How to Text Your AI

Your Zo has a phone number. Text it, it texts back. Same AI, same tools, same memory as the web interface — just over SMS.

No app to install. No login screen. No Wi-Fi required. It works on every phone that can send a text message, which means it works everywhere your phone works: the parking lot, the grocery store, the meeting you're pretending to pay attention in.

Set it up

Go to Settings > Channels > SMS in your Zo workspace. Add your phone number. Your Zo gives you its number back. Save it as a contact. That's it.

From now on, text that number and you're talking to your Zo.

Why SMS

Every other AI assistant lives inside an app. You open ChatGPT and you're in ChatGPT's world. You open Claude and you're in Claude's interface. There's always a context switch — unlock phone, find app, wait for it to load, start the conversation.

Texting skips all of that. It's the one interface that's already open, already fast, and already the way you communicate with people. You text your Zo the same way you'd text a friend who happens to have access to your calendar, your email, and the entire internet.

This is especially useful for:

• People who aren't technical. No interface to learn. If you can text, you can use Zo. There's no settings to configure, no buttons to find, no menus to navigate.
• Quick tasks between other things. You're walking to your car. You need to know if you're free at 3pm. You text. You get the answer. You keep walking. Total time: 8 seconds.
• Reducing screen time. Get what you need without opening your laptop or staring at a screen. Text the question, put the phone back in your pocket, check the reply when it buzzes.

Compare that to Siri, which forgets everything between requests and can't check your email. Or Google Assistant, which is great at timers and terrible at real tasks. Or Alexa, which can order paper towels but can't summarize your inbox.

What to text

Anything you'd ask your Zo in the web app works over SMS. A few scenarios where texting is the fastest path:

Between meetings. You have 3 minutes before your next call. What time is my meeting with the design team? or Who's on my 2pm call? You get the answer without opening your laptop.

At the store. You can't remember if you already bought something. Check my notes — did I already order the monitor stand? Your Zo searches your workspace files and tells you.

From the car. You're running late. Send an email to sarah@example.com saying I'll be 10 minutes late to the meeting. Your Zo drafts and sends the email through your connected Gmail. You get a confirmation text.

Morning routine. Before you even get out of bed: What's my day look like? Your Zo checks your Google Calendar and texts back your schedule in a clean list.

Quick lookups. Questions you'd otherwise Google:

• What time does Costco close on Sundays?
• Convert 150 USD to EUR
• What's the weather tomorrow?

Your Zo searches the web and texts the answer directly. No ads, no cookie banners, no scrolling past SEO content to find the answer.

Task management. Create reminders and to-dos from your phone:

• Remind me to call the dentist at 3pm
• Add "review the contract" to my to-do list
• What's on my to-do list right now?

SMS limitations (and when to use Telegram instead)

SMS is the most accessible channel, but it has constraints:

• No formatting. Everything is plain text. No bold, no bullet points, no code blocks. If you need a formatted report, it's better delivered over email or Telegram.
• Character limits. Long responses get split into multiple text messages, which can arrive out of order. Keep your requests short and expect concise answers.
• No file sharing. You can't send or receive files over SMS. For documents, images, and attachments, use Telegram or the web app.
• MMS compression. If your Zo sends an image over MMS, carriers may compress it. Telegram delivers files at full quality.

For richer interactions — formatted output, file sharing, group access, and longer conversations — connect Telegram as an additional channel. Most people use both: SMS for quick hits, Telegram for deeper work.

Agents text you too

Scheduled agents can deliver results via SMS. This means your phone buzzes with useful information before you ask for it:

Your alarm goes off. You check your phone. There's a text from your Zo with your schedule and inbox summary. You haven't opened a single app.

Other agent examples that work well over SMS:

• "Text me if any email arrives from @bigclient.com during business hours"
• "Text me the weather every morning at 6am"
• "If the price of [product] drops below $200, text me immediately"

SMS is ideal for alerts and short summaries. For detailed digests and formatted reports, agents can deliver via email or Telegram instead.

Context carries across channels

Start a conversation over SMS, continue it on the web app, follow up on Telegram. Your Zo remembers everything across all channels. The context from your morning text about the budget is still there when you sit down at your desk and open the web interface.

This means you don't need to repeat yourself. If you texted your Zo about a project on your commute, you can reference it later from any channel: "That project I asked about earlier — create a Linear issue for it."

Getting started

1. Go to Settings > Channels > SMS and add your phone number
2. Save your Zo's number as a contact
3. Text it: What's on my calendar today?

Start with something you'd normally Google or check by opening an app. Once you get used to texting for quick answers, you'll wonder why every AI tool requires you to open a separate app to use it.