Chat

The Chat view is the primary way to interact with PandaOS in PandaOS. It provides a rich visual interface on top of PandaOS's tool calls, plans, and responses.

Chat Thread

The main area displays your conversation as a scrolling message thread:

• Your messages, shown with a "User" badge
• PandaOS's responses, shown with a "PandaOS" badge, rendered as full Markdown with syntax highlighting
• Tool call cards, inline cards showing PandaOS's actions (file reads, writes, bash commands, etc.)
• Plan cards, interactive cards for reviewing and approving plans
• Question cards, multi-select forms when PandaOS needs your input
• Subagent cards, nested agent activities with expandable timelines

Markdown Rendering

PandaOS's responses support:

• Full GitHub-flavored Markdown
• Syntax-highlighted code blocks with a copy button
• Mermaid diagrams (rendered as interactive SVG)
• File path linking, paths like src/main/index.ts:42 become clickable links that open in the File Viewer

File Path Linking

When PandaOS mentions file paths in responses, PandaOS automatically detects them and makes them clickable. Clicking a file path:

• Opens the file in the File Viewer panel
• If a line number is included (e.g., file.ts:42), scrolls to that line

Supported path formats:

• Absolute: /Users/you/project/src/file.ts
• Relative: src/main/index.ts, ./lib/utils.ts
• With line numbers: src/file.ts:42

Chat Input

The input area at the bottom includes:

Text Input

• Type your message and press Enter to send
• Supports multi-line input
• Drag and drop images to attach them
• Paste images from clipboard (Cmd+V)

Model Selector

A dropdown next to the input lets you switch models mid-conversation. Available models depend on your API access.

Interaction Mode Selector

Choose the permission level for the session:

• Default, PandaOS asks for permission before actions
• Accept Edits, PandaOS can read and write files without asking
• Plan, PandaOS must propose plans before making changes
• Bypass Permissions, PandaOS can do everything without asking

Abort Button

While PandaOS is thinking, the send button becomes an Abort button. Click it or press Escape to stop the current operation.

Tool Call Cards

When PandaOS uses tools (reading files, running commands, editing code), each action appears as a collapsible card:

• Header, tool icon, tool name, and status indicator
• Timer, shows elapsed time while running
• Status, spinning dots (running), green check (success), red X (error)
• Input, click to expand and see what PandaOS passed to the tool
• Output, the tool's response or error message

Common tool types you'll see:

Queueing and steering

Type while PandaOS is working and the message does not have to wait for a gap. Enter queues it for the next turn, Cmd/Ctrl Enter steers it into the run that is already going. Queued messages appear above the input, where they can be edited, reordered or removed before they go out, and are then sent in order once the turn ends.

See Steering & Queueing for what each one does and when steer is unavailable.

Turn Stats

Optionally shown below each PandaOS response (enable in Settings > General > Turn Stats):

• Cost, estimated API cost in USD
• Duration, how long the turn took
• Turns, number of back-and-forth exchanges
• Tokens, token usage breakdown by model

Drag and Drop

You can drag files onto the chat area:

• Image files, attached to your next message (PandaOS can see and analyze images)
• Visual feedback shows a drop zone overlay when dragging