Your stack picks the tool

Build-along · ~10 min at your own keyboard

Every major vendor now sells an agent, and some are betas or limited by country or plan. Gemini Spark, for example, is a beta and is not available in the EEA, UK or Switzerland. The names, prices and dates on this page are dated claims, checked as of the date shown — check the vendor's own page before you pay for anything. You do not need to compare them all. Start with what's already inside a subscription you pay for. And there is always a stable fallback: the assistant you picked in Level 0, with one connector (calendar or email) turned on. Every major assistant offers some connector. That is enough for the rest of this level. One tool, one task, 30 days. Then decide.

Ladder · Level 3The long version: Picking an agent for your stack ↗

Do this

0/5

Checkpoints

▸You should now know which suite your work actually runs on.
▸You should now have one tool name — a vendor agent or the fallback — and have confirmed on the vendor's page that it is available to you.
▸You should now have one named first task and a start date.

The three ways this goes wrong

You want to try three agents at once. — Pick one. A 30-day run is the test. Switch only if a logged task fails three times in a row.
Your pick is in preview or beta and you cannot get in. — Use the fallback: your Level 0 assistant with one connector. Do not wait on a waitlist for a first connection.
You are unsure which suite you run on because you use both Google and Microsoft. — Count where your email and calendar live. That is the stack.

Dated facts in this lesson: Claude Pro is $20/month and is the floor plan that includes Claude Code (researched Oct 1, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); ChatGPT connectors cover Gmail, Outlook, Calendar, Drive and more than 60 others. Write actions rolled out around June 2026, are off by default, and are admin-gated on Business. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); ChatGPT agent: Plus gets 40 messages a month, Pro gets 400. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Claude Cowork is available on Pro ($20/month) and above. Claude in Chrome also needs Pro or above. Cowork scheduled tasks run in the cloud with the laptop off (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Gemini Spark is a beta 24/7 agent. It needs Google AI Pro or above. It is not available in the EEA, UK or Switzerland. It can edit Calendar, Docs, Sheets and Drive, and draft email (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Copilot Cowork has been generally available since June 16, 2026. It needs a Copilot license plus usage credits. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Personal Copilot has Actions and Journeys in Edge Copilot Mode. Gmail and Outlook connectors are not confirmed. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Grok Connectors launched May 6, 2026: Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Notion, GitHub and Linear. Most can read and write, including sending email and creating invites. Bring Your Own MCP is supported. Automations (daily, weekly, email triggers) need a paid tier (secondary source) (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it); Perplexity has Gmail, Calendar and Outlook connectors. Comet browser is free. Perplexity Computer is on Max. Scheduled Tasks run at most hourly. Secondary source (researched Oct 4, 2026, not yet confirmed by a person: check the source before you rely on it).

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