2.4. Chat Interface¶

The Chat Interface is where you interact with AI models. It is designed to be intuitive yet powerful, supporting rich text rendering, code highlighting, and advanced features like reasoning visualization.

Overview¶

The interface consists of three main areas:

1. Message History: The central area displaying the conversation.

2. Input Area: At the bottom, where you type your messages.

3. Control Bar: At the top, showing the current model and providing access to parameters.

Rich Text & Code¶

Backend.AI GO supports full Markdown rendering.

• Code Blocks: Automatically detects programming languages and applies syntax highlighting. You can copy code with a single click.

• Mathematics: Supports LaTeX rendering for mathematical formulas (e.g., \(E = mc^2\)).

• Tables: Renders clean, readable tables from data.

Artifact Viewer¶

The Artifact Viewer displays AI-generated code blocks, SVG graphics, HTML pages, and Markdown documents in a dedicated side panel or pop-out window with interactive rendering and editing tools.

Opening Artifacts¶

When the AI generates renderable content or a long code block, an Open as Artifact button appears at the top of the code block. Click it to open the Artifact Viewer panel.

You can also press Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+A (macOS) to toggle the panel at any time.

Panel Features¶

• Code tab: Displays the raw source with syntax highlighting, line numbers, and a word-wrap toggle.

• Preview tab: Renders the content visually — SVG graphics with zoom controls, HTML in a sandboxed iframe with viewport presets, or Markdown with full GFM and math support.

• Copy: Copies the artifact content to the clipboard.

• Download: Saves the content as a file with the appropriate extension.

• Pop-out: Opens the artifact in a separate native window for side-by-side viewing.

• History navigation: Use the previous/next arrows to browse artifacts produced earlier in the conversation.

Renderable Types¶

The following code fence languages open directly in Preview mode:

Code blocks in any other language open in Code view. Long code blocks (10 or more lines) also show an Open as Artifact button for convenient viewing.

Saving Artifacts to Creations¶

Click the Save to Creations button in the Artifact Viewer toolbar to persist an artifact for later reference. Saved artifacts appear in the Creations section (visible from the main navigation), where they can be browsed, previewed, and managed.

Security¶

• HTML artifacts are sandboxed (allow-scripts only) and isolated from the main application.

• SVG and Mermaid artifacts have on* event handler attributes and dangerous elements (<script>, <foreignObject>) stripped before rendering.

• All artifact content runs in an isolated origin to prevent cross-origin access.

Advanced Chat Features¶

Message Editing & Forking¶

You can edit any past message (both yours and the AI's) to steer the conversation in a new direction.

1. Hover over a message and click the Edit (Pencil) icon.

2. Modify the text and click Save & Submit.

3. This creates a Fork (or branch) in the conversation tree. The original message is preserved.

Navigating Branches¶

When you edit a message or regenerate a response, you create multiple versions of the conversation at that point.

• Look for navigation arrows (e.g., < 2 / 3 >) below the message bubble.

• Click the arrows to switch between different branches of the conversation history. This allows you to explore "what if" scenarios without losing your previous context.

Regenerate Response¶

If the AI's answer isn't quite right, click the Regenerate (Refresh) icon below the AI's message. This will generate a new response, creating a new branch.

Thinking Blocks (Reasoning Models)¶

When using advanced "Reasoning Models" like DeepSeek-R1 or Qwen3-Thinking, the model outputs its internal thought process before the final answer.

• Collapsible View: By default, the thinking process is collapsed to keep the chat clean.

• Expand to Learn: Click the "Thinking" header (with the brain icon) to expand and read how the model arrived at its conclusion. This is great for debugging logic or understanding complex derivations.

• Streaming: You can watch the thoughts appear in real-time as the model generates them.

Reasoning Effort Control¶

You can control how much "thinking" a reasoning model does using the Reasoning Effort control in the chat input area.

• None (Off): Disables extended thinking. The model responds directly without showing internal reasoning.

