What is "The Brain"?
The Brain is Runneth's long term memory for your organization. It's the private, durable place where everything about your brand, audience, product, strategy, voice, and connected data lives, so Runneth can work from your context instead of generic defaults.
In short:
It's your private context layer. A durable store of what makes your business yours.
Runneth pulls from it intelligently. It surfaces the pieces that matter for a given ask instead of rereading everything each time.
It's permanent and everywhere. Anything you save persists across every conversation, and it stays in sync between the Motion web app and Slack. Save something in one and it's there in the other.
It holds two kinds of context: things you teach Runneth directly (brand guidelines, preferences, winning briefs), and insights Runneth builds from your connected data sources (your store, CRM, reviews, and more).
Think of it as onboarding a new team member, not filling out settings. The more you put in, the more Runneth works like someone who has been at your company for a year rather than a stranger who showed up this morning.
💡Good to know: The Brain belongs to your whole organization, not to one person. It's multiplayer, so everything your team saves flows into one shared Brain, and every save makes Runneth smarter for everyone.
Why does the Brain matter?
Most AI tools answer the same way for everyone. Runneth doesn't, because it works from your Brain and from data enriched specifically for marketing.
Here's the difference in practice when you ask Runneth for five hooks for a new electrolyte product:
With an empty Brain, you get generic hydration lines: "Stay hydrated all day." On trend, but it could be any brand.
With a fed Brain, Runneth already has your brand book (you position against big sports drinks), what your target audience is saying in your reviews (people keep saying "afternoon crash"), and your last winning brief (your target is perimenopause women, not gym bros). Same ask, completely different output: "The 3pm crash is hormonal. Not a willpower problem." That's copy in your customers' own words, against your real competitor, for your real audience.
Two things make this powerful:
It compounds. Every hook, brief, concept, ad teardown, report, and email draws on the Brain. One good save makes a thousand later outputs better. You do the work once and it pays off every day after.
It's multiplayer. Everyone on your team contributes to one shared Brain, so research one person saves, a brief another uploads, and preferences a third sets all live in one place. The more your team contributes, the sharper Runneth gets for everyone.
How do I connect my tools?
The Brain isn't only what you type in. You connect a tool by asking Runneth in chat (for example "connect our Shopify"). Runneth opens a connect step and links the exact instructions. Some tools sign in with a click; others, like Shopify, ask for a few details (your Client ID, Client Secret, and Shop ID) that Runneth shows you how to grab.
Once connected, Runneth can build and save insight summaries such as:
Your customer segments (first time vs repeat, VIPs, win backs)
Your product performance
Your top collections
Then you can ask things like:
"How should I set my CAC goals based on repeat purchase rate?"
"Which product categories are most purchased by first time buyers?"
"Which of our top selling products are underspent in our ads right now?"
The same applies to other tools:
Connect your reviews platform and Runneth mines real customer language.
Connect your CRM and Runneth can support persona and audience work.
Connect competitor and organic data for whitespace and inspiration.
One practical note: Runneth saves the analysis of your data, not a raw copy of it. A store with hundreds of thousands of orders is too much to reload every time, so Runneth distills it into insight files it can reference instantly, and keeps them fresh on a schedule (see "How do I keep the Brain compounding?").
Don't re-upload data Runneth can already see. Your Motion account data, ad library, and connected tools are available to Runneth directly. Connecting a tool is what lets Runneth enrich it into Brain insights. The manual saves below are for the context Runneth can't see on its own.
Where do I find the Brain?
You'll find the Brain in the top right corner of any Runneth chat. Open it to see everything you have stored.
The Brain lives inside a chat, not on the main page, and there's no separate settings menu for it. If you don't see it, open a chat with Runneth first.
You can ask Runneth where something is saved at any time. Just say "Where does this live in the Brain?" and it will point you straight to it.
How do I add to the Brain?
You add to the Brain by talking to Runneth in chat. There's no folder to upload into. You save things in plain language and Runneth files them for you.
To save something, just say:
"Save our brand guidelines to the Brain."
"Remember this for later."
"Save this as a template and use this format going forward."
To upload a document, attach it to your message, tell Runneth what it is, and ask it to save it (for example: "Here are our brand guidelines. Save this to the Brain."). You don't need to format anything first. Drop the file in and Runneth handles the rest.
The most important habit: tell Runneth when to use it
Saving context is only half the job. The most common mistake is saving something and then finding Runneth doesn't use it. That's almost always because Runneth was never told when the context applies, so it fell back to a default.
The fix is simple. When you save something, add a sentence about when to use it:
"Save these competitor names and reference them whenever I ask for a competitive teardown."
"Save this as our brand voice and use it for all ad copy for Brand X."
"Add this to the Brain and index it so it comes up when we write briefs."
A clear instruction is what makes saved context resurface later. A vague save tends to sit there unused.
💡Tip: Save things through Runneth rather than dropping files in directly into your Brain. When you ask Runneth to save something, it files and indexes it so it can find it again later.
How does Runneth decide where things go?
You don't have to manage this, but the simple rule is: Runneth saves things based on how you'll want to find them again. There are three buckets:
Standing rules that apply every time. Tone, formatting, "always do this," "never say that." Kept in effect for every conversation.
Reusable knowledge you return to by topic. Brand guidelines, research, competitor info, frameworks, templates, uploaded docs, and insights from your connected tools. Runneth keeps an index and pulls the right one when your question calls for it. This is why a clear "use this when..." note matters.
