The Chat Place User Guide

This guide uses Windows key names. On a Mac, use Command (Cmd) for Ctrl, Option for Alt and Return for Enter. Open menus from the menu bar (VoiceOver: VO+M), rather than Windows Alt menu sequences.

The Chat Place is a keyboard and screen reader friendly home for your AI chats. Claude and Codex sessions share one list: read, find and export conversations, hear replies, and send messages in chats started here. Provider tells you which AI; Kind tells you where the session started. More providers, including Ollama, are planned. Features that belong to one provider name it; their availability depends on the selected chat.

This guide starts with the everyday things and goes deeper as it goes on. Each part has its own heading, so your screen reader's heading keys move between them. For every key in one list, use Help, Keyboard Shortcuts (F1).

The Chat Place is an independent project by Kelly Ford, not made, sponsored or endorsed by Anthropic or OpenAI. Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of Anthropic; ChatGPT and Codex are OpenAI products.

Before you start

You need:

For Claude chats, install Claude Code by running its installer in a terminal, then run claude once to sign in:

Or let The Chat Place do it: Help, Claude Code Sign-in offers to install Claude Code when it can't find it, and to sign you in when it isn't signed in.

The Chat Place never uses an API key. Reading sessions costs nothing, because everything it reads is on your own computer. Codex replies use your ChatGPT sign-in. For Claude chats, messages you send in its own sessions are Claude Code turns, which count against your plan's monthly Agent SDK credit; past that credit, turns stop unless you've turned on extra usage, which is billed. View, Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) shows where you stand.

Installing

Windows: download TheChatPlace-windows-Setup.exe from the newest release on the releases page and run it. It installs for you only, needs no administrator rights, adds The Chat Place to the Start menu, and starts it. The portable zip from the same release runs without installing, but doesn't update itself.

Mac: download TheChatPlace-macos-arm64.dmg, open it, and drag The Chat Place onto Applications. The first time it speaks through VoiceOver, macOS asks whether The Chat Place may control VoiceOver: allow it, and turn on "Allow VoiceOver to be controlled with AppleScript" in VoiceOver Utility, General.

If Claude Code isn't signed in, your sessions are still listed; only sending a message needs a sign-in. Help, Claude Code Sign-in says whether it is signed in, and offers to sign you in if not. The sign-in opens in its own window (Terminal, on a Mac), and The Chat Place checks again when you've finished. If it can't tell, it says why, for example that Claude Code is too old to ask: running claude update in a terminal fixes that. For Codex, choose Help, Codex Sign-in. It says whether Codex is signed in to ChatGPT. If it isn't, or is using another kind of credential, it offers to open codex login in its own window. Your browser shows ChatGPT's sign-in page, and The Chat Place checks again when you've finished. If Codex isn't installed or its status can't be read, it says what is needed.

The window

The window has three parts, in Tab order:

  1. The session list: every session, one per line.
  2. The messages of the session you've loaded.
  3. The reply box, with Send and Stop. For a session you reply to somewhere else (the desktop app or a terminal), the same place holds a short note saying where you reply, followed by the Open in Claude and Continue Here buttons that apply to it (see Kinds of session).

Tab and Shift+Tab move between them, and Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2 and Ctrl+3 go straight to each one. F6 and Shift+F6 move between the parts and the status bar, which holds whatever was said last; Ctrl+9 goes straight to the status bar. Escape in the messages or the reply box takes you back to the session list, on the same session.

If you haven't started any supported chats yet, the session list is empty and the messages say so: start a session with File, New Session (Ctrl+N, or Cmd+N on a Mac), or in a supported desktop app or a terminal, and it appears in the list.

On a Mac

This guide gives the Windows keys. On a Mac:

Reading a session

Finding it in the list

Each line in the session list reads the session's title, its folder, its state (needs you, working or idle) and when it was last active, for example: "Fix the release build, QuickMail, needs you: Choose a version number, active 1 minute ago". To hear the state first, or to leave some parts out, see "Choosing what each line says" below.

By default, sessions that need you come first, then the ones that are working, then the rest, newest first. The list refreshes itself every few seconds. While you're in it, rows stay where they are, so nothing moves under you; F5 puts the list back in order.

To find one session among many, press Ctrl+F in the list and type part of its title, its folder or what it needs. The list shows only the matches, and its name says so ("Session list, matching "build", 3 of 139"). Escape shows them all again.

Loading it

Arrowing through the list doesn't load anything. Press Enter on a session to load it: you move to its messages and hear, for example, "Loaded Fix the build, 12 messages." Pressing Enter on the session that's already loaded takes you back to where you were in it.