• Low / Medium / High / Extra High: Progressively increases the depth of reasoning. Higher values allow the model to think longer and more thoroughly, which can improve answer quality for complex problems.

• Default Setting: Configure the default reasoning effort level in Settings > Inference > Default reasoning effort. You can also choose "Last used" to automatically remember and apply the most recently used setting.

Tool Use & Attachments¶

Tool Calling Visualization¶

If you are in Cowork, the AI may use tools (like Web Search).

• Transparent Actions: When a tool is called, a special block appears showing what tool was called and with what inputs.

• Results: Once the tool finishes, you can see the result (e.g., the search results or file content) that was fed back to the AI.

File Attachments¶

You can attach images to your messages for analysis with multimodal models (like Llama 3.2 Vision, GPT-4o) using any of these methods:

• Drag and drop: Drag image files directly into the chat input area.

• Clipboard paste: Copy an image (e.g., a screenshot) and paste it with Cmd+V (macOS) or Ctrl+V (Windows/Linux). The image appears as an attachment thumbnail.

• Attach button: Click the paperclip icon to browse and select files.

Normal text paste behavior is preserved; only image content from the clipboard triggers the attachment flow.

Image Generation¶

Backend.AI GO supports AI-powered image generation directly in the chat interface when connected to an image generation model (such as DALL-E or Stable Diffusion via API).

Generating Images¶

When an image generation model is available, you can request images by describing what you want in your message. The generated images appear inline in the chat with the following options:

• View Full Size: Click on the image to view it at full resolution.

• Save: Download the image to your local system with embedded metadata (prompt, model, settings).

• Show Details: Expand to see generation parameters including the prompt, model used, size, and timestamp.

Image Variations¶

You can create variations of any generated image:

1. Click the Variations button below a generated image.

2. Configure the variation settings in the popup:

   • Model: Select the model to use for generating variations.
   • Count: Choose how many variations to create (1-10, depending on the model).
   • Size: Select the output size (square, portrait, or landscape).

3. Click Generate Variations to create new images inspired by the original.

Memory Context¶

The Memory system stores persistent facts and context that the AI references across conversations. For a complete guide including memory banks, the Memory Viewer, auto-extraction, and injection settings, see Memory.

Context Menu¶

Each chat message has a context menu providing quick access to common actions. Hover over a message and click the three-dot menu icon that appears in the message header to open the context menu.

Available Actions¶

• Copy: Copy the message content to the clipboard.

• Regenerate (assistant messages only): Regenerate the AI's response. This option is disabled until backend support is implemented.

• Save to Memory (user and assistant messages): Save the message content to a memory namespace for future context injection. Only available when memory is enabled.

• Delete (user messages only): Delete the message. This option is disabled until backend support is implemented.

Keyboard Shortcut¶

You can also open the context menu using the keyboard:

1. Focus the message (click on it or use Tab to navigate).

2. Press Shift+F10 to open the context menu.

3. Use Up and Down to navigate menu items, Enter to select, and Esc to close.

Timestamp Display¶

Each message displays a timestamp showing when it was sent or received. You can customize how timestamps appear throughout the application.

Timestamp Formats¶

Go to Settings > General to configure your timestamp display preference:

• Smart (Default): Automatically switches between relative and absolute formats based on age. Recent messages show "2 minutes ago" while older messages show the actual date and time.

• Relative: Always displays time relative to now (e.g., "5 minutes ago", "2 hours ago", "3 days ago").

• Absolute: Always displays the actual time and date (e.g., "10:15 AM", "Yesterday at 2:30 PM", "Jan 15, 2025 at 3:00 PM").

Smart Mode Threshold¶

When using Smart mode, you can configure the threshold (in hours) at which timestamps switch from relative to absolute format. The default is 24 hours, meaning messages older than 24 hours will show absolute timestamps.

Timezone Display¶

Enable Show timezone to include timezone information in absolute timestamps (e.g., "10:15 AM PST").