How AI works in Metis Suite

The four assistants, the switches that control them, and what they can and cannot see.

Metis Suite has AI assistants that can read, search and act on your mail, calendars and files. You can also connect an outside AI app, such as Claude Code or Cursor, through MCP (Model Context Protocol, a standard way for AI apps to use tools). This page explains how these pieces fit together and who decides what AI may read.

The four assistants

The Workspace Assistant is the most capable. It can work across mail, calendars, files, people and workflows at once, and it saves your conversations. The three side panels are quick helpers for the page you are on. Their conversations are not saved.

See Use Workspace AI and Use the Mail, Calendar and Drive AI panels.

Three layers of switches

AI only reaches a mailbox, calendar or drive when all three layers allow it.

1. The server. The person who runs your Metis Suite server decides whether AI is available at all. When it is not, you do not see Workspace AI in the rail, the AI panel buttons are hidden, and MCP clients is missing from your settings.
2. The workspace. An owner or admin of the workspace sets AI features under Workspace settings, General, AI & privacy. The choices are Allowed (each mailbox, calendar and drive decides for itself) or Off (no AI anywhere in this workspace). Changing it asks for a two-factor code.
3. Each mailbox, calendar and drive. The person who connected a mailbox, calendar or drive turns AI on or off for it, separately in each workspace where it is used. The switch is in Workspace settings, under Mailboxes, Calendars or Drives. You can also find it in your account Settings, under Mailboxes, Calendars or Drives: the button that shows how many workspaces it is in (for example In 2 workspaces) lists each workspace, with a way to turn AI on or off everywhere at once. Turning AI on asks for a two-factor code. Turning it off happens at once.

A mailbox, calendar or drive can always be stricter than its workspace, never less strict. For the settings pages themselves, see Workspaces and accounts.

What turning AI off does

When AI is off, the assistants and MCP clients cannot read that mailbox, calendar or drive at all.

• If the workspace has AI off, the Workspace Assistant page shows Assistant turned off with a Workspace settings button. The side panels show the same heading.
• If only one mailbox, calendar or drive has AI off, its side panel says “AI is turned off for this mailbox, so the assistant has nothing it can read.” (or calendar, or drive).
• The @ reference picker only offers items that have AI turned on.
• No MCP client can reach a workspace while its AI is off. Clients keep working in your other workspaces.

The same switches also control AI steps in workflows. See Workflows.

What is shared and what is private

• Your Workspace AI conversations are private. Each person sees only their own conversations, in each workspace.
• Side panel conversations are not kept. Closing the panel or leaving the page starts a fresh conversation.
• Each MCP client belongs to you, not to a workspace. It reaches only the workspaces you let it reach.
• The AI switches are the same for everyone in a workspace. When the owner of a mailbox turns AI on for it in a workspace, it is on for every member who can use that mailbox there.

Changes ask for your approval

The assistants can read freely, but sensitive actions pause first. Sending email, deleting, changing calendar events and changing files all show an approval card in the chat. Nothing happens until you press Approve. See Approve or decline actions.

MCP clients work differently: they have no approval card. Instead, sensitive tools stay off for a client until you switch them on. See What an MCP client can do.