> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lovable.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Chat with Lovable across your workspace > Chats is where you work with Lovable outside a project: think through ideas, ask about your apps and workspace, use your connected tools, create files, talk by voice, and send work to a project when you are ready to build. Chats is where you have personal conversations with Lovable outside your projects. Start a chat without opening a project, then bring in the projects, files, and connected tools you need. Use a chat, for example, to: * **Develop an idea** before you decide what to build, or choose between several directions. * **Understand your workspace**: what each project does, what changed recently, and what is worth improving. * **Work across projects**, comparing several apps or coordinating changes across them. * **Get work done in your connected tools**: summarize your inbox, draft a Notion page, or open a Linear issue. * **Use an app you built**: once the app is connected as a tool, ask it questions or update its records, such as finding late orders and marking them shipped. * **Create content**: a brief, an analysis, a table, an image, or a short video. * **Research current information** on the web, with sources. When you want something built or changed, Lovable sends your request to a project, where the work happens. Chats is available in every workspace on all plans. Workspace editors, admins, and owners can start chats. This is for chatting with Lovable across your workspace. You can think through ideas, work with your connected tools, and send work to any project you can edit from one place, without opening a project first. Want to discuss the app you are working on without leaving it instead? Use [Chat mode](/features/chat-mode), the **Chat** option in the project chat's mode picker. ## Chat pricing and daily chat allowance Chat usage follows its own pricing model, including a per-message price and a daily chat allowance. A chat message is priced on the work Lovable does to answer it, typically a fraction of a credit. Free, Pro, and Business workspaces include a daily chat allowance that covers chat messages first. The allowance belongs to the workspace, so everyone's chat messages draw on the same daily pool. When the day's allowance is used up, chat messages keep the same per-message price and draw on your daily build credits, then your general credits. The allowance resets every day at 00:00 UTC and does not roll over. Enterprise plans do not include a daily chat allowance. See [Chat costs](/introduction/credits-and-usage#chat-costs) for the full rules. In a chat, the daily chat allowance covers conversation, research, connector queries, and the text files Lovable creates. Work the chat sends to a project, and images and videos Lovable generates in a chat, use build credits instead. See [Send work to a project](#send-work-to-a-project), [Create files in a chat](#create-files-in-a-chat), and [Chat costs](/introduction/credits-and-usage#chat-costs). **Temporary offering, subject to change.** The current chat pricing model, including the per-message price and the daily chat allowance, applies through **October 31, 2026**. Pro and Business workspaces receive a larger daily chat allowance than Free workspaces. This pricing applies to messages in Chats and Chat mode, including messages sent through Slack or Telegram and requests made by voice. Build mode, Plan mode, image and video generation, and Cloud and AI usage follow their standard pricing and are not part of this offer. ## Start a chat Each of the following starts a personal conversation that appears on the **Chats** page. Only you can open it, even if a teammate has its link. * **Dashboard**: The dashboard prompt box opens in **Build** the first time, then remembers the mode you last used. Select **Chat** in the mode picker beside it. While your daily chat allowance lasts, the send button reads **Chat for free**. * **Chats**: Select **Chats** in the sidebar, then **New chat**. The **Chats** item appears once you have started a chat. You can also open the list at [lovable.dev/chats](https://lovable.dev/chats). * **Project card**: Open a project's **⋯** menu on the dashboard, then select **Chat about this project**. The prompt box opens in **Chat** with the project attached and a suggested message that you can edit or send. * **Mobile app**: Open the **Chats** tab in the [Lovable mobile app](/integrations/lovable-mobile-app) and start a new chat. Lovable names a chat from its first message. A chat started by voice can remain **Untitled chat** until Lovable has enough context to name it. You can rename it at any time. To explore without starting a build, say "Do not build anything yet." When you are ready, tell Lovable clearly to build or change the app. ## Ways to chat A chat is one continuous conversation however you use it. You can type at any time, including during a voice conversation. Dictation and a voice conversation cannot run at the same time, so end one before you start the other. Typed messages and voice transcripts stay together in the same history. * **Type** a message in the prompt box and send it. * **Dictate**: Select the microphone button, **Transcribe**, or press **Option+V** on macOS or **Alt+V** on Windows and Linux. Lovable transcribes your speech into the prompt box so you can review and edit before sending. * **Talk live**: Select the waveform button, **Start voice conversation**. Lovable listens and answers aloud. See [Have a live voice conversation](#have-a-live-voice-conversation). ### Have a