Your first chats: open it, pick a model, keep going

4 min · The AI chat and the agent

The AI chat is where you ask Minda for anything: an answer, a summary, a plan, or a job done on the web. This lesson covers the controls you will use every day.

Open it

Press Alt+Q anywhere, or the AI chat button in the toolbar. You can change the shortcut in Settings → Keyboard shortcuts.
Or open a new tab: the Ask anything box is the AI chat.

The chat opens as a side panel next to the page. For a long session, press Open as full page: the chat gets its own tab with your saved chats listed on the left, grouped by day, with a search. Back to side panel returns it.

Pick a model

The chip next to Send is the model menu. It groups models by who pays:

Minda AI · uses credits: Minda's hosted models, no setup. Each row shows about how many credits a message takes, and Free today while your free everyday replies last.
Your key: OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter or Qwen, after Add API key. The key is stored encrypted on your computer and sent only to that provider.
Ollama (on this computer) · free: models running on your own machine.

Your own keys and Ollama use no Minda AI credits at all. Not signed in yet? You get 3 free replies to try Minda AI, then it asks you to sign in.

The web, when it is needed

The AI answers what it knows at once and searches the web for what changes, what is new, or when you ask. The search goes to DuckDuckGo, Brave Search or Bing, and only your search words go to that engine. Check the web under an answer asks it to look again, and a switch keeps it off the web.

Keep talking while it works

You don't have to wait for a reply to finish:

Queue: type your next message and press Enter. It waits its turn, with any pages or files you added.
Steer: press Steer and the reply under way reads your words before its next step and changes course.
Stop: press Stop or Esc. Whatever it already wrote stays.
Resume: with the box empty after a stop, Send becomes Resume and it goes on from where it stopped. Or type what to change and send that instead.

Compare two or three models

Choose Compare models… in the model menu and pick 2 or 3. Each question goes to all of them and the answers show side by side; keep the one you like. Each model's reply is its own request, so on Minda AI each one uses credits.

Your chats are saved

Chats save on their own after each reply. The clock button, Chat history, finds an old one. Signed in with sync on, saved chats follow you to your other computers. A private window keeps none.

Try it: open the chat, ask what are three good questions to ask before buying a used car?, then queue a follow-up while it answers.