Chat

Chat is your direct conversation channel with agents — ask questions, give instructions, or switch to action mode to let agents use their full toolkit.

What It Does

Chat gives you a real-time conversation with any agent in your workspace. You can ask quick questions, get summaries of recent work, or instruct the agent to perform tasks using its connected tools. Responses stream in as the agent thinks, so you see results immediately.

Every conversation is a separate session with its own history. You can have multiple sessions open with different agents at the same time.

INFO

Chat uses a model, so you need to be signed in — and have either a subscription or your own API key — before sending a message. See Accounts & sign-in.

Two Modes

Chat operates in one of two modes, and you can switch between them at any time.

Mode	What the Agent Can Do	Best For
Chat	Read-only tools only — search, list items, get costs	Quick questions, information lookup, brainstorming
Action	Full tool access — create artifacts, run workflows, use integrations	Getting things done, executing tasks, making changes

TIP

Start in chat mode for exploration and planning. Switch to action mode when you are ready for the agent to take action. This two-step approach gives you a chance to review the plan before anything changes.

Chat Mode

In chat mode, the agent can only read information. It can search your workspace, list entities, look up costs, and answer questions based on what it finds. It cannot create, modify, or delete anything.

This is the safest way to interact with an agent. Use it when you want to:

• Ask a question about recent work
• Get a summary of run results
• Explore your workspace without making changes
• Brainstorm ideas with an agent before committing to action

Action Mode

In action mode, the agent has access to its full toolkit. It can create artifacts, run workflows, interact with connected services, and make changes to your workspace.

Use action mode when you want the agent to:

• Create a report or document
• Run a workflow on your behalf
• Pull data from a connected service
• Execute a multi-step task

WARNING

In action mode, agents can modify data and interact with external services. If the agent's action requires approval (based on your guidelines), it will pause and ask before proceeding.

Key Concepts

• Sessions — each conversation is a separate session with its own message history. You can revisit past sessions at any time.
• Agent selection — pick which agent to chat with. Each agent has its own personality, knowledge, and tool access.
• Streaming — responses appear in real time as the agent generates them. You do not have to wait for the full response.
• Execution trace — in action mode, you can expand any assistant message to see exactly which tools the agent called and what results it received.

Key Properties

Property	Description
Session Title	Name of the conversation
Agent	Which agent you are chatting with
Messages	The conversation history
Role	Who sent each message: user or assistant
Content	The text of each message
Mode	Whether the message was sent in chat or action mode
Token Usage	How many tokens the message consumed
Execution Trace	Tool calls and results (action mode only)

When to Use Chat vs. Workflows

	Chat	Workflows
Structure	Freeform conversation	Predefined steps
Repeatability	One-off interactions	Runs the same way every time
Oversight	Real-time back-and-forth	Approval gates at key steps
Best for	Ad-hoc questions and tasks	Recurring workflows

INFO

You can start in chat to figure out the right approach, then save that approach as a workflow for future use. Chat and workflows complement each other.

What's Next

• Agents — choose which agent to chat with
• Runs — for structured, repeatable workflows use workflows and runs
• Connections — agents use connected tools in action mode