Organization settings. Your brand context, KPI goals, and spend thresholds, kept as the canonical settings for your team.
What should I save first?
You don't need everything on day one. The first three items cover most of the lift.
In your first week:
Upload your brand book or brand guidelines. A PDF, doc, or slide deck all work. Runneth distills it into durable brand context.
Connect your review platform (Trustpilot, Yotpo, Shopify, Amazon, or your support tool). Runneth pulls reviews from the source and mines them for real customer language. No exports needed.
Share your most recent winning brief, the one whose concept actually performed. Runneth pattern matches against it for future asks.
The full list, ranked by impact:
Brand context. Brand book, voice and tone, positioning. Every hook, concept, script, and teardown reads this first.
Connected tools. Your store, CRM, reviews, competitor and organic data, enriched into insights for creative and business level questions.
Competitor research and swipe files. Helps Runneth find whitespace and avoid sounding like everyone else.
Persona and ICP docs. So every concept is written for a real audience.
Product catalog. SKUs, pricing, ingredients, claims, what's allowed in copy. Stops hallucinated claims.
Past winning briefs and concepts. Two or three is enough. They teach Runneth what "good" looks like in your account.
Customer reviews and voice of customer. The fastest path from a good ad to a great one.
Landing page and CRO context. Keeps ad copy and landing page in sync.
Channel strategy briefs. Funnel stages, attribution, KPI definitions.
Templates. Your brief format, report shape, or hook structure.
Call notes and strategy sessions. Keeps the Brain aligned with what was decided in the room.
Skip what you already have in Motion: Runneth can already see your account data, ad library, and connected landing pages, so there's no need to save those. The Brain is for the context Runneth can't see on its own.
How does Runneth's memory work?
There are three kinds of context:
Saved Brain memory persists. Once you save it, Runneth uses it in every future chat, in the web app and in Slack.
In chat context does not carry over on its own. If you mention a "20% off promo" in one chat, a new chat next month won't assume it still applies unless you saved it to the Brain.
Live account and connected data is always available. Runneth already sees your Motion metrics, ad library, and connected tools.
⚠️ Because the Brain is shared at the organization level, a preference or fact one teammate saves applies for everyone. Keep that in mind and avoid saving anything you wouldn't want the whole team to see.
How do I manage or update the Brain?
Verify a save. Open the Brain from the top right of any chat, or ask "Where does this live in the Brain?"
Update or remove things. Nothing is locked in. Tell Runneth what to change or remove and it updates the saved file (for example: "Update our brand context, we just launched a new product for [audience]" or "Remove the old promo from the Brain.").
Add admins and build for your team. If you need admin access to build out the Brain or run routines, set it up in chat: "Add [Full Name] ([email]) as an admin."
⚠️ For agencies: The Brain is scoped to a Motion organization. For true separation between clients, give each client its own Motion organization with its own Brain, rather than splitting one workspace across multiple brands.
How do I keep the Brain compounding?
A few habits keep it getting sharper:
Feed it once, benefit forever. Run a brand intake or upload your guidelines early. You never re-explain your brand.
Reference it, don't repeat it. Once something is saved, a short pointer is all you need: "use our brand voice" or "stick to the personas we set up."
Save the formats you love. When Runneth produces something you'll want again, say "save this as a template."
Let routines do the upkeep. One off uploads go stale. Routines that pull, synthesize, and save back to the Brain on a schedule keep it fresh, including your connected tools, without anyone maintaining it by hand.
Correct it in the moment. If an output misses, tell Runneth what's off and, when it should carry forward, say so: "always format reports this way." Feedback becomes part of how Runneth works with you.
Here's the payoff, side by side:
Cold start: "Here's our brand again: premium pet food, warm but not cutesy voice, audience is millennial dog owners, no health claims... now write me 5 captions."
With a Brain: "Write me 5 captions in our brand voice for the millennial dog owner persona." Runneth knows the rest, because you taught it once.
FAQs
Do I need to format anything before saving? No. Drop the file in chat and say what it is. Runneth handles the rest.
What if my brand book is out of date? Upload it anyway and mention what's stale. Something durable beats nothing.
Can I update or remove things later? Yes. Tell Runneth what to change or remove. Nothing is permanent.
Is the Brain shared across my team? Yes. Everyone in your organization reads from the same Brain. One save, everyone benefits.
What's the difference between Runneth and the Brain? Runneth is your creative strategy assistant. The Brain is its long term memory.
Do I need to save my ad or store data? No. Runneth already sees your Motion account data, ad library, and connected tools. Connecting a tool lets Runneth enrich it into Brain insights.
Can the Brain answer business questions, not just creative ones? Yes. When you connect tools like your store or CRM, Runneth can answer questions about customer segments, repeat purchase behavior, product performance, and where your spend and your best products line up.
What if I'm not sure something is worth saving? Ask. Runneth will tell you whether it would shape future outputs or is better kept as one off context.
Go deeper
How to build your Runneth Brain is a ready to use checklist of the exact files to upload first, with a form that routes them straight into your workspace.
How to prompt masterfully covers how to reference your Brain and get sharper answers from every prompt.
Disclaimer: Runneth is powered by large language models. While we've trained Runneth extensively on marketing best practices, AI generated responses may be inaccurate or incomplete. Please verify important information before relying on it.