Reading the messages

The newest message is last, and you start on it. Each line shows "You:" or the provider's name, such as "Claude:" or "Codex:", and the message's first line, but your screen reader reads the whole message as you arrow onto it. Headings and list items are read as sentences, and a code block is read as what it is, such as "Code block, Python, 14 lines". If you'd rather hear just the first line, turn that off in Settings, Reading messages.

Press Enter on a message to read it as a formatted page. There, your screen reader's browse mode moves by heading (H), table (T), list (L) and code block (each code block is a region: R in JAWS, D in NVDA). Links open in your browser. Read as Plain Text (Alt+P) shows the message in a plain text box instead, to read by line, word and character. Escape closes either one and puts you back on the same message. On Windows the formatted page needs Microsoft's Edge WebView2 runtime, which comes with Windows 11; without it, Enter opens the plain text box.

On a Mac the page works the same way. VoiceOver's rotor (VO+U) lists its headings, tables, links and landmarks, VO+Command+H moves by heading, and with Quick Nav on, H, T and L work as above. Read as Plain Text is Option+P, and Command+W closes the page as well as Escape.

Other things you can do with a message:

Claude's questions to you appear as "Claude asked: …" followed by "You answered: …". Tools Claude was refused appear as "Permission denied: …".

Command results and compaction

Claude Code's local commands, such as /compact, /context and /cost, show their output as Claude Code messages, even with Show Tool Activity off. A compaction also leaves a Conversation compacted row and announces what happened without interrupting sent-message read-back. When Claude reports before/after token counts, the row and announcement include them, and Usage and Context updates to the reported post-compaction count. The summary of earlier conversation remains tool activity, which you can show when you want to read it. Failed commands appear as Claude Code error messages too. Terminal formatting is removed, and long command output is shortened with a notice in the app and its exports; the original transcript stays unchanged. Command-result notifications use a brief summary even in Full announcements and respect Summary and Silent.

Seeing what the provider is doing

The provider's tool calls and their results are hidden until you turn on Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T, View, Show Tool Activity, or the "Show tool activity" check box below the messages). With it on, the tool calls appear among the messages, and the open session's are also spoken as they happen, so a long turn isn't silent: "Using Bash: git status; Read: main.py." A run of calls is gathered up and said together ("Using Read 4 times, then Bash."), and it never cuts off your screen reader.

Show Tool Activity belongs to each session, and it's remembered. Turn it on in one session to follow its work, and the others stay as they were; load that session again, even after closing The Chat Place, and its tool calls are shown again. You hear which session it changed: "Tool activity shown in Fix the build." Continue Here keeps it on in the copy if it was on in the session you continued. With no session loaded, Ctrl+T says so and changes nothing. A session's tool calls also count in Links, Export and Find in All Sessions only when it's on for that session.

The task list

On longer work, Claude keeps a list of its steps: what it plans to do, which step it's on, and which are done. The Chat Place reads that list for any Claude session, including desktop app and terminal sessions. For Codex chats run here, it captures the task list and saves the latest reported steps in The Chat Place's own data folder, so they survive reopening the owned chat. Codex task lists from earlier sessions and chats run elsewhere are not available. A proposed plan in the conversation is separate from the task checklist.

The provider decides when work is worth a list, so short turns usually have none. The list keeps its last reported states after a turn finishes, fails or is stopped, or a later message has no task update. In The Chat Place's own sessions, Claude keeps a list only because The Chat Place asks it to, as the desktop app does. Settings, "Let Claude keep a task list" (Alt+K) turns that off from your next message. That setting applies only to Claude.

Finding things

In this session

Ctrl+F in the messages (View, Find) finds the next message containing some text. It searches each message's whole text, not just the first line you see. F3 and Shift+F3 find the next and previous match, going round from the other end when they reach one, and saying so.

In every session

When you can't remember which session you talked about something in, press Ctrl+Shift+S (View, Find in All Sessions) and type a word or phrase. It works from anywhere in the window. The Chat Place searches the whole text of every message in every session the session list shows, so if you've chosen a view in Show Sessions, or narrowed the list with Ctrl+F, only those are searched. Case doesn't matter. Tool calls and their results are searched only in sessions with Show Tool Activity on.

You hear "Searching 32 sessions for "migration"" and can carry on while it works. A long search says how far it's got every ten seconds ("Searched 12 of 32 sessions"). Press Ctrl+Shift+S again to stop it.

When it's done, a list of the messages found opens. Its title says how many and for what first: "The Chat Place: 6 results for "migration", Find in All Sessions". Each line gives the session, who wrote the message, when, and the words around the match, such as "Fix the build, Claude, yesterday 10:42: …the database migration ran…". Within a session the newest message comes first. The list's name, and the Searched box under it (Alt+S), say how many messages were found in how many sessions, how many sessions were searched, and how many had no transcript to read (Claude Code deletes old ones). It stops at 500 messages.

