The Chat Composer
Every control in the chat, and how the agent 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 |
|---|---|
| Build / Plan | The mode toggle. Build applies changes to your video; Plan is read-only and outlines them first. Toggle with Shift+Tab. |
| Thinking effort | How much reasoning the agent spends per turn: Low, Medium, High, Max. Defaults to Medium. |
| Max | Pro 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. |
| Send / Stop | Sends, or interrupts a running build. |
Drag files anywhere over the chat and you get a drop target for images, videos, and PDFs.
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…" — Build mode with an existing video.
- "Describe the video you want to plan…" — Plan mode.
- "Queue a follow-up, or steer this build…" — a build is running. Anything you send now is queued and applied after, or used to steer the build in progress.
Which messages start a build
Not every message triggers a build. Before running anything, fluos classifies what you asked for.
These start a build:
- Direct requests to create or change the video — "make a 15-second teaser", "slow scene 2"
- Approving a plan — "implement it", "build it"
- Retrying — "try again"
These get a conversational answer instead, and cost no build:
- Questions about capabilities — "can you do 9:16?", "what formats can I export?"
- Brainstorming and creative discussion
- Explicit "don't build yet" or "just plan this"
- Research requests and questions about your footage
- Asking fluos to write a skill for you
This matters most on the free plan, where builds are limited. Ask as many questions as you like; only real work counts against the quota.
Queueing and steering
If you think of something mid-build, send it anyway. It gets queued and shown 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.
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 composition and preview, so a second chat is a clean way to explore an alternative direction without cluttering the main thread.