Chat Node

The Chat Node is the primary way to interact with AI models. It supports back-and-forth conversations, tool calling, context from connected nodes, and multiple AI providers.

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Sending messages

Type your message in the input field at the bottom of the chat node.

• Enter submits your message
• Shift+Enter inserts a new line (also works inside code blocks and lists)
• ⌘⇧Enter submits your prompt into a new branch node (the Split button — tooltip "Submit in new branch")
• ⌘B creates an empty branch node

You can also click the Send button (up arrow) to submit. While a response is streaming, the Send and Split buttons combine into a single Stop button. When the input is empty, a microphone button appears in the send slot instead (title "Start recording") — see Voice input.

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Slash commands

Type / in the input to open the command menu. It contains three kinds of entries:

1. MCP server toggles — enable or disable an MCP server for this conversation
2. Reasoning: Low / Medium / High / Max — quick actions to set reasoning effort
3. Your skills and prompts library — reusable prompts you've saved (see Slash Commands)

Inserted references render as chips in the input.

If a referenced item is missing or too large, you'll see an error toast before the message is sent.

@ mentions

Type @ to search the nodes on your canvas by name. Selecting a node inserts it as a chip in your message and creates a persistent connection (edge) from that node, so its content feeds this chat as context — a fast way to wire up context without dragging edges by hand. See Connections for how context flows between nodes.

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Choosing a model

1. Click the model dropdown at the bottom left of the chat input
2. Use the Search models… box to filter, or browse the groups:
   • Rabbitholes tiers first — Basic ("Claude Haiku 3.5 or equivalent"), Pro ("Claude Sonnet 4.5 or equivalent"), and Advanced ("Opus 4.7 / Gpt 5.5 equivalent")
   • Agent providers (such as Cursor and Claude Code)
   • Your own BYOK providers (bring your own key)
3. Click a model to select it for this node

On the Free plan, BYOK providers show a lock icon and an amber Paid tag. Use the Manage AI Models link in the dropdown to open Settings. See Models for details.

When an agent-provider model (Cursor or Claude Code) is selected, a folder button appears next to the input so you can pick the agent workspace — the working directory the agent operates in.

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Tools dropdown

Click the + button in the chat input (tooltip "Tools") to configure this conversation:

• MCP — a checkbox list of your MCP servers, enabled per conversation. Add New opens Settings. See MCP Tools.
• Personalities — pick a persona for this chat, or choose Add New to create one inline. See Personas.
• Reasoning — radio options Low / Medium / High / Max for models that support extended thinking. The default is Medium.
• RAG Mode — a switch that turns on Retrieval Augmented Generation for this node.

On the Free plan the RAG Mode switch shows a lock, and clicking it opens an upgrade modal: "RAG Mode Requires a Paid Plan".

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RAG mode

RAG mode retrieves only the most relevant chunks from connected nodes instead of sending everything, which can dramatically reduce input size. Deep dive: RAG Mode.

While RAG mode is on:

• A scissors icon labeled RAG Mode Active appears in the node footer
• The token pill is masked with asterisks (exact counts aren't known until retrieval runs)
• Status banners report progress: Indexing documents…, Documents indexed, Retrieving relevant chunks…, Reranking results…, and an error banner if something fails
• After a response, a summary shows the savings: "RAG Mode reduced your input size by N% from X to Y tokens."

RAG mode with Rabbitholes managed models is temporarily unavailable in the desktop app — use a BYOK provider for RAG conversations.

You can chat with document nodes immediately after adding them. Only RAG mode requires their processing to be complete.

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Message actions

Hover over a user message to reveal:

• Copy — copy the message text
• Rerun — re-send the same text
• Edit — opens the Edit Message dialog with Save and Save & Rerun (⌘Enter). Save & Rerun removes all later messages and regenerates the response from this point.

Assistant messages offer:

• Copy and Regenerate
• A collapsible reasoning section when the model produced extended thinking
• Tool-call cards for any tools the model used
• Source citations, shown as stacked source pills

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Tool calls and approvals

Each tool the AI invokes appears as a collapsible card with a state of Running, Done, or Error.

If a tool requires permission, the card asks "Allow this tool to run?" with Approve and Reject buttons. Long tool output is truncated with a Show more control.

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Context modes

A toggle on the node's left edge controls how content from connected nodes is passed in:

• Summarized context (zap icon) — incoming context is condensed
• Isolated context (diamond icon) — the node ignores summarization and treats context separately

A badge on the toggle shows how many incoming connections the node has.

The toggle is disabled while a response is generating — you'll see "Wait for the response to finish".

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Token summary

The footer shows a token pill. Click it to open the Token Summary popover, which lists:

• Incoming — tokens flowing in from connected nodes
• Own — tokens from this node's conversation
• Input — what will be sent to the model
• Total

Counts are estimates produced with the OpenAI tokenizer. In RAG mode the pill shows asterisks until retrieval determines the real input size.

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Voice input

1. Click the microphone button (visible when the input is empty) or press Ctrl+M
2. Speak — an overlay shows a timer and a live waveform
3. Click Done or press Enter to finish, or Cancel / Esc to discard
4. Wait for Transcribing… — the transcript replaces your input text
5. Edit if needed, then press Enter to send

Recording uses your preferred microphone from System Preferences. More: Voice Input.

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Node controls

The node header and toolbar give you:

• Color picker — tag the node with a color
• Duplicate Node
• Collapse — the minimized view shows the last You/Assistant snippet with a See More button
• Open in Sidebar — read the conversation in the side view
• Delete Node

Chat nodes get auto-generated titles based on the conversation.

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Errors and sub-agents

• Insufficient credits — an amber banner appears with a Reload usage button
• Plan-gated features — the banner includes an Upgrade button
• Other errors — a red banner with a Retry button

The AI can also spawn child chat nodes as sub-agents to work on parts of a task. A live activity card shows progress ("Subagent is thinking…") with Jump to node and Cancel actions. See Sub-agents.

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Use cases

• Research — connect web, document, and post nodes to a chat and ask questions across all your sources at once.
• Writing — draft in a chat, then use ⌘⇧Enter to branch alternative directions without losing the original thread.
• Studying — turn lecture PDFs into a Q&A partner: attach them with @, enable RAG mode, and quiz yourself.
• Content creation — use personas to keep a consistent voice, and Rerun/Edit to iterate on hooks and titles quickly.
• Planning — let the AI spawn sub-agents to explore options in parallel, then compare the branches side by side on the canvas.