Press Enter (or Go to Message) to load that session on that message: you hear "Loaded Fix the build. Message 14 of 30: …". If the message isn't shown there, for example because it was a tool call and Show Tool Activity is off in that session, you hear so. Escape closes the list without loading anything.

If you've moved on by the time the search finishes (to another dialog, another place in the window, or another app), the list doesn't jump in front of you. You hear how many were found and "Press Ctrl+Shift+S to see them", and Ctrl+Shift+S then opens them. They wait for ten minutes, until you choose another view of the list, or until you start a new search. With no match, you hear "No messages contain …" and no list opens.

Lists: code blocks, links, files, commands, decisions and tasks

Ctrl+Shift+I (View, Lists) opens one dialog listing each kind of thing in a chat, from the session list, the messages or the reply box:

In Codex chats, Lists has Code Blocks, Links and tasks captured while run here. The other kinds say they aren't listed yet. Tasks explains when no saved list is available (#318).

Show items from (Alt+S) chooses This message or The whole chat. For code blocks and links, "this message" is the selected message. For files, commands, decisions and tasks, it's the selected message's turn: from your message to Claude's reply (for tasks, the steps added or changed in it). Links, commands and decisions list the newest first; code blocks and files are in the order they appear.

The kinds are a list of their own, Kinds (Alt+K), above the items, each with how many it has: "Commands (12)". Tab and Shift+Tab reach it like any other list. Arrow through it and the items below change to that kind; Enter moves to that kind's list. From anywhere in Lists, these change the kind and leave you on its list:

Lists opens on the kind you used last. Some keys open it on their own kind:

For every kind:

A kind with nothing to list says so, for example "No commands in this chat." Each link is listed once, at its newest mention. A long address is shortened to its site and its end, but the whole address is always what's opened or copied. A link in a code block or in inline code says "in code". Only web, email and session links open; anything else, such as a file path, is marked "copy only" and says why if you try to open it. Links in tool calls and results are listed only with Show Tool Activity on. Changed files, commands, decisions and tasks are listed for Claude chats for now; in a Codex chat those kinds say so.

Kinds of session

The session list holds four kinds of session, depending on where each was started. You read every kind the same way: arrow to it and press Enter. What differs is where you reply.

Only The Chat Place's own sessions can be replied to here. The others are read-only. That's deliberate: if two programs both worked in one session at the same time, its conversation would get tangled. Where the reply box would be, a read-only session has a short note saying where you reply, followed by the buttons that apply to it. Ctrl+3 moves to that note.

To list one kind, use View, Show Sessions (Alt+V, H): Desktop App Sessions (Code and Cowork together), Cowork Sessions, Terminal Sessions or Chat Place Sessions. Ctrl+F in the session list also finds sessions by "cowork" or "terminal".

Desktop app sessions

You can read, search, export and see what changed in the Claude desktop app's sessions, but you reply in the desktop app. Open in Claude (Ctrl+O) switches the desktop app to the session, to answer it, approve a permission or answer a question card.

Cowork sessions

The desktop app's Cowork sessions are listed too, and like its other sessions they're read-only here. Where a session's folder would be, its line names the folder you gave Cowork to work on, or says "no folder". Open in Claude (Ctrl+O) answers it in the desktop app.

A Cowork session can't be continued here: Cowork keeps its conversation inside the desktop app's own files and its tools were run by the desktop app, so Continue Here isn't offered for it (on the session menu it's unavailable). Whether The Chat Place can tell that a Cowork session is working, and so announce when it answers, depends on the version of Claude Code the desktop app runs it with; older versions don't record it. The desktop app's Chat conversations are kept on Anthropic's servers rather than on your computer, so they aren't listed.

Terminal sessions

Sessions you started by typing claude in a terminal are listed too, read-only. Each one's line names the folder you started it in. Its title is the name you gave it with /rename, or else the one Claude Code gave it, or else the start of your first message. The session list shows one as working while the provider works in it, and as needing you while it waits on you in the terminal (a permission or a question), and announces both. When it needs you, its line says what for, such as "needs you: dialog open".

Claude often makes many tool calls in a terminal session. Their messages are hidden unless you turn on Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T), which also speaks each one as it happens; press Ctrl+T again to hide them.

You reply to a terminal session in its terminal, or carry it on here with Continue Here. The desktop app doesn't list terminal sessions, so Open in Claude isn't offered for them. Sessions that scripts run with claude -p, and those of the VS Code extension, aren't listed.

