Gustav cannot do.

Gustav is most useful when you give it clear context and review what it produces. A few small habits make a noticeable difference.

Be specific - "Draft an email to the tenant about the plumber visit on Thursday" works far better than "write an email."

Give the facts Gustav can't guess - dates, names, amounts, the appointment time.

One goal per request - Ask for one thing, then refine it, rather than packing everything into a single sentence.

Adjust instead of restarting - If a draft isn't quite right, tell Gustav what to change ("make it more formal," "add the apartment number") rather than starting over.

Gustav prepares drafts — you decide what actually happens. Before you send an email or create a record in your ERP system, check the recipients, the facts, and the tone. When Gustav proposes a change to an existing ERP ticket, it marks the modified fields clearly — confirm them before the update syncs.

This review step is the whole point of the draft-first design: Gustav does the legwork, and nothing leaves Captured Knowledge until you approve it.

Open Gustav Settings (the gear icon in the chat header) to set personal instructions — standing preferences that Gustav applies to every conversation. For example:

Gustav may also notice a pattern in how you work — say, that you consistently prefer a formal tone — and suggest saving it as a personal instruction. The suggestion appears inline in the chat, and you can accept, edit, or dismiss it. Your instructions are saved for you and apply to all of your future Gustav conversations; you can change or remove them anytime in Gustav Settings.

The Fast / Normal switch trades speed against thoroughness. Use Fast for quick lookups and simple drafts; switch to Normal for questions with several steps or anything that needs more careful reasoning. Fast is the default.

When a request starts from an email or document, give it to Gustav directly: drag the file into the chat, paste it from your clipboard, or use the attach button. Gustav reads it and can act on what's inside — handy for turning an inbound tenant email into a reply, a work order, and an ERP ticket in one session.

It helps to know the boundaries:

It won't act on its own - Gustav drafts emails, work orders, and ERP tickets; it never sends or finalizes them without your approval.

It can't change completed actions - Gustav works on drafts; once an action is done, it has been carried out and is documented for the record, but it can't be undone (the email has been sent, the ticket has been created, and so on).

It works within your data - Gustav searches and drafts from the information in Captured Knowledge and your ERP system, where the integration for it is in place; it doesn't invent records.

It tells you when it's unsure - If a search is ambiguous or a result is incomplete, Gustav says so rather than guessing. Even so, misunderstandings can happen, and an AI can make mistakes too — please check your shared work before you approve it.