Ask Hive: cited answers across your business tools

Ask Hive is Hive’s home screen and the fastest way to get an answer only your own systems can give. It reads across your connected tools, uploaded files, the Business Brain and — when a question needs it — the web, then answers with citations you can open and check. Open it with New chat in the sidebar, or go to app.get-hive.ai.

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Ask a question

Good questions are specific and name the business thing you care about:

• “Which clients have invoices more than 30 days overdue, and how much in total?”
• “What did we promise Acme in the last three emails?”
• “Which deals in the default pipeline haven’t moved in two weeks?”
• “Summarise this contract and list the renewal terms.” (with the file attached)

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Where answers come from

Hive only reads what the connected account is allowed to see, and connector data is treated as data, never as instructions.

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Citations

Every answer can cite up to 20 sources. The model only points at evidence; Hive fills in each citation’s label and link from the real record, so a citation cannot be invented. Citation links open over https only. Citations can point to web pages, documents, emails, live tool reads, signals, Brain facts, memory and approvals.

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When a live source cannot be read

If a connected tool could not be reached during your question, Hive tells you at the end of the answer: Treat that answer as a starting point, and check connection health if it keeps happening.

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Attach files

Attach files with the + (Attach files) button, or drag them into the composer. Files you attach stay with the conversation. To reuse files across many chats, put them in a project or the Library.

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Create things, not just answers

Ask can produce editable Word documents, PowerPoint decks, Excel workbooks, charts and images, and run web research with citations. Pick the tool from the composer — see Tools and modes.

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Ask Hive to do something

You can ask Hive to act: “Draft a reminder to Acme about invoice 1042”, “Move the Globex deal to Negotiation”. Hive prepares the action as a proposal and shows it inline in the conversation.

• It passes the same policy gate as every other action in Hive: the kill switch, the autonomy ladder, spend caps and role limits all apply. See Autonomy and blast radius.
• You review the action’s details on the card before anything runs, then choose Approve or Decline. If an approved action fails and can be retried, the card offers Retry.
• The connected account must allow it: an account on Read cannot send or change anything. See Accounts and autonomy.

Actions you request in Ask appear in the conversation rather than on the Signals screen. Every completed action is recorded in the audit log.

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Use an agent in Ask

Choose an agent from the agent picker (Use default Hive is the default) to answer with that agent’s instructions, knowledge and connectors. See Agent Studio.

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Conversation memory

Within a conversation Hive remembers earlier turns, as long as the workspace allows chat memory (Settings → Products → Chat memory, on by default). Separately, you can let Hive use your own saved notes about you — see Personal memory.

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Feedback, sharing and history

• Mark an answer helpful or unhelpful. Feedback helps your workspace tune Hive.
• Your chats are listed in the sidebar, five at a time with Load more; group them into projects.
• You can share a chat with colleagues in your workspace, if your workspace allows chat sharing.

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Ask from Slack or Teams

If your workspace has installed a channel, mention @Hive or send it a direct message to ask from Slack or Microsoft Teams. Answers there are read-only: signals and approvals stay in Hive. See Slack and Teams.

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