Chat and projects

This page follows a conversation from the sidebar to the composer to the answer, and everything in between.

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Sessions

Every conversation is a session. The left sidebar lists them, and the same history is shared with every other Mibyan surface.

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Find and organize

Chats are divided by date (earlier today, yesterday, earlier this week, last week, earlier this month) and by status (Working and Done). A row tells you what is happening without opening it: The row menu also offers Copy ID, Export, Branch, Rename, Archive, New window, Open in terminal, Open in new tab, and Open in split.

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Archive, delete, and clean up

• Archive hides a chat from the sidebar and keeps every message. Ctrl or Cmd-click a chat to archive it. Restore it from Settings, Archived Chats.
• Auto-archive stale chats archives chats you have not touched for a number of days you choose. Pinned chats are never archived and nothing is deleted.
• Delete removes a chat permanently and cannot be undone. It always asks first.

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Chat mode and Dev mode

The Dev start screen shows Recent projects, Open project, New project, and Terminal.

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Projects

A project is a named workspace of one or more folders. Chats can belong to a project, so the agent works in the right place. From a project’s menu you can rename it, give it a color, add a folder, set it active, or delete it. Deleting removes only the saved project from Mibyan. Your files, git repositories, and worktrees stay untouched.

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Worktrees and branches

Worktrees let the agent work on a branch without disturbing your current checkout. Over a remote connection, worktrees and project creation need an up-to-date backend. The app tells you when yours is older.

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Built-in database tools for Dev projects

Dev projects include a Database view:

• Local database (SQLite). Create a project database or add an existing .db file. Browse the schema, run queries (read-only, limited to 200 rows), and write migrations: you review the impact first, Mibyan makes an automatic backup, and destructive changes get an extra confirmation.
• Your Supabase project. Enter the project URL and the publishable key. The key is kept in secure device storage. The browser is read-only, shows up to 100 rows allowed by your Supabase policies, and never needs a service_role key.

Switching data source does not move or delete your data.

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The composer

The composer is the box at the bottom. Type a request and send it. Enter sends and Shift with Enter adds a new line.

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Give it context

Slash commands start with / and open a palette. See Shortcuts and commands.

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Suggestions that appear as you type

The composer offers one-click chips when your words suggest something:

• Add an MCP server when you mention a service, such as connecting a tool your message needs.
• Use a skill when you mention one by name.
• Set up GitHub if you mention it and are not signed in.
• Reconnect a server right after a tool fails with a connection error.
• Schedule this when something sounds recurring, so it becomes a scheduled job instead.

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While the agent is working

If a queued message keeps failing to send, it stays in the queue and you are told, so nothing is lost.

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Voice

Mibyan Desktop supports three voice features, all from the composer: A wake word can start voice hands-free: /wake on, /wake off, and /wake status. It pauses while a voice chat is running. Voice needs a speech-to-text provider configured, and microphone permission from your system. If it does not work, see Troubleshooting.

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Choose the model

Open the model picker from the status bar or with Cmd/Ctrl with Shift and M. It lists the providers you have signed in to, with a filter box.

• Mibyan models run through your account. Some Pro models need a paid Mibyan subscription.
• Each model shows its input and output price per million tokens.
• Options depend on the model: Thinking, Fast mode, and Effort (Minimal, Low, Medium, High, Extra High, Max, Ultra).
• Picking a model for a chat pins it for that chat. New chats use the default from Settings.

You can also add fallback models in Settings, so a chat continues if the main model fails.

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Reading the conversation

• Thinking. Streamed reasoning shows as “Thinking” and then “Thought for …”. You can collapse it by default in Settings.
• Tool activity. Steps such as reading a file, searching the web, or running a command appear live. Product view summarizes them in plain language, and Technical view shows the raw input and output. Steps that failed and were recovered are marked Recovered.
• Files changed. When a turn edits files, a summary links to Review.
• Message actions. Copy, refresh (regenerate), Branch in new chat, react with an emoji, Read aloud, edit, and expand a long message.
• Timing. Each turn shows how long it took.

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Edit, branch, and restore

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Approvals and safety

Mibyan asks before it does something that needs your permission. You choose how much to be asked: Set it from the status bar or with /approvals manual, /approvals smart, or /approvals off. An approval card shows the exact command. Your choices are Run, Reject, Allow this session, or Always allow, which adds a pattern to your permanent allowlist so similar commands are never asked about again. Always allow asks you to confirm because it lasts across sessions. Some requests come as their own prompts:

• Administrator password. When a privileged command needs sudo, Mibyan asks for the password and sends it only to your local agent.
• Secret required. A credential prompt for a value the agent needs.
• Questions. The agent can ask you one or several questions with choices, an “Other” free-text answer, or Skip. If you answer after the prompt has expired, you can draft it as a follow-up message.
• MCP setup. The agent can offer to install, enable, or authorize an MCP server from the Mibyan-approved catalog, and asks first. Required credentials must be filled in before installing.

When Mibyan is in the background you get a system notification for Approval needed with Approve and Reject buttons, Input needed, Response ready, and Turn failed.

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Long-running work

The context meter in the status bar shows how full the context is. Open it for a breakdown by conversation, system prompt, tool definitions, skills, MCP, memory, rules, and subagent definitions, with tokens used out of the maximum.

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Continue elsewhere

• Handoff. /handoff sends the session to a messaging platform such as Telegram. You can resume it in Desktop any time. This needs the messaging gateway running.
• Export. Save a session from its menu, or /save for the transcript as JSON.
• New window, tab, or split. Open the same chat beside itself.

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When a turn fails

Failures say which layer failed: authentication, out of credits, disk full, custom endpoint, gateway, provider, local runtime, or streaming connection. You get the right next step, such as Retry, Switch provider, Open logs, Copy error details, or Send diagnostics. See Troubleshooting.