What is Sidekick?#
Sidekick is LumenFlow's governed AI agent. It lives inside your workspace and takes actions on your behalf — writing code, running tests, opening pull requests, sending emails, managing calendars, querying data, and running multi-step workflows.
Unlike a generic chatbot, Sidekick is governed. Every action passes through LumenFlow's policy and approval pipeline, so you always know what happened, who approved it, and why.
What Sidekick can do#
| Capability | Examples |
|---|---|
| Software delivery | Claim a work unit from your backlog, write code in an isolated worktree, run tests, open a pull request — see Building software with Sidekick |
| Communication | Draft and send emails via Gmail or Outlook |
| Scheduling | Create, modify, and cancel calendar events |
| Data | Query databases, generate reports, summarize documents |
| Workflows | Run multi-step automations with approval gates |
| Research | Search the web, summarize articles, compare options |
How governance works in Sidekick#
Every Sidekick turn flows through the same governance pipeline as any other agent on the runtime:
Message in
|
v
Budget check ──(over limit)──> turn_blocked
|
v
LLM call ──> cost_event recorded
|
v
Tool dispatch
|
+──(safe tool)──> Execute ──> Evidence captured
|
+──(risky tool)──> Approval gate
|
+──(approved)──> Execute ──> Evidence captured
|
+──(pending)──> turn_paused, notify operator
|
v
Reply to channel ──> turn_completed
Every turn reaches exactly one terminal state: completed, blocked (budget), or paused (approval). If none is reached within the SLA window, a stall signal fires.
Step by step#
- You delegate — describe what you want in natural language
- Sidekick plans — breaks the task into steps and proposes actions
- Governance applies — rules determine what's auto-approved vs. needs review
- Actions execute — approved steps run and results appear in chat
- Everything is logged — full audit trail in Observe
info Sidekick uses the LLM provider configured in your workspace. Your data never leaves your chosen provider's infrastructure.
Sidekick is a conversation, not a bucket of pages#
Sidekick is the conversation. Plans, approvals, output previews, proof, and the agents involved render inline as widgets inside the chat — you do not navigate between separate pages to do different parts of the work. Configuration surfaces (connections, rules, notifications, API keys, model defaults, memory preferences) live in Settings. Operator depth (the swarm graph, participant roster, coordinator decisions) lives in Studio. From Sidekick you ask, you approve, and you get proof — that is the whole product surface.
Getting started#
If you haven't already, complete the Getting Started guide to set up your workspace. Then continue with Chat Interface to learn the UI.