Updated October 1, 2026

Orchestrator mode

Give a chat a goal and it builds the canvas for you: chats, notes and sources, already connected.

Sometimes you want the AI to lay out the work, not only answer. Give an Orchestrator chat a goal and it builds a canvas of question chats, notes and sources, wired so each chat sees what it needs. Then you explore it.

Agent mode answers inside its chat and never adds or edits nodes (apart from sub-agent chats). In Orchestrator mode the canvas is the answer: it adds and connects nodes, renames them and rewrites notes, then replies in a sentence or two.

Start Orchestrator mode

New chat: press A on the canvas (not while typing). An Orchestrator chat appears in the middle of your view.
Switch a chat: pick Orchestrator from the mode button, or press ⌘4 (Ctrl+4 on Windows and Linux) with the chat active. It reads the chat's earlier conversation (the recent part, if long), so "turn these ideas into nodes" works.
Accept Agent mode's offer: ask an Agent chat to create or connect nodes and it proposes the switch. Approve, and the chat carries on with your request. See Mode and model switches.

What it can do

Add Chat nodes with a starting question, Text nodes, and Web and Post nodes from links.
Connect nodes left to right, so sources feed the chats that use them.
Rename any node and rewrite Text nodes.
Read the whole canvas, connected or not, and open any node in full.
Run a new chat's question right away, or leave it for you (hover the question, click Rerun).
Delegate research to sub-agents, then turn their answers into nodes.

It can't move, resize or delete nodes, remove connections, or add Image, Document, Scratch pad or Group nodes. Press 0 (Tidy Up) to lay out what it built.

Example

You press A and type "Plan a research canvas on how the printing press changed Europe." You might get an outline note, five question chats connected from it ("How fast did literacy spread?") and a few web pages and videos feeding them, plus a reply like "Added an outline, 5 question chats and 4 sources." Then run the chats, branch good answers, or follow up: "Add a chat comparing this to the internet."

While it works

Changes apply immediately, with no approval step. Each shows in the chat as a row (Create Node, Connect Nodes, Update Node, Subagent).
The view doesn't move, so zoom out or click Fit View to see new nodes.
Web nodes arrive with the address filled in. Click Go on each to capture the page.
If your goal is unclear, it may ask one short question first.
Stop halts it and cancels its sub-agents.

Follow-ups in the same chat continue the session. Switching to another mode ends it; switching back starts a new session that still reads the earlier conversation.

Undo its changes

Each change is one undo step (a node plus its connection counts as one). Click empty canvas first, since in the message box ⌘Z undoes typing, then press ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z on Windows and Linux) per step. See Undo and redo for limits.

What's different in this mode

No model picker: it runs on a model Slashspace chooses, not your keys, subscriptions or local models.
No connectors, personas or agent workspace. The reasoning level has no effect either.
Online only: it needs an internet connection and a signed-in account.
The chats and sub-agents it starts are ordinary chats on your models, billed like any chat (Plans and billing).

Privacy

Orchestrator mode runs in Slashspace's cloud. Each message sends your request, a summary of the canvas (node titles, short previews of their content, file names and locations, connections), any node it opens in full, sub-agent answers, and whatever the chat said before you switched it.

Choosing the mode yourself is the go-ahead; there's no separate prompt. Agent proposals wait for approval unless Auto-switch into Orchestrator mode is on (Always allow on a proposal turns it on). Turn it off in Canvas settings (the gear in the canvas header) under Orchestrator; it covers every canvas. See Privacy and your data.

If something goes wrong

Errors show in a banner in the chat, with Retry when the problem is temporary.

Message	What to do
"Canvas Orchestrator is busy", "temporarily unavailable" or "took too long to respond"	Wait, then Retry.
"Couldn't connect to Canvas Orchestrator"	Check your internet connection.
"This Orchestrator session has ended"	Switch to Chat, back to Orchestrator, and resend.
"Sign in to Slashspace again"	Sign out in Settings > Account, then sign back in.
"There's too much context for Orchestrator"	Start a fresh Orchestrator chat (`A`) with a shorter request.
Anything that keeps happening	Email support@slashspace.ai.