Using Super Chat

What is Super Chat?

Super Chat is your primary interface for interacting with your Super Brain. Ask questions in natural language, and Elephas generates responses backed by your own indexed data with citations.

Smart starter questions

When you enter a Brain with no chat history, Elephas shows Smart starter questions automatically generated based on your Role and indexed data. Click any suggestion to get going quickly, or type your own question.

If you have previous conversations, you will see the chat history list instead. Click any conversation to continue, or start a new one.

Starting a new chat

• Click the + New Chat button at the top of the chat interface, or
• Press ⌘ + N on your keyboard

This creates a new conversation thread, separate from your previous chats.

System messages (custom instructions)

System Messages (also called System Instructions or Custom Instructions) define how Elephas behaves during your chat session. They set the AI's tone, purpose, and personality, and help prevent rambling answers. For example, a “Nonsense Killer” instruction can list rules like “be concise, no filler, cite sources”, while a “Literary Genius” instruction can fix a specific writing style. Be explicit about the rules you want followed.

Selecting AI models

For individual sessions

Open Chat Settings → General → Model to view and switch models for the current chat session.

For global default

1. Go to Preferences → Model Settings
2. Choose your default AI model, which applies to all new chat sessions

Offline model indicator

If your selected Brain uses Elephas Offline for indexing and chat, an Offline badge appears in two places:

• Next to the brain name in the chat title
• In the top-right corner of the chat interface

This confirms that all indexing and chatting are happening fully offline. Your private data stays secure and local.

Asking questions

Type your question in the input box and press Enter to submit. Elephas internally queries the indexed content, then generates a response with citations from your documents.

Citations

Every response includes citations from your indexed data, showing exactly where the information came from. This helps you verify accuracy and explore source materials further.

New brain search

Click New brain search to trigger a fresh search across your Super Brain when you want the most current results. By default, follow-up questions use the previous discussion context. Use New brain search when you want to start a fresh search instead.

Filters

To focus your search on specific documents:

1. Click the Filter icon to the left of the input box
2. Select the documents you want to include
3. Click Apply

Elephas will now only search within your selected documents.

Prompt Library

Access pre-built prompts designed to enhance your Elephas interactions. Open it with Cmd + L or the button at the bottom of the chat interface. When you pick a prompt (for example a “Study a Topic” template), it appears in the chat with bracketed sections you customize before sending.

Chat Settings

Customize your chat experience through Chat Settings. You can switch AI models, adjust the AI's communication style and tone, and change the font appearance for better readability during extended chat sessions.

Default Chat (no Super Brain)

When you want to chat about general topics outside your Super Brain, use the default chat feature. You can ask questions on any topic and even attach files for analysis.

To attach files

1. Click the Plus icon on the left of the input box
2. Select the files and click Open
3. Ask questions about the attached files

The entire file content is processed, so consider using AI models that support higher token limits for large files.

Exporting a chat answer

You can export a Super Chat answer as a PDF, Markdown, Presentation, or Text file. You can also give an extra instruction to shape the file (e.g. “Add suitable headings for each topic”). For slides, see creating presentations.

Audio: record or add voice

Capture spoken notes with Record Notes from the status menu (shortcut Ctrl + Cmd + A) → Start Recording. Elephas transcribes the audio, and you can add the text to a Brain or snippet, or copy it. You can also add audio files (Zoom recordings, voice memos) to a Super Brain so they're searchable alongside your documents.

Getting help inside the app

Click the headset icon in the sidebar to open the in-app Support Chat and ask questions in natural language for instant answers. To reach the team, use Create Ticket (or the envelope icon at the top-right) to send a support request.