# Chat With Your Employee

Chat is how you work with your employees. Send a message, watch them think, see them take actions, and get results in real time.

## TL;DR

Type a message and the employee responds with streaming text in real time. You can see what they are thinking, which tools they use, and how many credits each message costs. Every message creates an Activity (the full execution) which may contain multiple Actions (individual steps). Stop a response mid-stream if you need to redirect. When the employee needs your approval, buttons appear inline in the chat.

## How It Works

When you send a message, the employee processes it and you see every step in real time.

**Streaming responses.** Words arrive one by one as the employee generates them. You do not wait for the full response to appear before reading.

**Execution timeline.** Every message shows a chronological breakdown of what the employee did:

| Step | What you see |
|------|-------------|
| **Reading** | The employee is loading context (memory, skills, tools) |
| **Thinking** | The employee is reasoning about the task. For models that support extended thinking, you can expand this section to read their thought process |
| **Actions** | Each action shows its name with a spinner (active) or checkmark (done). Click any action step to see the result |
| **Planning** | When the employee plans their work, a floating panel appears in the top-right corner showing their step-by-step plan |

**Action count.** Each message shows how many actions the employee took. This gives you a quick sense of how much work went into the response.

**Credit display.** Every message shows its credit cost. Hover for a full breakdown by model and token type (input, output, reasoning).

**Stop anytime.** Click **Stop** or press **Escape** to cancel a running response. Streaming stops immediately, no partial response is saved, and the employee returns to available status.

## Where to Find It

Chat is the default view when you click on any employee in the sidebar.

1. Go to your **Workspace**
2. Click on any employee in the sidebar
3. You are in the Chat tab. Start typing

## What You Can Do

| Action | How |
|--------|-----|
| **Send a message** | Type in the chat input and press Enter |
| **Attach files** | Use the attachment button to send images or documents with your message |
| **Stop a response** | Click the **Stop** button or press **Escape** |
| **See reasoning** | Expand the "Thinking" section in the execution timeline |
| **See action results** | Click any action step to expand and see the detailed result |
| **View planning** | The floating todo panel appears automatically when the employee plans their work |
| **Approve an action** | Click **Approve** or **Reject** on the inline approval card when the employee requests permission |
| **Check credit cost** | Hover the credit badge on any message for a cost breakdown |
| **View delegation conversations** | Hover an employee in the sidebar, click the 3-dot menu, and select a teammate to see their delegation messages |

## Activity and Actions

When an employee processes your message, the system creates an **Activity**, which is the complete execution from start to finish. Inside each Activity, the employee may take multiple **Actions**, which are the individual steps (searching the web, generating an image, sending an email, etc.).

| Term | What it means | Example |
|------|--------------|---------|
| **Activity** | The full execution of one message | You ask "Research competitors and write a report" |
| **Action** | A single step inside the Activity | Web search, read page, generate image, write file |

The action count badge on each message tells you how many individual steps the employee took. Click any action in the timeline to see what happened.

## How to Set It Up

**Nothing to do.** Chat is the default tab when you click on any employee. Start typing.

## Tips and Tricks

- **Be specific.** "Write a 500-word blog post about remote work tips, friendly tone" works better than "write something about remote work"
- **Give feedback, not new instructions.** If the result is close, say "Make it shorter" or "More formal tone" instead of starting over
- **Watch the execution timeline.** It shows exactly what the employee did. If they used the wrong tool or skipped a step, you know why the result is off
- **Use Stop to redirect.** If you see the employee heading in the wrong direction, stop and clarify before they finish
- **Attach images for context.** Send a screenshot or design mockup along with your message so the employee can see what you are referring to

## Good to Know

- **Zero credits, no chat.** When credits hit zero, the chat input is disabled and a "Credits Depleted" overlay appears. Top up or wait for your next billing period
- **Credits stop mid-stream.** If credits deplete during a response, streaming stops automatically
- **Connection recovery.** If your connection drops mid-stream, the system recovers the full message automatically
- **Retries on failure.** If the AI provider fails, the system retries automatically before surfacing an error
- **Previous timelines collapse.** Only the latest message shows an expanded execution timeline. Previous messages show it collapsed to save space
- **Chat history persists.** Your conversation history is saved. Come back anytime and pick up where you left off

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: How much does each message cost?**
A: It depends on the model and message length. Hover the credit badge on any message for a breakdown by input tokens, output tokens, and reasoning tokens.

**Q: What happens when I click Stop?**
A: Streaming stops immediately. No partial response is saved. The employee returns to available status and is ready for your next message.

**Q: Can I see exactly what the employee did?**
A: Yes. The execution timeline shows every step: what context was loaded, what the employee was thinking, and each action taken with its result. Click any step to expand the details.

**Q: Can I chat with a team instead of an individual?**
A: Yes. When you click on a team in the sidebar, messages route to the team leader. The leader delegates to the right specialist on the team.

**Q: Does chat history persist?**
A: Yes. Your conversation history is saved. Come back anytime and pick up where you left off.