What Ask AI is and how to start a chat

What you need before the first message

Ask AI runs on an AI provider that you connect in Settings, under AI providers. For now it does not run on Omne's own AI, so a workspace with no provider connected sees a box on the empty chat that reads "Ask AI runs on your own AI provider for now, billed to your account there. OpenRouter connects in one click." with a Connect button.

The quickest way to start is OpenRouter, which connects with one click and gives you many models through one account. If you already have an API key from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini or another provider, you can paste that instead. Both routes are described in Connect an AI provider.

If you already use an agent such as Claude Code on your computer, you can chat with that instead of a provider. See Bring your own agent.

Starting a chat

1. Open Ask AI from the area switch beside the logo.
2. Check the model name at the bottom of the message box. It shows the model in use, and clicking it opens a menu of every connected provider and its models.
3. Type your question in the box that says Ask anything…, then press the send arrow or Enter.
4. Watch the answer arrive. It streams in as the model writes it, and a line above it shows the step in progress, such as Thinking with a count of seconds.

The Stop button replaces the send arrow while an answer is running. The pencil icon at the top left, New chat, clears the conversation and starts again.

Suggestions on the empty chat

When the chat is empty and a provider is connected, three suggestion chips appear under the box. They depend on what you have connected. A workspace with a meeting-notes service connected sees "Summarize my meetings this week", one with GitHub sees "How are my GitHub repos doing?", and every workspace gets "Draft an X post about what I worked on" and "What needs my attention?" as fallbacks. Clicking a chip sends it as your first message.

Speaking instead of typing

If your browser supports speech recognition, a microphone button named Speak appears next to the send button. Click it, talk, and your words are added to the box as you go. Click it again to stop. Browsers that do not support speech recognition simply do not show the button.

What Ask AI can use

Beyond answering from the model's own knowledge, a chat can call tools that belong to your connected accounts. The Connectors button in the message box lists the connected accounts that bring tools and lets you switch each one on or off for your chats. Reading tools run straight away. Anything that would change something, such as posting or saving, waits for your Allow or Decline first. Both ideas have their own articles: Use your connected accounts in a chat and How approvals work.

What it does not do yet

Ask AI does not store your conversations. The page holds the chat while you use it, and starting a new chat or leaving the page ends it. It also does not read your Library, your posts or your store through a provider chat, because the tools it has today come from connected accounts. The full picture of what the AI sees is in What the AI sees and what is sent.