> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/janhq/jan/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat Interface

> Learn how to interact with AI models, send messages, and use advanced chat features

## Starting a Conversation

To start a new chat:

1. Click **New Chat** in the sidebar or press **Cmd/Ctrl + N**
2. Select a model from the model dropdown
3. (Optional) Choose an assistant with pre-configured instructions
4. Type your message in the input box

## Sending Messages

### Text Messages

Type your message in the chat input at the bottom of the screen:

* Press **Enter** to send your message
* Press **Shift + Enter** to add a new line without sending

### Attaching Images

For models with vision capabilities:

1. Click the **+** button in the chat input
2. Select **Add Images**
3. Choose one or more images (JPEG, JPG, PNG)
4. Type your message and send

You can also:

* **Drag and drop** images directly into the chat area
* **Paste** images from your clipboard (Cmd/Ctrl + V)

<Note>
  Vision features require models with vision capabilities. Jan will prompt you to download a vision model if needed.
</Note>

### Attaching Documents

For models with tool/RAG capabilities:

1. Click the **+** button in the chat input
2. Select **Add Documents**
3. Choose documents (PDF, DOCX, TXT, MD, CSV, XLSX, PPTX, HTML)
4. Select ingestion mode:
   * **Inline** - Insert document content directly into the prompt
   * **Embeddings** - Create a vector database for semantic search

Documents are processed and indexed to provide context-aware responses.

<Warning>
  Document processing requires the RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) feature to be enabled in Settings.
</Warning>

## Message Actions

### User Messages

For messages you send, you can:

* **Copy** - Copy the message text to clipboard
* **Edit** - Modify your message and regenerate the response
* **Delete** - Remove the message from the thread

### Assistant Messages

For AI responses, you can:

* **Copy** - Copy the response to clipboard
* **Regenerate** - Generate a new response to the same prompt
* **Edit** - Modify the assistant's message
* **Delete** - Remove the message from the thread

## Advanced Features

### Tool Calling

When a model supports tools, it can:

* **Search documents** - Query embedded documents in the thread
* **Execute MCP tools** - Use Model Context Protocol servers
* **Browser extension** - Screenshot and analyze web pages

Tool executions are shown in the conversation with:

* Tool name and input parameters
* Execution status (running, success, error)
* Tool output or error message

<Tip>
  You can enable/disable specific tools per thread from the tools dropdown in the chat input area.
</Tip>

### Token Counter

Jan displays token usage and generation speed for each message:

* **Token count** - Number of tokens in the current context
* **Generation speed** - Tokens per second during streaming
* **Model capacity** - Visual indicator of context usage

Switch between compact and detailed views in Settings.

### Reasoning Display

For models with reasoning capabilities (like DeepSeek R1), Jan shows the model's thinking process:

* Reasoning sections are collapsible
* Auto-expand during streaming
* Can be hidden for cleaner conversation view

## Thread Management

### Organizing Conversations

* **Rename** - Click the thread title to rename
* **Delete** - Remove individual threads or all threads
* **Search** - Press **Cmd/Ctrl + K** to search across threads

### Projects

Organize threads into projects:

1. Create a new project from the sidebar
2. Assign an assistant to the project
3. Add project-specific documents
4. All threads in the project share the same knowledge base

<Info>
  Project documents are accessible to all threads within that project using RAG tools.
</Info>

## Keyboard Shortcuts

| Action         | Shortcut                 |
| -------------- | ------------------------ |
| New chat       | **Cmd/Ctrl + N**         |
| New project    | **Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + N** |
| Toggle sidebar | **Cmd/Ctrl + B**         |
| Search         | **Cmd/Ctrl + K**         |
| Send message   | **Enter**                |
| New line       | **Shift + Enter**        |

View all shortcuts in **Settings > Shortcuts**.

## Stopping Generation

To stop an AI response while it's generating:

* Click the **Stop** button in the chat input area
* The partial response will be saved
* You can regenerate or continue the conversation

## Context Management

If you receive a context length error:

1. Jan will display an **Increase Context Size** button
2. Click it to automatically increase the model's context window by 50%
3. The model will restart with the new settings
4. Your conversation will continue from where it stopped

<Warning>
  Increasing context size requires more RAM. Monitor system resources to avoid performance issues.
</Warning>