Chats, drafts and layouts

10 minute read · Chats & Local Agents

Keep refining an idea in the same conversation so its decisions, files and previous results remain easy to find. Use another chat for a different piece of work, even when both belong to one project.

• Open directly from search
• Work through one change in a conversation
• Start a plain chat when you do not need a project
• Browse beside the conversation
• Arrange chats around the work
• Use a suggested next message
• Drafts are unfinished work
• Organize without destroying the project
• Continue a run with useful context
• Chat controls at a glance
• Find attention and recover history
• Creative generations keep versions

Open directly from search#

Use Vortex Search → Chats to find a conversation by title or workspace name and open it directly. Personal chats have their own label; archived and deleted chats are excluded. The same search opens saved tools over your current work without discarding the unsent message. See Vortex Search.

Work through one change in a conversation#

Start a thread in the intended project, choose the provider/model and access mode, then describe a bounded result. The thread retains its own history, provider session choices and attachments. Changing the default agent in Settings affects new conversations; it does not rewrite the identity of an existing provider session.

A useful sequence is request → inspect progress → answer an approval → try the result → send a precise correction. Additional input during a run may steer the current turn or wait for the next one. Inspect the queue state before sending the same instruction again, especially after a connection interruption.

Start a plain chat when you do not need a project#

A plain chat lets you discuss an idea without choosing a local project folder. It has no project settings, project instructions or per-project skills selection to edit. Open or attach a project when the task needs its files and configuration; do not treat an unrelated selected workspace as the chat's project.

Browse beside the conversation#

Open Browser from the toolbar to keep pages beside the conversation. Standalone chats have no project settings. Use the Browser tabs to switch pages and its address/search field to open a URL or search the web.

In a project chat, the app and reference websites use the same Browser panel and tab strip. App pages are ordinary editable, closable tabs; there is no reserved App Preview tab. Use the project controls to open the app's configured address and verify the selected URL. Opening Browser alone does not start the app. See project runtime and Preview.

A standalone chat has website tabs without a configured project app. You can browse and discuss an idea there without creating a project or exposing project settings.

Navigation accepts safe HTTP(S) addresses. Web pages run without Node access or the Vortex app bridge, so opening a page does not give it Vortex's saved connections or local application controls. A page's instructions do not authorize an agent action.

Browser profiles save website logins on this device, separately for each Vortex account. New panels use the default profile; existing panels keep theirs. Browser cookies are separate from provider-account credentials. Use Settings → Browser for profiles and agent browser access, and Settings → AI providers for coding-agent sign-in. Opening a page beside chat also does not automatically send its contents to the agent; include the relevant context deliberately.

Arrange chats around the work#

The project you browse and a chat's starting folder are separate choices. Files and Source Control badges switch the tools to another checkout while the conversation stays in place. Use Chat menu → Project & worktree… to choose where the next message starts. An ordinary main-folder chat has no repeated branch line below its title or composer; an isolated chat shows its fork icon and branch. See working-copy selection and merging.

Start with one chat. Drag another chat from the sidebar toward the left, right, top or bottom of the open chat. The preview shows the split before you release it. Split the resulting areas again to make four areas, or place another chat beside or above a particular chat. Move an open chat by its heading; press Escape during a drag to cancel.

Each visible chat has a number before its title, with the same number before that conversation’s title in the sidebar. The panel-and-four-arrows button opens Chat position; the editor uses the same icon for its own position menu. The highlighted number identifies the active area. Drag the divider between cards to resize them. Empty areas remain available for another chat.

Use Expand chat in its heading to focus on that conversation. Restore chat layout brings back the previous arrangement and sizes, including the other chats and their drafts. The heading's close button removes a chat from the arrangement; it does not delete its saved conversation.

The chat arrangement belongs to the current workspace and window on this device. It is not a cloud-synced replacement for the workspace's projects and conversations. Files, Source Control, Browser and the terminal retain their own controls. You can keep only chats in view or open the tools you need alongside them.

Use a suggested next message#

Turn on Settings → General → Conversations → Next message suggestions to let the agent propose one useful follow-up while it answers, with no extra AI request. It starts off. After a successful reply, the suggestion appears in the empty composer with Press Tab to use. Tab adds it to your draft so you can edit it; Escape hides it. Nothing is sent until you send it yourself.

Suggestions are offered by agents connected to Vortex tools. They do not appear while an approval or queued message is waiting, when the draft already has text, files or context, in Voice mode, or after a scheduled, delegated, SSH-hosted or generation run.

Drafts are unfinished work#

Text, attached files, selected tool-result context and model/access choices belong to the current account and draft or chat. Moving to another chat should leave its draft available when you return. Drafts, including their attached files, are stored only on this computer and are not synchronized; another computer does not see unsent text. Finish or copy a draft on the computer where you wrote it.

After reconnecting, distinguish a pending message from a provider response already in progress. Retrying a failed run and sending a new message can produce different work. Use the recorded failure and current queue to decide which action is appropriate.

Organize without destroying the project#

Rename or pin chats so their purpose is clear. Archive completed work to remove it from the active list while retaining its history; restoring it brings the same conversation back. Move chat… in the chat menu moves a conversation to another workspace or project, and Download chat… saves a ZIP copy; see All chats, moving and downloading. Archived and standalone chats remain saved without a product count cap. Continue a useful conversation for as long as its context serves the work.

Permanent chat deletion removes the conversation and eligible unused attachments, not its project checkout. A live process stays on the device running it, even when another device can read the synchronized history. Parallel chats explain shared files and isolated worktrees; sync explains cross-device conflicts.

Continue a run with useful context#

For a visual change, describe the screen and the action you tried. For a data problem, include the selected API or SQL result through its Vortex result link. Open that captured result to inspect the evidence; opening the link does not rerun the request or query. Attach only files that are relevant and safe to share with the chosen provider.

Try a follow-up such as “Keep the article layout, but add a search box above the list.” If the agent is working, inspect whether the input was delivered as steering, is uncertain, or is waiting for the next turn. Remove a queued message before delivery when the queue offers that action. A missing answer is not a reason to submit the same request several times.

Stopping cancels the run and invalidates its pending approvals. It does not undo file changes or external actions that already completed. Read the retained output and inspect the affected files before retrying. When another device owns a live run, wait for its result or manage the run on that device; synchronized history does not transfer its process.

Related guides: follow-up messages, attachments, storage and deletion.

Chat controls at a glance#

In this demo screenshot, drag a sidebar conversation to split the work area. Each visible chat has its area number and controls to expand or close the area. A number identifies its visible area, not its importance or a separate provider account.

Start with one chat, drag a second to its right, type an unsent draft in each, expand the first and restore. Both drafts and areas should still be present. For changes to running work, use steering and the message queue.

Find attention and recover history#

A chat waiting for your answer or approval is highlighted in the sidebar. Active subchats appear indented under their parent, which also indicates when a child needs attention. Open the highlighted child to answer in the right conversation. Finished or failed subchats disappear after their handoff is consumed; their outcome remains with the parent. See linked tasks.

Use chat search and recovery for a missing conversation. Recovery previews the exact available source before creating a separate chat; it does not replay old tools or approvals. For spoken input, use dictation or Voice conversation. Their preferences live in Settings → Voice.

Creative generations keep versions#

Specialized OpenRouter models use Versions rather than an ordinary text thread. Select a version to inspect it without replacing a draft. Use inputs restores its prompt, references, model, account and settings; Generate version sends the next request. Earlier text remains available under Earlier messages. See versions and references.