Cola

One continuous conversation

The conversation is one ongoing stream by default — no session list to manage, switch, rename, or archive.

• Context carries over — pick up earlier topics where you left them, no re-explaining.
• Memory participates naturally — your preferences, projects, and habits are remembered and used, so you don't repeat yourself (see Memory and preferences).
• Proactive check-ins surface here — after a conversation winds down, Cola may pick up an unfinished thread the next time it speaks (see Imprints).

Input

The composer supports Tab-completion for / skill commands: type / to see a candidate list, narrow it with arrow keys or by typing, and press Tab to fill. Undo (⌘Z on macOS, Ctrl+Z on Windows) and redo (⌘⇧Z on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+Z on Windows) are supported.

Quotes and / skills work together: when quoted content is pinned above the composer, invoking a / skill keeps it, and the quote goes out with that message. If the pinned skill is no longer on this machine, sending tells you to pick another one or remove it first.

Interface language

In Settings > General > Language you can switch the interface language. Supported languages: English, Español, 日本語, 한국어, 简体中文, and 繁體中文.

What you see while Cola works

While a turn is running, a single line under the reply keeps telling you what is happening right now — thinking, searching, processing, verifying, or waiting for your confirmation. It lives only for that turn and disappears once the answer lands, fails, or is stopped; nothing is left in the history.

Cola also drops the occasional short note about what it is thinking or about to do. These process lines thread together inside the reply and do stay in the history. While the answer is still coming in there is no fold control and the lines simply appear in order; once the turn ends, each group keeps only its opening line: Show more opens the rest, Show less folds them back, and the choice does not carry into the next turn.

The final answer is always the body of the message — process lines and the status line never stand in for it.

If Cola keeps repeating the same step without moving the task forward, the turn stops on its own and says in the conversation that it stopped for exactly that reason. Ask it to continue whenever you want it to carry on.

Diagrams and formulas in replies

Mermaid code blocks in Cola's replies are drawn as diagrams. Just ask for one:

Diagram this approval flow as a Mermaid flowchart.

The block's header reads Mermaid, with a few actions on the right:

• Source switches between the diagram and its source; the button then reads Diagram.
• Enlarge diagram opens it at full size in a dialog you can scroll when the diagram is wide.
• Tall diagrams get an Expand control at the bottom, which becomes Collapse.

While the block is still arriving it reads Generating diagram…, and Rendering diagram… while it is drawn. If it cannot be drawn, Cola says the diagram can't be displayed and leaves the source in place for you to read or copy.

Math is rendered too: $...$ inline, $$...$$ as its own block. Amounts are not mistaken for math — text like "from $5 to $10" stays as written.

Sending messages mid-turn

While Cola is working, you can type and send a new message. The message joins the running turn instead of waiting in a queue. Cola sees it and folds your new input into the work already underway; your message appears inline in Cola's response stream.

This also works in Projects sessions.

Stopping puts unread messages back in the composer

If you fire off several messages and then press Stop, the ones Cola had not read yet are retracted from the conversation and put back into the composer, in the order you sent them, joined with whatever you had already typed. Attachments come back too, so you don't have to pick the files again.

A few things to know:

• Only messages Cola had not read come back. Anything it already folded into the running turn stays in the conversation; Stop does not retract it.
• Only a deliberate stop restores them. An interruption such as a dropped connection also retracts unread messages, but does not refill the composer.
• A half-written answer isn't wasted. Whatever Cola had already said when you stopped stays in context, so "keep going" picks up from where the reply broke off instead of starting over.
• Two things are flattened on restore: pending quoted content above the composer becomes quoted text in the body, and a pinned / skill becomes plain text. Re-pick them if you still want them.
• Each Projects session keeps its own: stopping a background session writes into that session's composer and waits there, without disturbing the one you are looking at.
• Pressing Stop from your phone still restores the composer on the computer, but messages you sent from the phone are not restored.

Editing and re-sending

You can edit your last message and send it again. Click Edit on your most recent message, modify the text, and send. Cola rewinds to the point just before that message and starts the turn over with your revised input.

Only the latest message can be edited. If Cola is still responding, or the conversation has moved on since that message, editing is temporarily unavailable.

This also works in Projects sessions.

Interruption recovery

If a turn is interrupted by a connectivity issue, Cola resumes from where it left off rather than replaying the entire prompt, preventing duplicate actions.

Related

• Imprints — how Cola comes back to you on its own
• Voice Input and Shortcuts — voice input, shortcuts, and Mini Chat

Platforms: macOS and Windows desktop. Status: stable.