live voice conversation A voice conversation is a live, two-way call inside a chat. It uses the same context, connected tools, permissions, and project handoffs as typed messages. Select **Start voice conversation** in a chat, or on the dashboard with **Chat** selected. Your browser asks for microphone access the first time. Lovable answers aloud and saves the conversation as messages alongside your typed ones. You can keep typing during the call. You can have one voice conversation at a time. If you open another chat, the call continues in a small voice control at the top of the page, where you can return to it, mute your microphone, or end the call. When Lovable needs your approval, for example to use a connector or send work to a project, review the card in the chat. Nothing you say out loud approves an action. To finish, select **End voice conversation** in the chat or in the voice control, or ask Lovable to end the call. OpenAI processes your voice and does not store the audio. Lovable saves a transcript to the chat. Avoid sharing passwords, secret keys, or other sensitive information. The call itself is not charged. Each request you make by voice is priced like a typed message and covered first by the daily chat allowance. If your workspace runs out of credits during a call, you can keep talking, and the call controls offer **Get credits**. Voice conversations are available in Chats. The project chat supports dictation instead. See [Limitations](#limitations) for browser requirements, availability, and usage limits. ## Explore and create in a chat Write to Lovable in plain language and describe the outcome you want, whether you type, dictate, or talk. Lovable uses your conversation and any projects, files, or tools you add as context, then answers in the chat, creates a file, or proposes [sending work to a project](#send-work-to-a-project). Lovable works within your permissions. It can list the projects you can see, but it reads a project's code and history, and sends work to it, only when you can edit that project. ### Add context Select **+** (**Chat actions**) beside the prompt box and choose **Add context**, or type `@`, to attach context to the message you are writing: * **Projects** adds workspace projects, up to 10 in one message. * **Connectors** adds tools such as Notion, Linear, Slack, Gmail, GitHub, or Granola. Select **Manage connectors** to connect another tool. * **Your files** adds a file Lovable created in any of your chats, up to 10 in one message. This list contains files Lovable created, not files you uploaded. * **Attach files** uploads documents, spreadsheets, screenshots, images, presentations, or audio from your device. Uploaded files attach to the message you send them with and are not added to the Context panel. Projects you add this way also appear in the chat's [Context panel](#manage-context-and-files) under **Projects**, and files from **Your files** appear under **Files**. They stay available to later requests until you remove them. ### Use connected tools Lovable reads from your connected tools without asking. Before it creates, sends, or changes anything through a tool, it asks for your approval in the chat. Connections follow their [sharing settings](/integrations/admin-controls#who-can-use-connections-and-clients). A connection you create from a chat starts as **Private**, which is sufficient for your own chats. In a chat, Lovable uses the connections you have access to, with one exception: it does not use another member's connection to a personal account, such as their Gmail or Linear, even when they shared it with you. See [Can I use a connection a teammate shared with me?](#faq) You can connect the tools your workspace makes available. Workspace admins set which connectors members can connect, and those [admin controls](/integrations/admin-controls#who-can-create-connections-and-clients) apply in Chats as they do in projects. Published Lovable apps with an [agent integration](/features/agent-integrations#use-your-app-in-your-chats) can also become tools. Their Cloud, AI, and third-party usage is charged to the workspace that owns the app. See [Connectors](/integrations/introduction) for setup, supported tools, and MCP servers. ### Create files in a chat Ask for the file you want, in plain language: a brief, an analysis, a table, an image, or a short video. What Lovable does depends on the format: * **Text-based files**: Lovable creates documents, analyses, and tables as Markdown, text, CSV, or JSON in the chat. The message that produces them is chat usage, covered first by the daily chat allowance. * **Images and short videos**: Lovable also creates these in the chat, but each generation uses build credits. Lovable asks for confirmation first, with a **Generate this image?**, **Edit this image?**, or **Generate this video?** card, and you can approve once or save separate permissions for image generation, image editing, and video generation. The charge shows as **Image generation** or **Video generation** in [Usage details](/introduction/credits-and-usage#reading-the-chart). * **PDF files, slide decks, spreadsheets with formulas, Word documents, and web pages**: These need a project. The chat cannot produce these formats itself, so Lovable creates or uses a project to generate the file. The project generates it as a build, which uses build credits, even though no app is built. The chat shows a card for the project, and the finished file opens beside the conversation, where you can preview and download it. ## Send work to a project A chat does not edit project code itself. When you clearly ask Lovable to build or change an app, it sends your request to a project, in your own words. The project does the work, records it in its own history, and reports back to the chat. Describing an idea or agreeing with a suggestion does not send work. The conversation is chat usage. After the handoff, the project's work is build usage, priced as [Build mode](/introduction/credits-and-usage#build-costs) or [Plan mode](/features/plan-mode#how-plan-mode-messages-are-priced) work. ### Approve the handoff You can send work only to projects you can edit. When approval is required, Lovable shows a card that summarizes the work and notes that it uses build credits. For a new app, the **Create a new project?