> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gowindmill.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Talking to Windy

> How to chat with Windy in Slack and in the Windmill Dashboard — asking questions about your team, requesting feedback, prepping for 1:1s, and using skills for common workflows.

Windy contacts your team in Slack to send Pulse surveys, assist with 1:1 preparation, and help run performance reviews. You can also start conversations with Windy in Slack or the Windmill Dashboard, for example to give or request feedback. This article explains how to interact with Windy.

## Where you can talk to Windy

You always talk to the same Windy, independent of where you start the conversation. Windy has the same product knowledge, the same access to your connected systems, and the same ability to take actions on your behalf in every surface. Your permissions and your company's enabled features control this access.

Today, you can chat with Windy in:

* **Slack** — DM Windy directly
* **The Windmill homepage** — Use the **Ask Windy a question** box at the top of your homepage
* **Ask Windy** — Start a new chat or open your chat history from the left navigation
* **Employee profiles** — Chat with Windy in context about a specific teammate
* **Pulse pages** — Ask Windy about pulse results and trends

The main difference between surfaces is where the conversation starts. Use Slack for an ongoing conversation or to reply to a Windy message. Use a platform chat when you are in the Windmill Dashboard and want an answer or action without a change of tools.

You can chat with Windy in your direct-message conversation with the Windy app. To start a new conversation, mention `@Windy` in that direct message. Add the Windmill Slack app to public or private channels only when you want Windmill to read channel context. Windy does not respond to mentions or questions in those channels.

## What you can ask Windy

In any chat surface, you can ask Windy to:

* Answer Windmill product questions ("How do peer reviews work?")
* Look up information about your people and team (recent feedback, 1:1 history, performance review status)
* Pull from your connected systems and Windmill context (meetings, conversations, documents, tasks, calendar, code)
* Take actions on your behalf, such as giving or collecting feedback, adding 1:1 agenda items, or working through performance review tasks

If you are not sure whether Windy can do something, ask Windy.

## Always reply in threads in Slack

When Windy sends you a message in Slack, reply in that message thread. This keeps your response with the correct request or task.

<iframe src="https://www.loom.com/embed/d354e2c6f47f4a23b4c076c0f7263b81" title="How to reply to Windy in Slack" frameborder="0" className="w-full aspect-video rounded-xl" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen />

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the message actions">
    Move the pointer over Windy's message.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the thread">
    Select the **Reply in thread** icon.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write your response">
    Enter your response in the thread.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Send your response">
    Send the message from the thread.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Do not send a top-level message as a response to an earlier Windy message.
  The top-level message does not answer the earlier request. Windy will ask you
  to return to the correct thread.
</Warning>

## What to expect from Windy

Depending on which features your team has activated, Windy will reach out for different things:

### Pulse surveys

Windy asks about your work, team, and company. A Pulse can contain one or more questions. Windmill recommends two to five questions for a focused Pulse.

Frequency: The Pulse schedule can be manual, one-time, recurring, based on a calendar event, or based on an employee start date. Recurring schedules can repeat weekly or monthly. A calendar event schedule sends the Pulse before or after a recurring meeting. See [Scheduling types](/features/pulse-surveys/scheduling-types) for details.

### Agenda requests

Windy can contact you before 1:1s to ask for agenda items. Windy can also give you a summary of items from previous 1:1s. If you enabled [last-minute reminders](/features/1-on-1s/notifications#last-minute-reminders), Windy can send a short reminder approximately 10 minutes before the meeting. This reminder identifies recent agenda changes.

### Performance reviews

Windy can assist with performance reviews — particularly self reviews, upward reviews, and peer reviews.

You can also ask Windy about your tasks for an active review cycle. For example:

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  What do I need to do for my current review cycle?
</Callout>

Windy returns a complete list of your pending and completed performance review todos—self reviews, upward reviews, peer nominations, peer feedback, and manager reviews—with clickable links to each task in Windmill.

## Language support

Windmill's interface is only available in English. However, Windy is powered by leading LLMs and works well in most languages.

When Windy reaches out, questions will be in English—but you can respond in any language you want.

## How often Windy reaches out

The number of messages depends on the features and schedules that your company enables. Pulse surveys, 1:1 notifications, and performance reviews can each cause separate messages.

You can manage your personal 1:1 notification settings in [Windy features](/windy/windy-features).

## Starting conversations with Windy

You do not have to wait for Windy to contact you. You can start a conversation in a direct message with Windy or from a Windmill Dashboard chat. The examples below show Slack phrasing, but the same requests work in the Windmill Dashboard.

### Give unsolicited feedback

Open a direct message with Windy and send this type of request:

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  @Windy, I want to give feedback to \[person's name].
</Callout>

Windy helps you prepare the feedback. When audience selection is available, Windy asks you to select an allowed audience. Windy then shows the text and audience for final confirmation before saving it. See [Feedback visibility](/features/continuous-feedback#feedback-visibility).

### Request feedback

You can ask Windy to collect feedback about you. If you are a manager, you can request feedback about anyone in your reporting line, including skip-level reports. You can also limit the request to a specific topic.

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  @Windy, request feedback about me from \[person's name].
</Callout>

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  @Windy, request feedback about \[report's name] from \[person's name].
</Callout>

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  @Windy, request feedback about \[report's name] from \[person's name] about \[topic].
</Callout>

When the Feedback page is enabled, Windy creates a scheduled request. A completed response is not guaranteed. See [Request delivery](/features/continuous-feedback#request-delivery).

### Find and cancel feedback requests

With the Feedback page enabled, you can ask Windy about incoming and outgoing requests:

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  "@Windy, which feedback requests need my response?"
</Callout>

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  "@Windy, which feedback requests have I sent?"
</Callout>

You can ask Windy to cancel a pending request that you created. You cannot cancel it after feedback collection starts. You can also respond or decline from [Feedback > To-dos](https://app.gowindmill.com/COMPANY/feedback?tab=todos).

<Tip>
  You can give feedback to multiple people at once. Ask Windy. They can
  assist with that.
</Tip>

In addition to feedback, Windy can answer questions about your connected systems:

* Research across meetings
* Conversations
* Documents
* Tasks
* Calendar
* Code
* Connected data

### Add agenda items for 1:1s

You can ask Windy to add an item to an upcoming 1:1. You can also ask about previous 1:1s, notes, or action items.

<Callout icon="message" iconType="regular">
  @Windy, add \[topic] to my next 1:1 with \[person's name].
</Callout>

See [1:1s](/features/1-on-1s/index) for more information about agendas, notes, and meeting history.

### Use skills

Skills give Windy reusable instructions for common workflows. You can create a skill in the Windmill Dashboard and ask Windy to use it in a chat.

See [Skills](/features/skills) for setup instructions and examples.

### Reference people, Pulses, and documents

In the Windmill Dashboard, type `@` in the chat box to reference a specific person, Pulse, or Company Knowledge document instead of describing it in words. Pick a result from the list to insert it as a chip in your message.

Mentioning a Company Knowledge document tells Windy to read that document in full before responding. Windy already knows every document's title and "When to use" note without a mention, so only mention one when you want to guarantee it gets read in full rather than leaving that choice to Windy. See [Sharing and access](/company-settings/company-knowledge/organizing-and-sharing#sharing-and-access) for how a document's folder controls who can mention it.

This is separate from `/` for [Skills](/features/skills), which trigger a saved set of instructions instead of referencing a specific person, Pulse, or document.

## Next steps

Learn how to [add Slack channels as context](/windy/adding-windy-to-channels) for feedback workflows, 1:1s, and reports.


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