# Chat basics

> Chat is where you ask Spiich to research, draft and update your CRM. Threads live in the sidebar, the composer holds mentions, files and voice, and three tiers set how hard Spiich thinks.

- Source: https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/chat-basics
- Section: Chat and voice
- Who can do this: Everyone
- Time: 5 minutes
- Last updated: 2026-08-24

Chat is the default landing page in Spiich and the place most work starts. It reads your connected CRM, email, calendar and meetings, and it carries out multi-step jobs rather than just answering questions. Every chat page shows the same reminder under the composer: `Spiich is an AI and can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.`

## Start a chat and find it again

1. **Open a new chat**
   Click `New Chat` in the sidebar, or press `Cmd+K` (`Ctrl+K` on Windows) and choose `New chat`. An empty chat opens on your home board: your next meeting, anything waiting for you, your pinned Quick actions, and starter prompts such as `Walk me through my day` or `Which deals have gone quiet?`

2. **Send something real**
   Type your request and press Enter. The thread is created on that first message and Spiich names it for you from the conversation.

3. **Watch the work log**
   While Spiich answers it narrates what it is doing: `Searching CRM`, `Searching the web`, `Saving entities`, `Composing email`. When it finishes, the steps collapse into `Worked for` plus a time. Click that to reopen every step it took.

4. **Keep the useful ones**
   Hover a thread in the sidebar and click the star (`Add to favorites`). Starred threads sit in a `Favorites` group above everything else instead of scrolling away.

Past conversations are grouped under `Today`, `Yesterday`, `This week` and `Older`, newest first, and more load as you scroll. The `...` menu on a thread holds `Rename` (Enter commits, Escape cancels) and `Delete`, which asks you to confirm first.

> **Note:** There is no search box over your chat history. Star the threads you come back to, or start a fresh chat and say what you want; that is faster than hunting for an old one.

## Run several chats at once

Send a message in one thread, switch to another and send there too. Each thread streams on its own and the sidebar shows a live indicator on every thread still working.

Inside a single thread only one answer runs at a time. If you send again while Spiich is still writing, your message sits in a visible queue under the composer and goes out when the current answer finishes. Remove it with `Remove from queue` if you change your mind. To cut an answer short, use the square stop button in the composer (`Stop generating`).

## What is in the composer

- `@` searches your CRM live and drops a real record into the message. See [Point Spiich at a specific record](/help/chat-and-voice/mention-crm-records).
- `/` lists your saved prompts and Skills together. See [Skills, the Prompt Library and Quick Actions](/help/chat-and-voice/skills-and-saved-prompts).
- The paperclip attaches files. See [Artifacts and files](/help/chat-and-voice/artifacts-and-files).
- The microphone dictates a message. See [Update your CRM by voice](/help/chat-and-voice/voice-updates).
- `Tab` accepts the grey ghost-text suggestion Spiich offers as you type, and jumps between the `{{variables}}` in a saved prompt.
- `Cmd+J` puts your cursor in the message box from anywhere on the page.

## Fast, Balanced and Expert

The tier chip in the composer sets how much reasoning a message gets. Your choice is remembered for the next message.

| Tier | Use it for | Daily limit |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `Fast` | Lookups and simple edits | None |
| `Balanced` | Drafts and multi-step CRM work | Draws on the daily allowance |
| `Expert` | Research and complex reasoning | Draws on the daily allowance |

Picking `Expert` switches `Thinking` on automatically, so the answer carries a collapsible `Thinking` block you can expand to read the reasoning. Leaving Expert switches it back off unless you turned Thinking on yourself with the brain icon.

Balanced and Expert share a daily allowance. A small ring appears beside the tier chip once that allowance is running low, and opening it shows `Usage limits`, the reset time and the share left today as a percentage. The absolute size is never shown, only the percentage. When it runs out, the panel reads `Paused`, or `On credits` if your workspace has paid usage enabled, and both tiers return at the reset. Fast stays available with no daily limit throughout. Workspaces that are not metered never see the ring at all.

> **Admin only:** The allowance belongs to the workspace, not to each person. An admin splits it between members in whole percentages in Settings, so a member who runs out can ask for a larger share.

## Web, email and calendar search

The `Tools` menu in the composer controls which outside sources Spiich may use for a message. Whatever is on shows as a removable chip beside the menu.

- `Web search` is on by default and lets Spiich search and read pages for company research and news.
- `Email search` appears as `Gmail search` or `Outlook search` depending on what you connected. It reads threads by contact, record or keyword.
- `Calendar search` appears as `Google Calendar` or `Outlook Calendar` and finds past and upcoming meetings by attendee or date.

Email and calendar rows show `Connect` until you link a Google or Microsoft account, and both switch on automatically the first time you connect one. See [Connect Gmail and Google Calendar](/help/connect-your-tools/connect-gmail-and-google-calendar) or [Connect Outlook and Microsoft 365](/help/connect-your-tools/connect-outlook-and-microsoft-365).

## Limits

- One answer per thread at a time. Extra messages queue rather than starting a second response.
- Long conversations load older messages ten at a time as you scroll up.
- Chat is blocked while a brand new workspace is still doing its first CRM sync. A progress bar replaces the composer until it finishes.
- Spiich will not present clipped results as complete. If a query matches more than it fetched, it says so and asks you to narrow the scope.

## If something goes wrong

- **Balanced and Expert are greyed out** with `Available when today's allowance resets`. Today's allowance is used up. Keep working on Fast, or wait for the reset time in the usage panel.
- **A banner asks you to reconnect your CRM.** The workspace's Attio, HubSpot or Pipedrive authorization expired. Only admins see the banner and can fix it. See [CRM sync problems](/help/troubleshooting/crm-sync-problems).
- **The Tools menu shows `Reconnect` with a warning icon** next to email or calendar. The mail or calendar permission was not granted or was revoked. Click the row and complete the consent screen again.
- **You sent a second message and nothing happened.** It is in the queue above the composer and goes out when the current answer finishes.

## Frequently asked questions

### Does deleting a chat delete the CRM changes Spiich made in it?

No. Deleting a thread removes the conversation from your list only. Anything Spiich wrote to your CRM, notes, records, tasks, stays in the CRM, because your CRM is the system of record and Spiich writes straight into it.

### Can I see exactly what Spiich did in an answer?

Yes. Click the `Worked for` line under any finished answer to expand the full work log: every search, filter, CRM write and file it touched. Record names inside the answer are clickable citations that open the exact record it used.

### Which tier should I leave selected?

`Balanced` suits most days: it handles drafts and multi-step CRM work without burning through the allowance the way research does. Drop to `Fast` for lookups and quick edits, and switch to `Expert` only when you want deep research or careful reasoning.

### Why does the usage ring not appear for me at all?

The ring only shows once your daily Balanced and Expert allowance is running low or exhausted, and it never shows for workspaces that are not metered. If you never see it, you are not close to the limit.

## Related

- [Point Spiich at a specific record](https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/mention-crm-records)
- [Update your CRM by voice](https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/voice-updates)
- [Skills, the Prompt Library and Quick Actions](https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/skills-and-saved-prompts)
- [What Spiich will and will not do on its own](https://spiich.ai/help/chat-and-voice/what-spiich-does-on-its-own)
- [How Spiich works](https://spiich.ai/articles/how-spiich-works)
- [The Spiich playbook](https://spiich.ai/articles/the-spiich-playbook)