Work with AI

Let an Agent shape your Space, or keep an Agent Node beside the material you are developing.

Choose how to work

Huabu offers three ways to work with AI. Start with the outcome you want, then choose the surface that keeps the conversation and any changes in the right place.

What you want to do	Use
Create, edit, arrange, or connect things in the Space	Agent
Keep a focused conversation beside the relevant material	Agent Node
Ask questions, discuss ideas, or understand selected material	Chat

See Agents & Status to recognize the distinct Huabu Chat and Huabu Agent characters.

Give AI the right context

Good results start with a clear focus. Huabu sends references to the nodes you select, and the AI can inspect their content and the surrounding Space when it needs more detail.

Select relevant nodes before sending. The source count beside the chat input confirms which nodes are in focus.
Paste or drop a file or image into the chat input. It is attached to that message without first becoming a Space node.
Place an Agent Node beside the subject. Its position, parent Frame, and nearby or connected nodes help define the local context.

Select only what matters. A smaller, explicit scope is usually easier for the AI to interpret and easier for you to review.

Let Agent work on the Space

Open the Chat Panel and start a new conversation with Agent.
Describe both the result and its shape—for example, “group these notes into named Frames and connect each source to its summary.”
Send the request and let Agent update the Space.
Review the resulting changes above the chat input.

Agent can create, edit, move, group, connect, and remove items as part of a multi-step task. The changes appear in the Space as the Agent works; the review card then lets you keep or revert them.

Review AI changes

Agent changes are collected by conversation in a review card above the chat input. Expand it to inspect individual changes or act on the whole set.

Control	What it does
Preview	Press and hold to temporarily show the state before the change.
Keep	Keep one change and remove it from the review list.
Revert	Undo one change when it is still safe to do so.
Keep all	Keep every pending change in this conversation.
Revert all	Undo every pending change that can still be safely reverted.

If you or another Agent edits the same item later, an earlier change may become unsafe to revert. Huabu disables that revert instead of overwriting newer work.

Work beside your material with an Agent Node

An Agent Node keeps a dedicated conversation on the Space, making it useful for open questions that should remain visible beside their source material.

Create an Agent Node from the toolbar or a node's quick-create arrow.
The Chat Panel opens a conversation bound to the new Agent Node.
Choose Huabu Chat, Huabu Agent, or an available External Agent.
Write the question and send it.
Double-click the Agent Node later to reopen and continue its thread.

Put the Agent Node inside the Frame you want it to understand, or connect it to the most relevant nodes. The conversation stays bound to that node and to the agent selected for it.

See Read Agent Node status to identify running, permission, unread, error, and conflict states.

Ask and discuss in Chat

Open the Chat Panel from the top-right of the Space.
Start a new conversation with Chat.
Write your question and send it.

Chat is read-only: it can inspect the Space, read selected sources, search files or the web, and explain what it finds, but it does not modify the Space. Use it for summaries, comparisons, explanations, and brainstorming.

For built-in Chat and Agent conversations, use the model control above the chat input to switch models without changing the default in Settings. See Chat Model for details.

When the next step requires Space changes, start a new conversation with Agent and describe the outcome you want. An existing Chat conversation cannot be switched to Agent.