Chat and memory

You talk to Alexein in a chat. It looks in your memory first, then in your apps or on the web when it needs to, and says where each answer came from: "From memory (12 Oct): …" or "I checked GitHub just now: …".

The message boxCopy Anchor Link

Type your question and press ↵. Shift+↵ starts a new line. Under the box:

• The memory chip shows how this chat uses memory: Memory on, Memory paused, or off-the-record. See Memory on, paused or off-the-record.
• The paperclip attaches files, or lets Alexein read a folder. See Web and files.
• The model chip chooses the model for this chat. See Choose a model. Simple view has none.

While Alexein answers, you see each step it takes, such as "Slack · Find a user, open a direct message". Open a step to see what it did. ⌘. (Ctrl+. on Windows and Linux) stops the answer.

Under each answer:

• Copy copies it, with its formatting, so it pastes well into documents and email. ⇧⌘C copies the newest answer.
• Ask again asks once more. See Ask again and compare.
• Read aloud reads it in your computer's voice. Press it again to stop. Code is skipped.
• Sources are numbered links to the web pages it used. Files it read show with Open and Show in Finder.
• The cost, such as "1.9 credits", says what the answer used. Simple view hides it.

Good to know:

• Ask in your own words. "What did Taha say about the Lisbon contract?" works better than a keyword.
• Say "now" or "latest" when you want how things are right now. Alexein then checks the app instead of memory.
• Ask for several things at once. "Remind me at 5 to call Mum, and every Friday draft my update" makes two cards.

Memory on, paused or off-the-recordCopy Anchor Link

The memory chip's menu has three choices.

While memory is paused, a band above the message box says until when, with Resume. Alexein still reads your memory; it just doesn't save anything from any chat or quick ask.

Use an off-the-record chat for one private question. Use Pause memory when you want a while of chats that are kept but not remembered.

Choose a modelCopy Anchor Link

Alexein starts in Simple view, which names no models: a new install's chats use Auto. Turn Simple view off under Settings › General to choose. Then the model chip in the message box, or ⌘/ (Ctrl+/ on Windows and Linux), opens the model picker:

All models lists every model your organisation allows, by provider, with its rate and a typical answer in credits. Each chat keeps the model it started with. Which models are offered, the default behind Auto, and whether premium models are on are set by an Owner or Admin under My memory › Settings › Models; what one question may cost is under My memory › Settings › Limits.

Fast is right for most questions. Pick Balanced or Best for a task with many steps across your apps. To attach an image, choose a model that can look at images.

Chat needs your personal memory on a seat. Every answer uses credits: your seat's 4,000 for the month, then your organisation's. Dearer models use more. When both are used, the app says so and when your seat's start again, and your words stay in the message box.

ApprovalsCopy Anchor Link

Before Alexein acts in an app, it shows what it will do and waits: "Send a message? Alexein does this in Slack, as you. Nothing happens until you allow it." The card shows what will be sent in full. Right under the title, it says:

• To: who it goes to, such as "To Taha Shah".
• In: the place, such as "In #standup · Slack".

Choose one:

• The action itself, such as Send a message (↵): do it this time.
• Don't allow (Esc): nothing happens.
• Always allow (⌘↵), quieter on the right: scoped to one app and one action. Always allow Slack to send messages lets Slack send messages without asking, and nothing else. Right after, Undo makes it ask again.

The keys work only while the message box is empty, so a key meant for what you're typing never decides. Details lists ids and timestamps, and Show exactly what's sent shows the raw request.

After the action, one line says what happened: "Sent to Taha Shah · Open in Slack", or "Not sent: …" with the reason.

A message waits 30 seconds before it goes, with Undo and Send now. See Messages wait 30 seconds. After you allow the same action in the same place three times, the card offers Always in that place. See Always in one place.

Some actions always ask:

• Actions that can't be undone, such as deleting, always ask, even after Always allow on that app. The card says This can't be undone., offers no Always allow, and takes no key to allow it.
• Ask before changes, a switch for each app under Settings › Apps, makes the app wait for your OK before it sends, edits or deletes anything.

Some things also ask once Alexein has read something that isn't yours, such as a web page, an email or a file: opening a link the chat didn't show, saving a page, saving notes that aren't in your words, and sending a message. The card says why.

Actions that only read never ask. To see or take back what you always allowed, open Settings › Apps, pick the app, and choose Revoke under Always allowed.

A long task stops after a number of steps to check in, so it never runs on without you: Stop here, Redirect… to say what to do instead, or Keep going.

ReviewCopy Anchor Link

Review hands something to you before anything happens:

• On a saved note: when an answer saved several notes, Review opens them in Memory in this chat, where you can change or forget each one.
• On a routine's draft: a weekly update or a scheduled task's draft has Review. It opens a chat that holds the draft. Change it there, then send it through the usual approval card. Nothing is sent before.

Memory in this chatCopy Anchor Link

The drawer on the right of the chat shows what each answer used and saved. The pill at the top, such as "Memory · 8 used · 2 saved", opens and closes it, and so does ⌥⌘M (Ctrl+Alt+M on Windows and Linux). On a narrow window it opens over the chat.

Under each answer, Used 3 memories · saved 1 opens the same list for that answer. Each line shows where it came from and when, such as "From Lisbon trip · 12 Oct", "Slack · 29 Oct" or "Saved by Claude", with Edit and Forget. Choose the source to go back to the chat a memory came from.

