Chatting with a bot
A chat is where you give a bot work and see it happen: its replies, each step it takes, the files it makes and any questions it has for you. Each bot keeps its own conversations, and what it learns in one chat it can recall in the others.
Start a conversation
- Select a bot in the sidebar (on a phone, tap it in Bots).
- Type in the message field and send.
To start fresh, select New chat. To go back to an earlier one, select Conversations (the history button) and pick it. New conversations get a title from their first messages.
On the desktop and the web, Enter sends and Shift+Enter starts a new line. On phones, use the send button.
While the bot works
A bot first says in one short line what it's about to do, then works without running commentary. Each tool it uses (a command, a file, the browser, a web search) shows as a step in the chat, and longer runs collapse earlier steps behind Show … earlier steps. Any text the bot writes between steps stays in the thread as its own message.
- Stop ends the current run. It shows in place of Send while the message field is empty.
- Activity (in the More menu) lists every run of the bot. Each run opens a Run timeline with every event, its cost and tokens.
- If a run fails, the chat says why in plain words, with Details and Open run timeline.
Send more while it works
You don't have to wait. In a chat with one bot, start typing while it works and Stop turns into Send. Your message joins the run in progress: before its next step the bot reads it, marked as sent while it was working, and decides whether to fold it in, switch to it, or finish first. If the run ends before it sees your message, the message gets its own follow-up run.
Group chats work differently: every message there starts new runs for the bots it wakes. See Group chats.
Attach files
- Select Attach, then Files, Photo library or Take photo. On the desktop and the web you can also drop files onto the chat.
- Files upload straight away to
~/workspace/uploadson the bot's computer. Send waits until they finish. - Write your message and send.
| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Files per message | 10 |
| Size of one file | 25 MB |
| Images also shown to vision models | First 4, up to 5 MB each |
Every model sees the list of attached files (path, name, type and size) and can open them on its computer. Photo library is available on mobile and macOS, and Take photo on mobile. A bot with no computer can't take attachments.
Files the bot shares
When a bot makes a file, it links it by its path on the bot's computer, like [report.md](workspace/report.md). Those files appear under the reply: images (PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP) as thumbnails, and documents, data, code, archives, audio and video as file cards, up to 8 per reply.
Tap a file to open the preview, then choose Open, Save or Share. Files without a preview can still be opened or saved. Everything a bot makes also stays in its computer's Files; see Computers.
Interactive cards
For choices and short forms, a bot can show an interactive card in the chat instead of asking you to type: buttons, option chips, a few fields. The setup interview and the welcome chat use them.
- Tap a button or fill in the fields and submit. Your answer is sent as a normal message that sums up what you chose.
- An answered card stays in the thread, dimmed and marked Sent.
- A bot shows one card at a time and waits for your answer before going on.
- Links on a card open in your browser, and only for web addresses.
- If a card can't be drawn, you see "This part of the reply couldn't be shown."
Cards use the open A2UI protocol and are drawn natively by the app, in its own theme. Showing a card never needs your approval.
Use a skill with /
To make sure a bot follows a particular skill, attach it to your message.
- Type
/in an empty message field. The bot's enabled skills appear under Attach a skill. - Keep typing to filter, then pick a skill. It shows as a chip above the field.
- Write your message and send.
The bot loads the skill's instructions before it starts. You can attach up to five skills to one message. See Skills.
Edit and resend
You can change a message you sent and rerun the conversation from that point.
- Long-press your message (or right-click it with a mouse) and choose Edit.
- Change the text and send. The bot answers the new version.
The original version and its replies are kept. Messages with more than one version show arrows (Previous version, Next version) to switch between them. Attachments and skills from the original come along. Only the shown version reaches the model.
Edit works on your own messages in chats with one bot, and not while a run is going.
Message actions
Long-press a message, or right-click it with a mouse, for:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy | Copies the text. |
| Edit | Your own messages only; see above. |
| Read aloud | Reads a reply with the bot's voice. See Voice and calls. |
| Select text | Opens the text so you can select part of it. |
| Share | Opens your system's share sheet. |
Routines in your chat
When you ask a bot in chat to do something later ("remind me in an hour", "every weekday at 9"), it creates a routine without asking you first. The routine's results come back to that same chat, with a notification. In the thread, a run started by a routine shows as Routine "…" ran instead of a message from you.
Routines made in Settings post to your latest chat with that bot. See Routines.
Search
Search finds messages, chats, memories, skills, routines, tickets and files across the workspace.
- Desktop and web: press Cmd+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K, or use the search button in the sidebar.
- Phones: the Search tab.
Type at least two characters. Results are grouped by type. A message opens its chat scrolled to it; files open in the preview. Search covers only bots and chats you can see.
File search looks at names and contents under ~/workspace on up to three computers that are awake. Sleeping computers aren't woken for a search; start one to include its files. With encryption at rest turned on, search matches titles and meaning, not exact words in encrypted text. See Privacy and security.
Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Where | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Cmd+K / Ctrl+K | Desktop and web app | Opens search. |
| Cmd+Shift+K / Ctrl+Shift+K | Desktop app, anywhere on the computer | Opens Quick ask: a quick request that starts a new chat with the bot you pick. |
| Ask a bot, Run a routine | Siri, Spotlight and Shortcuts on iOS 16 and macOS 13 or later | Asks a bot a question, or runs a routine and opens the chat where its results arrive. |
| Quick ask, Ask …, Run … | Long-press the app icon on Android | Quick ask, ask one of your first two bots, or run your first routine. |
Offline
The mobile and desktop apps keep a copy of what they've shown you: your workspaces, your bots, and the last 100 messages of each chat you've opened. Chats open instantly from this copy and refresh from the server.
When you're offline, the app still opens and stays signed in. Saved bots and messages stay visible, and the chat shows Offline. Showing saved messages. with Try again. Interactive cards aren't saved. The copy is deleted when you sign out.
Limits
- The web app keeps no offline copy.
- Edit and resend works only in chats with one bot. In group chats, messages are kept in one line.
- Skills you pick with
/don't come along on a message you send while the bot is working. - A conversation summary made before an edit (long chats are summarized as they grow) may still mention the other version.
- Siri phrases need iOS 16 or macOS 13; older systems don't offer them.