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CellCog Chat Guide

This guide covers everything you need to know about using chats in CellCog.


Starting a New Chat

  1. Click "New Chat" in the sidebar
  2. Type your prompt in the editor
  3. Configure options (optional):
    • Project: Link to a team workspace
    • Agent: Select a specialized agent role
    • Mode: Choose Agent, Agent Creative, Agent Team, or Agent Team Max
    • Tools: Grant access to external integrations
    • Cowork: Give the agent access to your computer's files and terminal (see Cowork on my PC Guide)
    • Browse: Give the agent access to your real Chrome browser (see Browse my Chrome Guide)
    • Workflows: Use pre-built automation sequences
  4. Press Enter or click send

Uploading Files

You can attach files directly to any chat message. Each file can be up to 1GB — uploads larger than 100MB automatically use resumable transfer, so a flaky connection picks up where it left off instead of starting over. Images are limited to 25MB per file, and files imported from Google Drive are currently limited to 100MB. Uploaded files land in the agent's workspace, where it can read, analyze, and transform them.


Chat Modes

Agent Mode

Best for:

  • Fast, iterative work — suitable for most tasks
  • Step-by-step control with feedback after each task
  • The most versatile mode — can be guided to do deep reasoning too

Think of it as: Similar to Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, or Cursor Agent — but built for every modality, not just coding. One AI agent that executes your instructions, iterates on feedback, and produces videos, images, reports, code, and more.

When to avoid: When you need deep, multi-angled research out of the box — like academic work. You can instruct Agent to reason deeply, but Agent Team does this by default.

Agent Team Mode

Best for:

  • Deep multi-angled reasoning from multiple perspectives
  • Deep reasoning across every modality — reports, videos, images, code, PDFs
  • A team of agents that debates, cross-validates, and delivers comprehensive results

Think of it as: A team of specialized agents that research deeply, challenge each other's findings, and produce well-rounded outputs in any format you need.

When to avoid: When you expect many iterations to reach the final output. Each run costs more, so for back-and-forth refinement, Agent mode gives more control at lower cost per iteration.

Agent Creative Mode

Best for:

  • Web design, UI design, and frontend/visual work
  • 3D generation and other creative content
  • Product thinking — it excels as a product manager and designer
  • Ambitious one-shot creative builds

Think of it as: Our most imaginative mode. Give it a design brief and it delivers polished, opinionated results.

When to avoid: Programmatic work, coding-heavy tasks, or deep research — use Agent for fast iterative/programmatic work and Agent Team for deep research.

Agent Team Max Mode

Best for:

  • Maximum reasoning depth for high-stakes decisions
  • Every setting turned to the max — deeper search, higher reasoning
  • That extra 5-10% quality that matters when decisions are costly

Think of it as: The same Agent Team, but with everything dialed up. Best for legal analysis, financial decisions, pitch decks — any work where the cost of a wrong answer far exceeds the cost of better research.

When to avoid: When the marginal quality gain isn't worth the extra time and cost. Prefer Agent Team for most deep research work. Use this only when the stakes justify it.


Chats vs. AI Employees

The chat modes above are how you work with a CellCog super-agent directly — you send a message, it responds. If you instead want a worker that runs on its own — with its own email inbox, a schedule, a persistent task board, and the autonomy to act while you're away — hire an AI Employee from the AI Employees surface. An AI employee runs on the same super-agent engine, but it works in shifts, remembers across them, and can even delegate to your other AI employees. See the AI Employees Guide.


Chat Header Bar

When in an active chat, the header bar provides quick access to:

table
ButtonFunction
Agent ComputerView the agent's filesystem and workspace
Save ArtifactsSave generated files to Drive, Projects, or Organization
More (⋮)Additional options including Update Agent Memory

Deleting a Chat

To delete a chat:

  1. Find the chat in the sidebar (under "Chats")
  2. Hover over the chat name
  3. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) that appears
  4. Select "Delete"
  5. Confirm the deletion in the dialog

⚠️ Warning: Deleting a chat permanently removes:

  • All messages and conversation history
  • Generated files, code, and apps
  • Associated media
  • Uploaded files

This action cannot be undone.


