Question 1

What is Shortwave?

Accepted Answer

Shortwave is an AI native email client for Gmail and Google Workspace, built by a team of ex Google engineers. Its AI Assistant is more than a reply helper: it makes plans and takes multiple steps to answer a request, running multiple AI powered searches and calendar lookups, backtracking to try different approaches, and working around errors automatically to act as an AI analyst over the inbox. Retrieval augmented generation powers natural language search that understands intent, and the assistant carries prior searches as context across a chat session. Ghostwriter, a Shortwave technology, learns each person's writing voice from past sent emails so drafts, instant replies, and predictive autocomplete sound like the user. The assistant supports AI memory, model selection across OpenAI and Anthropic Claude models with multiple intelligence levels, reusable and shareable AI Automations, and MCP to let apps and agents execute actions from email. Team features add shared live threads, private comments, assignees, and AI searchable shared labels. A sister product, Tasklet, extends the same agent technology into fully autonomous automation that runs 24/7 and connects to 3,000 plus apps such as Slack, Notion, Asana, and HubSpot.

Question 2

How much does Shortwave cost?

Accepted Answer

Free plan available (requires a Sent with Shortwave signature). Paid plans reported from around seven dollars per month per user, with business and enterprise tiers. AI usage is governed by a quota.

Question 3

What does Shortwave integrate with?

Accepted Answer

Gmail, Google Workspace, and Google Calendar, plus AI integrations with Slack, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, Linear, GitHub, and Zapier, MCP support, and CRM integration. Sister product Tasklet connects to 3,000 plus apps.

Question 4

Who is Shortwave for?

Accepted Answer

prosumer, SMB, teams, business

Question 5

What are the best alternatives to Shortwave?

Accepted Answer

Based on documented capability coverage across the Agentic Index 14 point taxonomy, the closest alternatives to Shortwave among enterprise operations agents are Sana, Genspark AI Workspace, ZingHR, Carly. Each is graded on the same public evidence, and no vendor pays for placement.

Question 6

Does Shortwave support MCP and tool calling?

Accepted Answer

Full under the Agentic Index verification standard. Shortwave publishes public evidence of Model Context Protocol (MCP) support, tool calling, and API or SDK extensibility for connecting agents to external tools. Evidence basis: Documents MCP support (Using MCP with Shortwave) to link apps and AI agents so they can execute actions from email and create custom integrations, alongside its AI integrations and Tasklet's broad app connectivity. Graded from public evidence only against the Agentic Index 14 point capability taxonomy. No vendor pays for placement.

Question 7

Can you bring your own model or route between providers with Shortwave?

Accepted Answer

Full under the Agentic Index verification standard. Shortwave publishes public evidence of bring your own model and bring your own key (BYOK), and of routing tasks between models or providers rather than being locked to one. Evidence basis: Integrates AI through partnerships with both OpenAI and Anthropic, exposes model selection and multiple intelligence levels in settings, and release notes document selectable Claude Sonnet and Opus models alongside OpenAI models. Graded from public evidence only against the Agentic Index 14 point capability taxonomy. No vendor pays for placement.

Question 8

Does Shortwave have SOC 2, SSO and role based access control?

Accepted Answer

Partial under the Agentic Index verification standard. Shortwave publishes some public evidence of security and identity controls, but narrower than the full set of SOC 2, single sign on (SSO) and role based access control (RBAC). Evidence basis: Runs as a Google Workspace connected app with a documented Security and Privacy area and business and enterprise tiers. No specific compliance certifications (for example SOC 2) were retrieved this session. Graded from public evidence only against the Agentic Index 14 point capability taxonomy. No vendor pays for placement.

Integrations & Tool CallingIntegrates with Gmail, Google Workspace, and Google Calendar plus AI integrations with Slack, Notion, Asana, HubSpot, Linear, GitHub, and Zapier, CRM integration, and MCP. The sister product Tasklet connects to 3,000 plus apps for action taking.	Full
Workflow OrchestrationThe AI Assistant makes plans and takes multiple steps, running multiple AI powered searches and calendar lookups, backtracking to try different approaches, and working around errors automatically. Tasklet extends this into fully autonomous 24/7 multi step automation.	Full
Knowledge Grounding & RAGUses retrieval augmented generation to power natural language search that understands intent over the user's emails, drafts, and calendar, automatically assembling relevant context to answer questions like an AI analyst.	Full
Human Oversight & GuardrailsUsers review and refine drafts, can inspect and tweak the exact search query the AI used, and trigger one click actions. There is user level oversight but no formal enterprise approval gate or governance guardrail documented.	Partial
Security, Identity & GovernanceRuns as a Google Workspace connected app with a documented Security and Privacy area and business and enterprise tiers. No specific compliance certifications (for example SOC 2) were retrieved this session.	Partial
Observability & AuditabilityWhen the assistant runs searches it reports what it found and links to the exact set of emails, and read statuses and shared labels give visibility. No enterprise audit log construct is documented.	Partial
Memory & State PersistenceDocuments AI memory (assistant memories), Ghostwriter that persistently learns the user's writing voice from past sent emails, and session context that carries prior searches into follow up questions.	Full
Deployment & Data ResidencyDelivered as a cloud SaaS with native apps on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows, tied to Gmail and Google Workspace. No on premise or data residency options are documented.	Partial
Prebuilt Agents / Templates / PacksProvides reusable AI Automations and AI Snippets that can be saved and shared as a team library of one click actions, but no broad catalog of prebuilt agents or packs is documented.	Partial
Triggers & Channel CoverageSupports triggers to automatically draft replies and organize threads, delivery schedules, granular push notifications, and Tasklet automations that run in the background 24/7. Triggering and channels are centered on email and connected apps.	Partial
Model Flexibility & RoutingIntegrates AI through partnerships with both OpenAI and Anthropic, exposes model selection and multiple intelligence levels in settings, and release notes document selectable Claude Sonnet and Opus models alongside OpenAI models.	Full
APIs / SDKs / MCP ExtensibilityDocuments MCP support (Using MCP with Shortwave) to link apps and AI agents so they can execute actions from email and create custom integrations, alongside its AI integrations and Tasklet's broad app connectivity.	Full
Testing, Debugging & OptimizationNo agent testing, evaluation harness, or self healing capability is documented for building or optimizing agents.	Unable to verify
Browser / Computer-useReviews describe an AI web browsing capability that accesses current information relevant to emails, but it is unclear whether this is full browser automation or web retrieval. No general computer use is documented.	Partial

Shortwave

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