The Chat Composer
Every control in the chat, and how fluos decides what to do with a message.
Chat is the whole interface. This page is a reference for what each control does.
Composer controls
| Control | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Thinking effort | How much reasoning the agent spends per turn: Low, Medium, High, or Extra high. Defaults to Medium. Open the effort control to change it. |
| Max | Paid-plan toggle for AI image and video generation. See MAX Mode. |
| Add content | Attach files, insert a saved snippet, or pull something from the library. |
| Microphone | Dictate a message. Recordings cap at two minutes and are transcribed into the composer, where you can edit before sending. |
/ | Opens the Skills picker and inserts an @skill-name mention. |
/compact | Summarizes a long conversation so the agent stays focused. |
| Send / Stop | Sends, or interrupts a running build. |
There is no mode switch. You do not have to choose between planning and building — fluos reads each message and decides.
Drag files anywhere over the chat and you get a drop target for images, videos, and PDFs. Attached files start uploading as soon as you add them.
What the placeholder is telling you
The composer placeholder changes with context, which is a useful signal:
- "Describe the video you want to create…" — a fresh project, nothing built yet.
- "Ask Fluos to update the video scenes…" — a video exists and you can ask for changes.
- "Queue a follow-up, or steer this build…" — a build is running. Anything you send now is queued, or can be used to steer the build in progress.
What fluos does with a message
Each message gets one of three responses:
- A conversational answer. Questions, brainstorming, research, and feedback on what you see.
- A storyboard. For a new video, fluos proposes the scenes first and waits for your approval. See Storyboards.
- A build. Direct requests to create or change the video start a build.
These start a build:
- Direct requests to create or change the video — "make a 15-second teaser", "slow scene 2"
- Approving a storyboard — Approve and build, or "build it"
- Retrying — "try again"
These get a conversational answer instead:
- Questions about capabilities — "can you do 9:16?", "what formats can I export?"
- Brainstorming and creative discussion
- Explicit "don't build yet"
- Research requests and questions about your footage
- Asking fluos to write a skill for you
If fluos answers when you wanted a build, say so directly: "build this now".
On the Free plan, questions and planning replies do not use credits, up to 20 a day; only real work spends your welcome credits. On paid plans every reply uses credits, and conversation costs far less than a build.
Queueing and steering
If you think of something mid-build, send it anyway. It shows as Queued, and you can promote it to Steer to redirect the run that is currently going rather than waiting for it to finish.
Editing and retrying
Hover any message you sent to get Edit message. Editing rewinds the conversation to that point and re-sends — everything after it is discarded, which is exactly what you want when a follow-up sent the build down the wrong path. Press ⌘+Enter to submit the edit, or Esc to cancel.
If a response fails, a Retry button appears on it.
Editing rewinds the thread
Editing an earlier message permanently drops the messages after it. The builds themselves are still safe in version history — only the conversation is truncated.
One conversation that remembers
fluos keeps your whole chat in view, so a build or a reply can use what you said earlier without you repeating it. It gets ready while you type, and your workspace stays available for about 15 minutes after you leave a chat, so coming back is fast. For very long chats, type /compact to summarize earlier context.
Multiple chats per project
A project starts with one chat, but you can add more with New chat in the sidebar. Chats in the same project share the same video and preview, so a second chat is a clean way to explore an alternative direction without cluttering the main thread.