Reference

Search

Search is your starting point in Surfboard. Type a question or keyword and Surfboard queries every connected system — email, Slack, Drive, GitHub, calendar, CRM — in a single pass. Results link directly to their source so you can verify and dig deeper.

Key features:

• Cross-source: One query searches across all connected tools at once — no tab-switching
• Personal and team-wide: Search your own data or content shared across your workspace
• Auto-connect: If Surfboard doesn't have access to a source you're asking about, it offers to connect it on the spot
• Citations: Every result links back to the original message, file, or event

Shortcuts:

• Arrow keys (up/down): Navigate prompt history
• Ctrl/Cmd+K R: Search prompt history
• Ctrl/Cmd+K C: Clear prompt history
• @mention: Reference boards in your questions
• File upload: Drag, drop, or paste images and files

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Tasks

A task is a one-off action you kick off by typing what you want. Unlike boards (which persist and refresh over time), tasks produce a result in the conversation and are done — a drafted email, a meeting brief, a metric pull, a status summary.

Key features:

• Instant: Describe what you need in plain language and Surfboard executes it
• Ephemeral: Results live in the conversation; they're not saved as boards unless you ask
• Action-oriented: Tasks do something (draft, summarize, pull, generate) rather than track something over time

When to use a task vs. a board:

• Task: You need it once, right now (a prep brief before a meeting, a drafted email)
• Board: You need it to stay current over time (account health, sprint progress, campaign reporting)

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Boards

A board is a living dashboard that Surfboard creates and maintains. Boards stay current as your connected sources change. They can be created independently of any project and moved freely between projects as your work evolves. Every board has three parts:

1. Content – The main view (status update, brief, dashboard, etc.)
2. Appendix – Supporting evidence, citations, and raw data
3. Instructions – Guidance for how Surfboard should maintain the board

Common board types:

• Account health trackers
• Sprint and PR dashboards
• Campaign performance views
• Meeting prep briefs
• Status updates and reports
• Incident post-mortems

Working with Boards

A few features help you stay in control of how boards change over time:

• Undo – Revert the last edit to a board with a single click. Useful when a refresh introduces something you want to roll back.
• Duplicate – Copy any board to use as a starting point for a new one. The duplicate inherits the original's instructions and structure.
• Approvals – If Surfboard wants to make an edit that goes beyond what the board is normally tracking (for example, pulling in a new source or adding a section you didn't ask for), it pauses and asks you to approve the change first.
• Scheduled Updates – Set boards to refresh on a cadence (daily, weekly, or before key meetings) so your dashboards stay current without manual effort.

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Projects

A project is a home for a specific initiative — a product launch, a customer rollout, a quarterly push. It groups related boards, sources, and team context in one place. When you start a project, Surfboard reads the tools you've connected and fills in timelines, key decisions, and the people involved automatically, so you're not setting it up from scratch. Each project has:

• Boards – Living dashboards that stay current
• Sources – Which tools and data to focus on
• Team – People involved in the project
• Context – Persistent notes about stakeholders, cadences, and decisions

Common use cases:

• Customer relationship management
• Product launches
• Cross-functional team initiatives
• Ongoing operations (sales, support, engineering)

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Workspaces

A workspace is your container for all work in Surfboard. When you sign up, a workspace is automatically created for you. A workspace contains:

• All your projects (private and shared)
• All your boards (including those not yet assigned to a project)
• Team members you've invited
• Connected sources (Gmail, Slack, Drive, etc.)

Key features:

• Privacy: Your workspace data is encrypted and isolated from other workspaces
• Team collaboration: Invite teammates to join your workspace and access shared projects
• Source management: All sources are connected at the workspace level and available across all projects
• Settings: Manage integrations, billing, and team permissions from workspace settings

Common questions:

• Can I have multiple workspaces? Currently, each user has one workspace
• Who can see my workspace? Only people you explicitly invite
• What happens when I invite someone? They join your workspace and can access shared (non-private) projects

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Home

Home is the first screen you see when you log in. Think of it as a personal workspace that sits at the top of your workspace — a single surface where search, tasks, and boards come together.

What you'll find on Home:

• Search bar – Query across all connected tools from one input. Results cite the specific message, email, or file they came from.
• Tasks – Start a one-off action by typing what you need. The result appears in your conversation and you move on.
• Boards – Your living dashboards are listed here. Each one refreshes on its own schedule and links to its full view.

How Home relates to the rest of Surfboard:

• Home is not a project. It's a workspace-level view that shows everything — boards from every project, plus boards that aren't assigned to any project yet.
• Search and tasks on Home operate across your entire workspace, not scoped to a single project.
• Boards created from Home can be moved into a project later, or kept at the workspace level indefinitely.

Key characteristics:

• Personal: Home shows your boards, your connected sources, your recent activity. Teammates see their own Home.
• Always current: Boards on Home refresh on their configured schedule. You don't need to open each one — the summary view shows the latest state.
• Zero setup: Home exists automatically when you sign up. No configuration required.