Max — AI Assistant
Max is Align's built-in AI assistant. It surfaces inside the right-hand panel of the app and can answer questions, draft content, take actions, and connect information across your projects — all without leaving Align.
Four modes
Max operates in four distinct modes. You switch between them using the mode selector at the top of the Max panel.
Guide
Max answers questions about how Align works — explaining features, walking through workflows, and pointing you to the right place in the app. Use Guide when you want to learn something or get unstuck.
Example prompts
- "How do I link a GitHub commit to an entry?"
- "What is the difference between a Release and a Feature?"
- "Walk me through setting up time-tracking approvals."
Do
Max takes actions on your behalf — creating entries, updating statuses, assigning owners, logging time, and more. You review and confirm before anything is saved.
Example prompts
- "Create a bug entry in the Mobile App project called 'Login button unresponsive on iOS'."
- "Mark the three oldest open entries in this release as In Review."
- "Log 2.5 hours against the entry I just opened."
Advise
Max analyses your project data and offers recommendations — flagging risks, summarising progress, and suggesting next steps based on what it sees.
Example prompts
- "Which entries are most likely to block this release?"
- "Summarise this week's activity on the API project."
- "Are there any cost approvals that have been waiting more than 5 days?"
Connect
Max links related work across projects — surfacing entries, releases, or team activity that may be relevant to what you are currently looking at.
Example prompts
- "Find entries related to the payment gateway work."
- "Show me everything this team member has worked on this sprint."
- "Are there any open bugs that overlap with the features in this release?"
Sending work to Replit (Replit handoff)
When your project is connected to a Replit workspace, Max can draft a task in that workspace directly from an Align entry. This is called a Replit handoff.
What it does
Max reads the entry you specify, builds a structured implementation prompt from it, and proposes sending it to your Replit workspace as a draft task. The proposal appears as a confirmation card — nothing is sent until you approve.
After you confirm, Align records the link between the entry and the Replit task so you can track it from either side.
How to trigger it
Open Max in Do mode and describe the handoff using natural language. Max will find the entry, build the prompt, and present a confirmation card.
Example prompts
- "Send this entry to Replit as a draft task."
- "Create a draft Replit task for the 'Payment timeout' bug."
- "Hand off entry #42 to Replit for implementation."
What Max shows you before you confirm
The confirmation card displays:
- The Align entry title and ID
- The target Replit workspace ID
- A preview of the implementation prompt that will be sent
- A warning if the entry has no description (the prompt will be sparse)
You can Cancel at any point. No data leaves Align until you click Confirm.
Requirements
| Requirement | Set by |
|---|---|
| Your role is Admin, Manager, Tech Lead, Developer, or Tester | Org admin |
| The project has a Replit Workspace ID configured | Org admin (Project Settings → Integrations → Replit) |
| Max External Writes is enabled for your organisation | Platform admin |
| MCP Server is enabled for your organisation | Platform admin |
If any requirement is not met, Max will tell you what is missing and who to contact.
Common messages
| Max says | What it means |
|---|---|
| "This project doesn't have a Replit workspace configured" | An admin needs to add the Replit Workspace ID in Project Settings → Integrations. |
| "External write actions are not enabled for your organisation" | A platform admin needs to enable Max External Writes for your tenant. |
| "Your role does not have permission for this action" | Your current role (e.g. Client or Viewer) cannot trigger external writes. |
Role-based behaviour
Max respects your role in each organisation and project. It will only show, create, or modify data you have permission to access.
| Role | Guide | Do | Advise | Connect | External Writes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Owner / Admin | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Manager | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tech Lead | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Developer / Tester | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Client | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
| Viewer | ✓ | — | — | — | — |
If Max declines an action, it will tell you why and suggest an alternative.
Privacy & data handling
- Max only sees data within your organisation. It cannot access other tenants.
- Before sending any content to the AI, Align's Prompt Redaction Layer strips personal identifiers (email addresses, phone numbers, and similar PII) from the context window.
- Max does not retain conversation history between sessions.
Tips
- Be specific. "Create an entry" works, but "Create a high-priority bug entry in the Payments project, assign it to Alex, and set the due date to Friday" works better.
- You can refer to things you are currently viewing. Max uses your active project/release context automatically.
- If Max gets something wrong in Do mode, you can correct it before confirming — nothing is saved until you approve.
- For Replit handoffs, open the entry first so Max picks up its context automatically.