** card offers: * **Always allow**: Creates the project and lets Lovable create future projects from any chat without asking again. * **Allow once**, in the card's menu: Creates only this project. For an existing app, the **Edit \[project name]?** card offers: * **Always allow**: Any project you can edit, from any of your chats. * **Always allow for this project**: This project, from any of your chats. * **Allow in this chat**: This project, in this chat only. **Skip** on either card leaves the work unsent. A new project receives your request, not your whole conversation. Lovable skips the edit card when a saved approval covers the project, when the project was created in this chat, or when your latest message has exactly one project attached through **Projects** or `@`. Writing a project's name in plain text does not skip the card. **Always allow** is a standing permission across your chats. Handoffs it covers begin without another card, every build still uses build credits, and it never gives Lovable access to a project you cannot edit. ### Follow the build After the handoff, the chat shows **Sent work to** and the project's name, or **Created project** for a new app, and the app's preview opens beside the conversation. The project builds while you continue chatting, and a follow-up from the chat sends it a new instruction. Questions, plan approvals, and credit check-ins from the project appear as cards in the chat, and Lovable reports the result when the build finishes. To follow the work in detail, open the project. To stop the build from the chat, open the project's menu in the **Context** panel and select **Stop**. In the project's chat, the request is labeled **Sent from Chats**, so collaborators see where the work came from without seeing your conversation. ### Plan, test, or publish You can also ask for a project action that is not a direct build: * Ask Lovable to plan the change in [Plan mode](/features/plan-mode) when you want to review and approve the approach before implementation. * Ask it to build in a [draft](/features/drafts) when you want to test the change separately before accepting it into the project. * Ask it to [publish](/features/publish) a project you can edit. Publishing follows the same permissions and workspace policies as publishing from the project itself. ## Manage context and files Open the **Context** panel from the button in the upper-right corner of a chat. The **Context** panel groups what this chat can use: * **Projects** lists the projects you have referenced. * **Files** lists files Lovable created in this chat and files you added from **Your files**. ### Projects The **Projects** list shows the projects you have referenced. Items remain available to later requests until you remove them. Select **+** (**Add context**) at the top of the panel to add an existing project, connector, or file from **Your files** without mentioning it in your message. Open the **More options** menu beside an item to manage it. Its two main actions are: * **Reference in chat** attaches the item to your next request. * **Remove from context** stops Lovable from using the item in later requests without changing or deleting the original. Depending on the item, the menu also offers **Open in new tab**, **View drafts** or **Hide drafts**, and **New draft**. While a build the chat started is running, the project's menu also offers **Stop**. ### Files The **Files** list contains files Lovable created in this chat and files you added from **Your files**. Files generated through a project stay in that project and do not appear here. Select a file to preview it. Open its menu to: * **Reference in chat** to use it in your next request. * **Download** it. * **Version history** to open an earlier version. * **Remove from context** to stop Lovable from using it in this chat. The file itself is not deleted. To use the file in another chat, select **+** (**Chat actions**) → **Add context** in that chat or type `@`, then select the file under **Your files**. To revise a file, ask Lovable in the chat, and it saves the revision as a new version. For the formats a project can generate, such as PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files, and for the project's own **Files** tab, see [Generate files and analyze data](/features/generate-files). ## Manage your chats Every chat you start is listed in the sidebar and on the **Chats** page. This section covers how to see what a chat is costing, find and organize your chats, read their status, and use their menus. ### Track your allowance and usage Lovable shows how much of the daily chat allowance is left in several places: * The **Chat** option in the mode picker shows a **Free** badge while the workspace has daily chat allowance remaining. The ring in the badge shows how much of today's allowance is left and empties as you chat. Hold the pointer over the badge to read the percentage left and when it resets, for