Undo and Edit on what it savesCopy Anchor Link

When Alexein saves something, it says so above the message box: Saved to memory: "…", with two buttons.

• Undo forgets it at once: Not saved. Memory doesn't keep it.
• Edit asks What to save instead, and saves your words in its place.

When an answer saved several notes, the line says how many, with Undo and Review.

Forgetting asks first, because it is forgotten everywhere: Claude, ChatGPT and your other apps lose it too. For a few seconds after, Undo keeps it.

Quick askCopy Anchor Link

Quick ask is a small window you open from any app with ⌃⇧Space (Ctrl+Shift+Space on Windows and Linux). It can also read the text you selected, rewrite it and paste it back. See Quick ask.

The action panelCopy Anchor Link

⌘K (Ctrl+K) opens the action panel, in both windows. It lists this chat's actions first, then the app's. Type to filter, use ↑ and ↓, and press ↵ to run one. Esc closes it.

• This chat: Copy answer, Copy answer as Markdown, Export as …, Rename, Pin or Unpin, Choose model and Delete chat. Delete asks once, then offers Undo.
• The app: Chats, New chat, New off-the-record chat, New project…, New chat in a project, Memory, Routines, Needs you, Activity, Playbooks, Forget something…, Switch account or memory…, Connect an app and Settings. Each playbook is listed by its name.

Your chatsCopy Anchor Link

A new chat is named after its first answer: a short title such as "Lisbon flats shortlist" takes the place of your first question. A name you give a chat yourself is never changed. Off-the-record chats keep your question as their name.

Chats are listed in the sidebar: Projects first, then Pinned, Today, Yesterday, Previous 7 days and Earlier. ⌘P pins the chosen chat, and ⌘⌫ (Ctrl+Backspace) deletes it, with Undo.

Search your chatsCopy Anchor Link

⌘L (Ctrl+L) jumps to Search chats… at the top of the list. It searches chat names and every word in your chats. Results show under Best matches, with the matching words marked. Open one and the chat scrolls to the match. Off-the-record chats are never found.

Export a chatCopy Anchor Link

Click the chat's name at the top to open its menu:

• Copy as Markdown: the whole chat, as text. Also File › Copy Chat as Markdown (⇧⌘E).
• Export as Markdown…: a text file with formatting marks.
• Export as Word document…: opens in Word, Pages and Google Docs.
• Export as web page…: opens in any browser.

An export has each question and answer, with the sources each answer used. The menu also shows what the whole chat cost.

ProjectsCopy Anchor Link

A project keeps a client's or a job's chats together, with notes every chat in it follows.

• Make one: the folder button beside Projects in the sidebar, or New project… in ⌘K. Give it a name.
• Notes for every chat in it: a client's voice, a brief, who's who. Type a note and press Add, or find one in your memory and Pin it. Alexein follows these notes in every answer in the project.
• New chat in a project: the + on the project's row, when you point at it.
• Move a chat in: open the chat's menu, choose Move to project, then the project. Out of the project moves it back out.
• Change or delete: the … on the project's row. Deleting a project keeps its chats.

Off-the-record chats can't go in a project.

Ask again and compareCopy Anchor Link

Ask again, under an answer, asks the same question once more. On the newest answer, its menu also offers Ask another model and compare. Simple view has no menu: Ask again asks the same model.

When the second answer is in, the answer shows 2 answers · Compare. Compare shows both side by side. Choose Keep this one on the better one, and the chat goes on from it.

Chats stay on your computer. Settings › Privacy › Delete all chats on this computer removes them and leaves your memory as it is.

MemoryCopy Anchor Link

Memory (⇧⌘M, or Ctrl+Shift+M) shows what Alexein knows about you. It has four tabs:

• About you: what memory keeps about you, in sections such as the rules you've set, your current details, what you like and what's coming up.
• People: everyone memory has details about, each with a page. A page shows what memory knows, recent messages and what's still open, with Prepare for a call, Ask about them and How they write. Someone only mentioned in passing isn't listed: use Look someone up by name.
• Reading: pages and files read in your chats, and pages kept in memory from any app.
• Recently saved: what was saved lately, from any app.

Search your memory, at the top, finds anything in your own words. Narrow it with When (past week, month or year) and Type (notes, messages, or pages and files).

Every line shows where it came from and when: "From Lisbon trip · 12 Oct" (a chat in this app), "Slack · 29 Oct" (a connected app) or "Saved by Claude" (another assistant). Where this came from opens the source.

• Edit a line to put it right. Memory keeps your words in its place.
• Forget… removes it. Forgetting asks first, then offers Undo for a few seconds.
• Forget something…, in the action panel, finds what to forget by asking in your words.

My memory, at memory.alexein.ai, shows the same memory, with more detail on each source.

Good to know:

• Tell it rules. "Never book meetings before 10" or "Call me Sam" is kept and used in every app.
• Correct it in a chat. "Actually, I moved to Leeds in March" is saved as the newer fact, with its date.
• Nothing from an off-the-record chat is ever saved, and nothing at all is saved while memory is paused.

RelatedCopy Anchor Link

• Routines: what Alexein does for you on its own.
• Privacy and trust: what is kept where.
• Personal memory: the memory the app reads and saves to.