Agent Computer

The Agent Computer lets you see the agent's workspace:

  1. Click "Agent Computer" in the chat header
  2. Browse the filesystem to see:
    • Generated files
    • Downloaded resources
    • Code and applications
  3. Click files to preview them
  4. Use the toolbar to navigate

This is helpful for understanding what the agent has created and accessing files directly.


Save Artifacts

Save generated content to persistent storage:

  1. Click "Save Artifacts" in the chat header
  2. Choose destination:
    • Drive: Your personal file storage
    • Projects: Team workspace documents
    • Organization: Company-wide documents
  3. Select files to save
  4. Confirm the save

Tip: Use this to preserve important outputs before the chat is deleted.


Update Agent Memory

For project chats with agent roles, you can manually update the agent's memory:

  1. Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header
  2. Select "Update Agent Memory"
  3. Optionally provide instructions for what the agent should store
  4. The agent will review the chat and store relevant artifacts and insights

This option only appears when your chat has an agent role assigned. The same memory update process also runs automatically after ~45 minutes of chat inactivity.

Requirements:

  • Chat must be linked to a project
  • Chat must have an agent role assigned
  • Chat must not be currently operating

See Memory System & Context Trees Guide for details on how agent memory works.


Chat Sidebar Features

The sidebar shows your recent chats with:

  • Chat icon/thumbnail: Visual identifier
  • Chat name: Auto-generated or custom
  • Operating indicator: Green dot when agent is working
  • Hover tooltip: Shows project, mode, and last updated time

Filtering Chats

Chats can be filtered by project using the project selector in the sidebar navigation.


Complex Workflows & Multi-Step Tasks

CellCog agents excel at complex, multi-step workflows described in natural language. You don't need special syntax, modules, or workflow builders — just describe what you need.

How It Works

Write your prompt as a natural sequence of steps. The agent will execute them in order, using earlier results to inform later steps. For example:

"First, research the top 10 competitors in the AI coding assistant space. Then analyze their pricing models and create a comparison spreadsheet. Finally, based on that analysis, write a strategic recommendation for our pricing."

The agent will:

  1. Complete the research phase
  2. Analyze and create the spreadsheet
  3. Use those findings to write the recommendation

Tips for Complex Prompts

  • Be explicit about sequence: "First do X, then based on those results, do Y"
  • Mention output formats: "Create a spreadsheet for the data, then a PDF report for the analysis"
  • Set expectations for each stage: "The research should cover at least 10 sources" or "The recommendation should be 2-3 pages"
  • Use Agent Team mode for tasks requiring deep multi-angled reasoning across stages

Our Users Regularly Submit Complex Prompts

CellCog's average first prompt is quite long — our users routinely submit multi-step jobs with multiple deliverables in a single message. This is one of CellCog's core strengths: the ability to take a complex, multi-deliverable brief and execute it end-to-end, producing multiple formatted outputs (reports, spreadsheets, presentations, images) in one go.

When to Use Workflows vs Prompts

  • Text prompts (most cases): Describe your workflow in natural language directly in the chat. This works for the vast majority of complex tasks.
  • Workflows feature: For recurring multi-step processes you run regularly, use the Workflows feature to define reusable automation sequences. This saves time when you have a standard process you repeat often.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I rename a chat?

Chats are automatically named based on content. The AI agent assigns a descriptive name after analyzing your conversation.

Can I recover a deleted chat?

No. Chat deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Make sure to save important artifacts before deleting.

How do I continue a previous chat?

Click on any chat in the sidebar to continue the conversation. Your full history is preserved.

What's the difference between Save Artifacts and Agent Computer?

  • Agent Computer: View the agent's temporary workspace
  • Save Artifacts: Copy files to permanent storage (Drive/Projects/Organization)

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