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What it is

The Scratchpad is the daily page CORE creates for you the moment you log in. One page per day, scoped to your local timezone. It’s a collaborative block editor (paragraphs, headings, lists, tasks, code blocks, tables) backed by Yjs, so it autosaves and survives across devices without a save button. You can use it like any notes app — but the butler is reading along. There are two ways to put it to work.

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Two ways to engage the butler

Write a task with [ ]

Type [ ] to start a checkbox item. The line becomes a real task the moment you stop typing — within ~2 minutes the butler picks it up and starts working on it. You’ll see its progress on the task’s badge right inside the scratchpad.

Mention with @butler

Type @butler followed by an instruction. After a short idle pause the butler reads the paragraph, runs your request, and replies as a comment attached to that paragraph — so the answer lives next to the question.
The split is intentional: tasks are work the butler should run on its own and report back when done; mentions are a question or instruction you want answered right here in the page.

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How [ ] tasks work

A [ ] line isn’t just text formatting — it’s bound to a real Task in CORE the instant you create it.
  • Typing [ ] (or using the Task slash command) inserts a checkbox item, creates a Task row with source: "daily", and links it to the scratchpad.
  • The text you type becomes the task title. Edits autosave to the task as you type.
  • The task shows a butler-run badge with the next scheduled run time. Within roughly two minutes the butler claims it and starts execution.
  • Click the task’s display id (e.g. T-142) to jump to its full task page — descriptions, subtasks, activity log, runs.
  • Check the box to mark it Done. Uncheck to send it back to Todo.
  • Delete the line and the task is cleaned up automatically — unless you’ve already typed a title or the butler has added context, in which case the task is preserved and you can find it on the tasks list.
This is why a Scratchpad task “just works” — you write a checkbox, it’s now a tracked unit of work the butler will pick up and report back on, and you didn’t have to leave the page to make any of that happen.

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How @butler mentions work

@butler is for answers you want inline. Type it followed by an instruction, keep writing, and a few seconds after you stop, the butler reads the paragraph, runs the request through the Butler, and posts a comment on the paragraph with what it found or did. A few things worth knowing:
  • The mention text (minus @butler) is what the butler sees as your instruction — keep the rest of the paragraph self-contained.
  • A comment shows up right on that paragraph; click it to expand the response and to open the underlying conversation if you want to follow up in chat.
  • Each mention is processed once — the butler tracks which paragraphs it has already answered on, so editing unrelated text won’t re-trigger it. Edit the paragraph itself if you want a fresh reply.
Use @butler for things you want answered now and visible in context: “@butler what did Manoj say last time about the partnership?” / “@butler summarize my open Linear issues.”

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Widgets in the side panel

Open the Widgets button in the daily header to dock a widget panel alongside the page. It’s the same widget system as the Overview page, but the layout is scoped to the Scratchpad — useful when you want a calendar, your inbox, or a Linear queue visible while you plan the day. Layouts persist per workspace. You can also embed a widget inline in the page itself: type / and pick a widget from the slash menu to drop it as a block. Inline widgets carry their own per-block config and travel with whatever you write around them.

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Why a daily page (not one big page)

A new page every day forces a clean break: yesterday’s open loops are still in memory and searchable, but they’re not staring at you. The butler treats today as the source of truth for what’s currently top-of-mind, which is what makes the [ ] and @butler flows feel light — the butler has a small, fresh surface to reason about instead of an ever-growing journal.