Getting started

Macro replaces the pile of tabs — email, chat, tasks, docs, calls — with one fast, keyboard-driven workspace. This guide takes you from a fresh account to a working setup.

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1. Connect your email

Macro is an email client, not an email server — it syncs with your existing Gmail or Google Workspace account. We recommend connecting your account during signup so your inbox is ready from the first minute. Have more than one address? Add additional Gmail or Google Workspace accounts in Settings, and they all flow into a single unified inbox. When you compose, you choose which address to send from.

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2. Learn five keys

Macro is built keyboard-first. These five get you most of the way: The full list lives in Keyboard shortcuts.

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3. Triage from one inbox

Press g + i to open the unified inbox — the one place to check instead of seven apps. Emails, channel messages, task assignments, @mentions, and agent responses all land here, split into Signal (needs your attention) and Noise (everything else). Work the list with j / k, preview with space, and clear items with e. The list shrinks as you go.

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4. Open work side by side

Macro has its own window manager. Press cmd+\ to create a split, and shift+enter to open any list item or @mention in a new split — your inbox on the left, the doc someone sent you on the right. Move focus with shift+h / shift+l, maximize with shift+escape. More in Blocks.

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5. Create a team

Click Team in the bottom left to create one. Teams unlock the collaborative layer:

• Auto-sharing — tasks are visible to the whole team, and calls are recorded, transcribed, and shared by default. No “can you share that with me?” requests.
• Team memory — agents remember what your whole team is doing across email, messages, tasks, docs, and calls, not just your own chats.

Then create a channel per team or project (c + m). Channels are also how permissions work in Macro: anything you @mention in a channel is automatically shared with its members, and access follows people as they join or leave. You can add anyone by email, even if they don’t have a Macro account yet.

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6. Put the agent to work

Press c + a to start a chat with an agent that has access to your entire workspace — ask “what’s the latest on the launch?” and it answers from your team’s recent emails, messages, tasks, docs, and call transcripts. In any channel, mention @Macro to pull an agent into the conversation. You can also set up automations — scheduled agent runs like a daily to-do summary delivered to your inbox.

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7. Connect your tools

• GitHub — link your account in Settings under Account, and tasks move to In Progress → In Review → Done as you branch, open PRs, and merge. See GitHub integration.
• MCP connectors — connect Notion, Slack, and other tools under Settings → Connectors so agents can reach them. Migrating off one of them? See Switch to Macro.
• Your coding agents — point Claude Code, Codex, or any MCP client at your Macro workspace. See MCP setup.

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Next steps