example **60% of free chat left (resets 02:00)**. * Inside a chat, select its title at the top. The bottom of the menu shows the allowance state, for example **60% of free chat left** or, after the allowance runs out, **Using credits to chat**, and the workspace's remaining credits. Select the credits line to open the usage breakdown. * The **More options** menu on a Lovable reply shows **Chat time** and **Chat credits used** for the conversation. **Chat credits used** reads **Free** when the allowance covered the reply. When the reply also sent work to a project, **Build time** and **Build credits used** show the build's cost separately, so you can see what the allowance covered and what used build credits. * [**Settings → Plans & credit usage**](https://lovable.dev/settings/billing) shows the percentage of today's allowance left in the [**Daily chat credits** row](/introduction/credits-and-usage#view-your-credit-balance). To review chat usage over time, select **More usage details** there and choose **Build credits**. Chat usage appears under **Chat**. Chat usage covered by the allowance or your daily build credits does not appear. See [Reading the chart](/introduction/credits-and-usage#reading-the-chart). You can continue chatting after the daily chat allowance runs out. Lovable shows **Chats may now use your credits**, and further chat usage draws on your daily build credits, then your general credits, at the same per-message price. If the workspace has no credits available, Lovable shows **Chat credits unavailable** and pauses chats until an admin or owner adds credits or the daily chat allowance resets. See [Chat costs](/introduction/credits-and-usage#chat-costs). ### Find and organize chats Select **Chats** in the sidebar to see all your chats, starred chats first. Use **Search chats...** to find a chat by name, and the filter next to it to show **All** or **Unread** chats. Search matches chat names, not message text. Star a chat to keep it at the top of the list, rename it, or give it an icon, from either of the [chat menus](#chat-menus). ### Chat status A dot on a chat's row shows the chat's state: at the right edge in the sidebar, and next to the title on the **Chats** page. In the sidebar, hold the pointer over the row to read the label. | Dot | Label | Meaning | | :------------ | :----------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Gray, pulsing | **Working…** | Lovable, or a project the chat sent work to, is working | | Yellow | **Waiting for approval** | Lovable has paused until you act: it asked you a question, or a project the chat sent work to needs your approval | | Red | **Failed** | Lovable's work in that chat, or in the project it sent work to, failed. Open the chat to see what happened | | Blue | **Unread** | A reply you have not opened yet, or a chat you marked as unread | On the **Chats** page, chats waiting for you are also grouped at the top under **Waiting for you**, and the rest of the list gets the heading **All chats**. Open a chat to answer or decide, and its dot clears. ### Chat menus Open a chat's **⋯** menu in the sidebar or on the **Chats** page, or select the chat's title inside the chat, to manage it: * **Star chat** keeps the chat at the top of your list. * **Rename** gives the chat a new name. Inside a chat, you can also press **F2**, or **Cmd+Shift+.** on macOS and **Ctrl+Shift+.** on Windows and Linux. * **Change icon** gives the chat a different icon. * **Mark as unread** shows the blue unread dot on the chat again. Available in the **⋯** menu only. * **Copy link** copies the chat's web address so you can open it on another device or save it in your notes. The link opens only for you and does not give a teammate access to the chat. Available in the **⋯** menu only. * **Go to dashboard** leaves the chat and opens the dashboard. Available in the title menu only. * **Delete** removes the chat after you confirm in the **Delete chat** dialog. Deleting a chat is permanent and stops work still running inside that chat. Work already sent to a project remains in the project. ## Limitations These limits apply whether you type, dictate, or talk. * A typed message can contain up to 50,000 characters. Any message can reference up to 10 projects and 10 files. * In very long conversations, Lovable can lose access to the oldest context. Keep important source material in [workspace knowledge](/features/knowledge) or in a file. * A chat cannot directly edit project files, revert a project, or apply visual edits. You can stop a build the chat started from the project's menu in the **Context** panel. * Workspace skills and goals (`/goal`) are not available in Chats. Open a project for those workflows. * Voice conversations need microphone permission, a stable internet connection, and Chrome, Safari, or Edge. They are unreliable in Firefox. * Each person can use up to 60 minutes of voice per day, and one browser holds one voice conversation at a time. * Voice conversations are available in Chats only. The project chat supports dictation instead. * Voice conversations and dictation are not available in workspaces that require all AI processing to remain in the European Union. ## FAQ Common questions about working in Chats. Both let you discuss ideas and ask questions at chat pricing, and both draw on the same daily chat allowance. The difference is where the conversation lives and what Lovable starts with. Chats live outside your projects. You start one from the dashboard with **Chat** selected or at [lovable.dev/chats](https://lovable.dev/chats). Lovable starts with your workspace: the projects, files, and