# Overview

Missive has a built-in AI assistant that works directly inside your inbox. It reads your conversations, searches across all your connected accounts, checks your calendar, looks up contacts, and drafts replies. All without switching apps.

{% hint style="info" %}
AI requires the **Productive** or **Business** plan and at least one AI provider API key. [See pricing](https://missiveapp.com/pricing).
{% endhint %}

## What the assistant can do

The assistant is not a simple chatbot. It has access to your Missive data and can take action on your behalf:

<table><thead><tr><th width="240.032958984375">Capability</th><th>How it works</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Search your emails</strong></td><td>Searches across all connected accounts (Gmail, Outlook, IMAP, etc.) with filters for date, sender, recipient, and attachments.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Check your calendar</strong></td><td>Reads events from Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook. Can check availability, find conflicts, and suggest meeting times.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Look up contacts</strong></td><td>Searches your contact books by name, email, or phone number. Returns full contact details including organization, job title, and custom fields.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Find canned responses</strong></td><td>Performs semantic search across your canned responses to find relevant templates, policies, or pre-written replies.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Create and edit drafts</strong></td><td>Writes reply drafts directly in the conversation. Handles recipients, subject lines, and signatures automatically. Can update drafts after feedback.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Ask clarifying questions</strong></td><td>When your request is ambiguous, presents multiple-choice questions to clarify before proceeding.</td></tr></tbody></table>

Beyond the assistant, Missive offers additional AI features:

<table><thead><tr><th width="239.9244384765625">Feature</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><a href="using-ai/mcp-integrations"><strong>MCP integrations</strong></a></td><td>Connect the assistant to external tools like Notion, Linear, Attio, Stripe, or your own MCP server.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="using-ai/prompts"><strong>Prompts</strong></a></td><td>Quick, reusable AI actions you can run on messages or drafts: summarize, translate, fix grammar, generate a reply.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="../advanced-features/rules/ai-rules"><strong>AI Rules</strong></a></td><td>Trigger AI on incoming messages automatically. Classify, label, route, or draft replies based on content.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="using-ai/instructions"><strong>Instructions</strong></a></td><td>Define organization-wide behavior guidelines so the assistant responds consistently for your whole team.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## How AI works in Missive

Missive uses a bring-your-own-key (BYOK) model. You connect your own API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, and Missive sends content to that provider only when you actively use an AI feature.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Each provider has its own data retention and privacy policies. By default, most providers do not use API data for model training, but you should review your account settings. See the data privacy section on each provider's setup page: [OpenAI](https://missiveapp.com/docs/setup/openai#data-privacy), [Anthropic](https://missiveapp.com/docs/setup/anthropic#data-privacy), [Google Gemini](https://missiveapp.com/docs/setup/gemini#data-privacy).
{% endhint %}

If you don't connect any AI provider, AI features simply don't appear in Missive. There's nothing to disable.

Missive does not charge extra for AI features. You pay your provider directly based on token usage.

## Choose your provider

You can connect one or more providers simultaneously. The assistant lets you pick which model to use per conversation.

| Provider             | Assistant models                                        | Rule models            |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------- |
| **OpenAI**           | GPT-5.2, GPT-5 Mini, GPT-5 Nano                         | GPT-5 Mini, GPT-5 Nano |
| **Anthropic Claude** | Claude Opus 4.6, Claude Sonnet 4.6, Claude Haiku 4.5    | Claude Haiku 4.5       |
| **Google Gemini**    | Gemini 2.5 Pro, Gemini 2.5 Flash, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Gemini 2.5 Flash       |

Anthropic Claude is what the Missive team uses daily. Claude excels at nuanced writing and careful reasoning, which makes it particularly strong for drafting customer-facing replies.

{% hint style="info" %}
Model availability may change as providers release new versions. Missive updates supported models regularly.
{% endhint %}

## Next steps

* [Set up an AI provider](https://missiveapp.com/docs/ai/setup)
* [Connect MCP integrations](https://missiveapp.com/docs/ai/using-ai/mcp-integrations)
* [Use the assistant](https://missiveapp.com/docs/ai/using-ai/assistant)
* [Create prompts](https://missiveapp.com/docs/ai/using-ai/prompts)
* [Define instructions](https://missiveapp.com/docs/ai/using-ai/instructions)
* [Automate with AI Rules](https://missiveapp.com/docs/advanced-features/rules/ai-rules)