Long chats

What you'll do

Keep working in a chat that has grown long. Compacting a chat sums up its older messages, so the AI keeps the full picture and has room for what comes next. Every message stays on your screen.

You can compact a chat whenever you like, and Emerge.ai offers to do it as a chat gets close to full.

Step-by-step

1. Open the chat you want to keep going.
2. Type /compact in the message box. It appears under Commands in the / menu, alongside your skills.
3. Send it, and wait for the chat to finish compacting.
4. Carry on with your next message.

As a chat gets close to full, a note above the message box tells you so, with a Compact button right there. Selecting it does the same as typing /compact.

What you still see afterwards

Compacting changes what the AI works from, not what you see.

• Every message stays on your screen. Nothing in the conversation is removed or hidden.
• A line marks where it happened. "Chat compacted by…" appears in the conversation, with the name of the person who compacted it. Select View summary there to read the summary the AI is now working from.
• The details are still there. When the AI needs something specific from earlier, like a figure, a name, or a decision, it searches the original messages and finds it.

When a chat fills up

The note above the message box reads "This chat is getting full. You can compact it anytime with /compact." Once the chat is full, it reads "This chat is full. Compact it to keep going."

If a chat runs out of room, it compacts itself. Emerge.ai tells you "This chat is too long for Brie, so it's being compacted. Send your message again when it's done." Your message was not answered, so send it again once compacting finishes.

The context ring (beta)

With Beta Features on, a small ring in the message box fills up as the chat grows.

• Select the ring to see how much room is left and what is using it.
• From 70% full, that view also has a Compact button.

The ring is in beta, so it may change or disappear between releases.

When a chat won't compact

The product says why:

• "This chat is too short to compact." There is nothing to sum up yet.
• "Answer the waiting approval before compacting this chat." Something in the chat is waiting for you to approve it. Answer it, then compact.
• "Wait for Brie to finish replying before compacting this chat." Let the reply finish, then compact.
• "You have reached your AI usage limit, so Brie can't compact this chat right now." Try again once your limit resets. Plans, Tokens & Billing explains the limits.
• "Lockdown mode is on, so a chat with an on-device model can't be compacted." An on-device model is a local model in the desktop app (beta). The product adds "Switch to a cloud model to compact it." See Lockdown Mode.
• "Brie couldn't compact this chat. Try again." Try again in a moment.

Definitions

• Compacting — summing up a chat's older messages so the AI keeps the full picture and has room for more. Your messages stay on screen.
• Summary — what the AI works from for the older part of a compacted chat. View summary on the "Chat compacted by…" line shows it.
• Context ring — a beta indicator in the message box that shows how full a chat is.

Related topics

• Your first chat — starting a chat, and what to do when one doesn't answer
• Skills — the other commands in the / menu
• Beta Features — the toggle that shows the context ring
• Troubleshooting