connected tools you can access and add. Only you can open a chat. When something needs building, Lovable sends the work to a project through a handoff, and the build uses build credits. [Chat mode](/features/chat-mode) is the **Chat** option in a [project chat](/features/projects/chat)'s mode picker. Lovable starts with the project you have open, including its code, preview, and history, and you can [add other projects](/features/cross-project-referencing) as context. Everyone with access to the project sees the conversation. When something needs building, Lovable shows a **Start building** card, and selecting **Build** switches to Build mode. To define a project change before implementation, use [Plan mode](/features/plan-mode). To make the change, use [Build mode](/features/agent-mode). There is no fixed message count. Each request uses an amount based on the work required, so a short follow-up generally uses less than a large investigation across several sources. No. Chats are private, including from workspace admins and owners, and there is no way to share a chat or make it public. **Copy link** copies a link that works only for you. Teammates can see work sent to shared projects, but they cannot open the chat that requested it. To collaborate on an outcome, send the work to a shared project, or download and share a file created in the chat. What you write in a chat, and the transcript of a voice conversation, is customer data under Lovable's [training data policy](/features/business/data-opt-out). Business and Enterprise workspace data is excluded from model training by default. On Free and Pro plans, you can opt out in your account settings. It depends on the connector. In a chat, Lovable uses the connections you have access to, except a connection to a personal account that another member created, such as their Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Outlook, GitHub, or Linear. Lovable does not use those in your chats even when the member shared them with you, and marks them with a lock in the connection list. A teammate's shared connection to a workspace tool, such as Slack, Notion, HubSpot, or Salesforce, and a **Managed by Lovable** connection set up as shared work in your chats. In a project, sharing works as usual for both kinds. See [Who can use connections and clients](/integrations/admin-controls#who-can-use-connections-and-clients). Yes. Use the **Chats** tab in the [Lovable mobile app](/integrations/lovable-mobile-app), or open [lovable.dev/chats](https://lovable.dev/chats) in your phone's browser. Voice conversations also work on phones. The chat sent work to a project, generated or edited an image, generated a video, or continued after the daily chat allowance was used up. Open the response's **More options** menu and [**Settings → Plans & credit usage**](https://lovable.dev/settings/billing) to review the charge. Lovable does not treat what you told one chat as standing instructions for another. Put durable instructions and shared product context in [workspace knowledge](/features/knowledge) so they apply across chats and projects. ## Troubleshooting If Lovable shows one of these messages in a chat, this is what it means and what to do. Your workspace has used up today's daily chat allowance and has no daily build credits or general credits to draw on. Add credits, ask a workspace admin or owner to add them, or wait for the allowance to reset at 00:00 UTC. See [What happens when you run out of credits](/introduction/credits-and-usage#what-happens-when-you-run-out-of-credits). A credit limit set for your workspace or for you as a member has been reached, so chats are paused even if credits remain. A workspace admin or owner can raise the limit. If you cannot manage billing, the notice asks you to contact one. See [Can I limit how many credits members can spend?](/introduction/credits-and-usage#can-i-limit-how-many-credits-members-can-spend) Lovable could not hand the work to the project. Check that the project still exists and that you can still edit it, then ask again. If the workspace cannot pay for project work, Lovable keeps the request in the chat and tells you why. The chat was deleted in another tab or on another device, so nothing more can be sent in it. If you had an unsent draft, select **Copy draft** to use it in a new chat. The chat you opened belongs to a different workspace you are a member of. Select **Switch to \[workspace name]** to open it there. Your browser or device blocked the microphone. Allow microphone access for lovable.dev in your browser's site settings, or in your device's privacy settings, then start the voice conversation again. You have a call open in another chat. Return to that chat, or end the call from the voice control at the top of the page, then start the new conversation. You have used your 60 minutes of voice for today. The message shows when the limit resets. Until then, keep chatting by typing. The connection to the call was lost, most often after a network change or when the browser tab was in the background for a long time. A service restart shows a similar message. Select **Resume** to reconnect, or continue by typing. If drops repeat in Firefox, switch to Chrome, Safari, or Edge. ## Related topics - [Chat connectors: Connect your tools to Lovable using MCP servers](/integrations/chat-connectors.md) - [Chat with Lovable in Telegram](/tips-tricks/lovable-telegram-bot.md) - [Work with Lovable in the project chat](/features/projects/chat.md) - [Chat with Lovable in Slack](/integrations/lovable-for-slack.md) - [Cross-project referencing](/features/cross-project-referencing.md)