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Chats are the fundamental unit of work in ZeroTwo. Every conversation lives in a chat, and the left sidebar is your central hub for managing them. This page covers everything from creating your first chat to keeping a large history organized.

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Starting a New Chat

There are three ways to start a new conversation: Keyboard shortcut (fastest): Press Cmd+Shift+O on Mac or Ctrl+Shift+O on Windows/Linux. A new blank chat opens immediately, ready for your first message. This shortcut works from anywhere in the ZeroTwo interface. Pencil icon: Click the pencil (compose) icon at the top of the left sidebar. This opens a new chat in the main area. “New Chat” button: On some screen sizes and configurations, a labeled “New Chat” button appears at the top of the sidebar. Click it to open a fresh conversation.
Starting a new chat also gives the AI a completely fresh context window. If your current conversation is getting long, drifting off topic, or filled with noise from earlier iterations, starting a new chat is often the cleanest way to refocus.

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Chat Auto-Naming

When you send your first message in a new chat, ZeroTwo automatically generates a short title based on the content of that message. The title appears in the left sidebar immediately after your first exchange. Auto-generated names are brief and descriptive — for example, “Refactor auth middleware” or “Q3 marketing strategy ideas” — designed to help you recognize conversations at a glance without naming everything manually.

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Renaming a Chat

If the auto-generated name is not descriptive enough, or you want to add your own naming convention:
1

Right-click the chat in the sidebar

Find the chat you want to rename in the left sidebar. Right-click the chat title (or long-press on mobile) to open the context menu.
2

Select Rename

Click Rename from the context menu. The chat title in the sidebar becomes an editable text field.
3

Type the new name and confirm

Type your preferred title and press Enter to save. Press Escape to cancel without making changes.
You can also click the chat title displayed in the conversation header area at the top of the main chat view to rename it inline.

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Pinning a Chat

Pin important or frequently-referenced chats to keep them at the top of the sidebar, permanently above the chronological history:
1

Right-click the chat in the sidebar

Open the context menu for the chat you want to pin.
2

Select Pin

Click Pin. The chat moves to a Pinned section at the very top of the sidebar, where it stays regardless of when it was last active.
3

Unpin when no longer needed

Right-click the pinned chat and select Unpin to return it to its place in the chronological list.
Pinned chats are sorted by pin order (most recently pinned appears first in the Pinned section). You can pin as many chats as needed — there is no limit.

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Sidebar Organization

The sidebar organizes all your conversations into automatic time-based groups:
SectionWhat’s Included
PinnedChats you have explicitly pinned — always at the top
TodayChats with activity in the last 24 hours
YesterdayChats last active the previous calendar day
This WeekChats from the current week (not today or yesterday)
OlderEverything before the current week, in reverse chronological order
Project sections appear below the main chat history as collapsible groups. Each project shows its name and a count of chats inside. Click the project name to expand or collapse the list. Project chats are visually distinct from standalone chat history.

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Chats in Projects

When you start a chat from within a project — either by clicking into the project workspace or by using the new chat button while a project is active — that chat is scoped to the project:
  • It appears in the sidebar under the project’s collapsible section
  • The project’s instruction set (system prompt) is automatically injected into every message
  • The chat has access to the project’s shared file library
  • Navigate to it via the sidebar or directly at /projects/:id
Project chats are ideal for work that spans multiple sessions with consistent context requirements — a product you are building, a client you work with regularly, or a research area you return to often.

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Continuing an Existing Chat

To continue a conversation:
  1. Click the chat in the left sidebar — it opens in the main area
  2. Scroll to the bottom to see the most recent messages
  3. Type your next message in the prompt bar
  4. Press Enter to send
ZeroTwo sends the full conversation history to the model as context with each new message, so the AI remembers everything discussed in previous turns. There is no need to re-explain background information.
Very long conversations may eventually approach the model’s context window limit. If you notice the AI starting to lose track of earlier details, consider starting a new chat and opening with a brief summary of the key context. See Shared Context and Continuity for details.

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Deleting a Chat

1

Right-click the chat in the sidebar

Open the context menu for the chat you want to delete.
2

Select Delete

Click Delete from the context menu.
3

Confirm deletion

A confirmation dialog appears. Click Delete again to permanently remove the chat. Click Cancel to abort.
Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. The entire conversation is removed from your account. If the chat has a shared link, that link becomes immediately inactive. Export or copy any important content before deleting.
For bulk deletion, see Delete Chats.

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Keyboard Shortcuts

ActionMacWindows / Linux
New chatCmd + Shift + OCtrl + Shift + O
Submit messageEnterEnter
New line in messageShift + EnterShift + Enter
Stop generationEscapeEscape
Focus prompt bar//

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Chat vs. Project: When to Use Each

Use CaseRecommended Approach
One-off question or quick taskStandalone chat — minimal overhead, easy to create and discard
Ongoing work with multiple conversationsProject — shared instructions, organized history, persistent context
Brainstorming or explorationStandalone chat — low commitment, easy to iterate
Long-running work with consistent AI contextProject — instructions applied to every chat automatically
Sharing a specific conversation publiclyStandalone chat with a shared link
Team work with shared contextProject in a Business workspace
Standalone chats are best for quick tasks, single-topic questions, and experiments. They appear in your main chronological history and can be renamed, pinned, or deleted. Projects are best for work that spans multiple sessions — a product you are building, a research area you keep returning to, or a client you work with regularly. The project’s instruction set keeps the AI aligned with your ongoing context without requiring you to re-enter it each time.
Use projects to group related chats instead of letting them pile up in the main sidebar. A project named “Client: Acme” with its own instruction set keeps all Acme-related conversations together and ensures the AI always knows the client context.

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