Composer & attachments

The composer is more than a text box. The more precise the context you attach, the less the agent has to guess — these are the tools for that.

Attach files and images

Drag files or images into the composer, paste them, or use the + panel's Files and folders row. Type @ to mention workspace files, chats, and plugins. Attachments render as chips and cards, and paths with spaces or parentheses survive intact. You can also drag a file from the Explorer, a diff, or search results into the composer to reference it.

Mention folders on this computer

Type @local ("Browse folders on this computer") or start a path such as C:\ or ~/ to open a folder browser inside the composer. Move through folders, use Go up one directory, and choose Use this folder to mention it, without typing the full path by hand.

Paste large text as cards

A paste of 4,000 characters or more, or 25 lines or more, collapses into a card titled with its first line, showing its line count (or character count for a single line). Cards keep the composer readable; Show in text field expands one back into the prompt. In the transcript, sent cards offer Show text / Hide text.

Comment on specific lines

In a file preview's source view, hover a line and click + ("Comment on line N"), type your request, and choose Comment (Ctrl+Enter also submits). Comments collect in a "N comments" chip and are sent with your next prompt. This is the highest-signal way to say "change this, not the whole file." See Workspace editor & diffs.

Reuse assistant output

Select text within one assistant response to show Add to Chat, Add to Side, and Add to new Chat. The selection becomes structured context instead of requiring you to paste it manually. Add to Side is unavailable when a Side chat cannot be opened.

Add to new Chat opens a small composer ("Ask about this selection…") that keeps the quote attached while you write a prompt. Its environment chip lets you choose Local project or New worktree. Use Send to new chat to start the thread, or Open in chat to keep preparing the draft. Selecting a quote alone does not send anything.

Select text in a rendered Markdown file preview or a diff and choose Add to Chat to quote it the same way.

Editor context from the IDE

When you chat from the IDE, the composer shows the open file (and your selected lines) as a chip, and that context is sent with your next message. Click the chip's × to leave the file out. See What the chat knows about the open file.

Models, effort, and speed

Open the model picker (Ctrl+Shift+M) to choose a model. It has a Starred tab, one tab per provider account, and Add providers. Star a model to save it together with its current effort and speed, then pick that combination in one click later.

The picker's footer has the Reasoning effort slider; the available steps depend on the provider and model. Fast mode is a separate toggle on models that support it. Shift+Tab in the composer steps through effort levels, and Ctrl+Shift+E opens the reasoning picker. If you turn off Effort slider in settings, the picker shows separate Effort and Speed rows instead.

The + panel

Click + (Composer extras) for:

• Files and folders
• Goal — set a thread goal from your draft
• Plan mode and Debug mode — turn each mode on or off
• Fast mode — on models that support it

Use the arrow keys to move, Enter or Tab to choose, and Escape to close.

Thread modes

• Plan mode (/plan): the agent proposes an approach before executing, and can pause to ask you questions. /default returns to normal mode.
• Debug mode (/debug): an evidence-first loop for unknown defects. See Debug mode.
• /fast toggles fast mode; /compact frees context; /status shows context usage and rate limits.
• /side [provider] [prompt] opens a guarded Side chat, optionally on another provider.
• Checkpoints: use Revert to this message on a message to roll the thread back to that checkpoint after confirming. Tejus refuses the revert while a turn is still running; interrupt the turn first.

The full command list is in the slash-commands reference.

Chat mentions, question cards, and alerts

Drag a chat from the sidebar into the composer to mention it as context, or onto a chat pane to open a split view.

Codex question cards ("Questions from Codex") can be non-blocking, so the agent may continue while you answer; use Next and Send answer. GitHub-style Markdown alerts render as Note, Tip, Important, Warning, and Caution callouts. Generated images render inline with expand and download buttons, and PDFs open in a built-in viewer.