> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.grindxp.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat Screen

> Streaming AI companion chat with tool call rendering and session management.

Press `c` to open the chat screen.

## Interface

The chat screen is a full terminal chat application:

* **Message history**: scrollable conversation with the companion
* **Tool call rendering**: tool invocations and results are displayed inline as collapsible blocks
* **Streaming**: responses stream in real-time, token by token
* **Input**: bottom-of-screen input with Enter to send

## Slash Commands

Type `/` to access slash commands:

| Command        | Description                                       |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| `/new`         | Start a new conversation session                  |
| `/sessions`    | Browse and switch between saved sessions          |
| `/clear`       | Clear current conversation display                |
| `/compact`     | Manually compact the context window               |
| `/autocompact` | Toggle automatic context compaction               |
| `/usage`       | Show token usage for current session              |
| `/model`       | Switch AI model                                   |
| `/theme`       | Switch TUI theme                                  |
| `/thinking`    | Set extended thinking depth (off/low/medium/high) |
| `/think`       | Toggle thinking mode                              |
| `/help`        | Show all slash commands                           |

## Tool Permissions

When the companion invokes a tool that requires approval (bash, file write, file edit), a permission prompt appears:

```
┌─ Tool Approval Required ─────────────────────────────┐
│ bash: git log --oneline -10                          │
│                                                      │
│ [Allow Once]  [Allow Session]  [Deny]                │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

* **Allow Once**: permits this single invocation
* **Allow Session**: permits this tool for the rest of the session
* **Deny**: rejects and tells the companion it was denied

At trust level 4 (Sovereign), no approval prompts appear.

## Context Compaction

When the conversation fills the model's context window, Grind automatically summarizes older messages into a compact summary. You'll see a notice when compaction occurs. Manual compaction is available via `/compact`.

## Image Attachments

Attach images to messages by pasting them or using the image attach shortcut. The companion can analyze images using vision-capable models (Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini).

## Sessions

Conversations are persisted to the vault (`conversations` and `messages` tables). Use `/sessions` to browse past conversations and `/new` to start fresh while keeping history accessible.