A terminal session you load while it's working is one you're watching over someone's shoulder. Claude writes short notes to whoever is at the terminal as it goes, such as "The issue view printed nothing; trying again with JSON." That's Claude saying what it's doing about a step that didn't work, not an error from The Chat Place, and Claude usually carries on by itself. The step it means is hidden unless Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T) is on: with it on, you also hear each command Claude runs and what came back, so a note like that follows on from what you've just heard. See Following a session as it works.

The Chat Place's own sessions

These are the sessions you start here, with File, New Session (Ctrl+N) or Continue Here. You read and reply to them entirely in The Chat Place, and they don't appear in the desktop app. If Claude starts something in the background, such as a build or a wait for GitHub checks, the session keeps running while it does, and Claude carries on by itself when it finishes (see Replying).

Continue Here

To carry on a desktop app or terminal session here, use Continue Here (Ctrl+Shift+N, or the button after the note, where the reply box would be). It makes a new Chat Place session in the same folder, with the whole conversation so far, and you type its first message. Its title starts as the original's, followed by "(continued)". The original session isn't changed, and what you do in the copy doesn't appear in it.

Following a session as it works

You can follow any kind of session while the provider works in it, wherever it was started. Load it, and its new messages appear as they're written. Turn on Show Tool Activity (Ctrl+T) to hear each tool call as it happens, so you know what the provider is doing between messages: "Using Bash: git status; Read: main.py." Without it, the newest message can be a short note the provider wrote before its next step, such as "Trying again with JSON", followed by a pause while it works: the note is about a step you didn't hear. When the turn ends, or the session needs you, it's announced.

The four kinds side by side

Kind describes the source, independently of Provider. Codex also identifies terminal, editor and command-line origins when it knows them; other or unknown clients remain external sessions. An Codex chat started here is a Chat Place session, just like an owned Claude chat.

The Claude-specific desktop and Cowork actions are shown in this table:

Kind Started in Its line adds You reply Open in Claude Continue Here
Desktop app session The Claude desktop app's Code tab "desktop app session" in the desktop app yes yes
Cowork session The desktop app's Cowork tab "Cowork session" in the desktop app yes no
Terminal session A terminal, by typing claude "terminal session" in that terminal no yes
Chat Place session The Chat Place (File, New Session) "Chat Place session" here, in the reply box no not needed

Local Codex chats

Codex chats appear automatically when a native Codex CLI is installed and signed in to ChatGPT. That includes the copy bundled with the ChatGPT app on Mac, the Codex app's copy on Windows, and the copy Codex's own installer keeps in your .codex folder. Settings offers Include Codex chats (restart required) to turn them off or on; your choice is kept. If Codex isn't found, Settings says to install the Codex app or CLI, then restart. Local Claude and Codex chats share one list, and selecting a Codex chat opens its history automatically. Read, Find and export work. New Session offers a Provider choice; select Codex to start a chat you can reply to here. Continue Here copies an existing Codex chat into a new chat started here. These chats support text replies, Stop, queued messages and Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A) for permissions and questions. Turn the option off and restart to hide Codex without deleting its saved preferences. Quitting The Chat Place requests a stop for its running Codex replies too. Revisiting a chat preserves its running turn. The Chat Place refuses to resume a saved chat whose latest turn is unfinished or uncertain. If the connection is lost, use Stop to check the saved turn and reconnect once it has ended. No message is resent. Selecting the chat again does not automatically reconnect. If Codex still reports unfinished work, The Chat Place refuses recovery and says why. Requests The Chat Place cannot present safely are declined with a notice without disconnecting the chat; Turn Status keeps the notice available. Turn Status (Ctrl+Shift+T) reports elapsed time and the latest activity. Your messages are read back according to the same announcement setting used for Claude chats. If a send cannot be confirmed, reopen the chat to read its history before sending again.

Continue Here starts a Codex copy read-only. You can select folder editing for a project folder, but the home folder, its parents and volume roots cannot be used as writable folders. If Stop is acknowledged but the turn stays open, press Stop again to check Codex's saved turn status without resending anything.

The Chat Place disables external tools (MCP servers, apps and plugins) for Codex chats started here because those tools can reach beyond the selected folder. It checks that they are disabled before sending. Your global Codex configuration stays unchanged; existing chats can still be read.

Codex keeps your own saved command rules in effect, including user rules such as ~/.codex/rules/default.rules and system rules installed for your computer. Commands you've told Codex to always allow will run without asking and outside the folder's limits, so they can change files elsewhere and use the network. New Session and Change Permission Mode explain this; Properties shows the number of active user/system rule files, without showing their contents.

The Chat Place refuses rules supplied by a project: .codex/rules in the selected folder or its parent projects. Choose a folder without those rules, or move the project rules out before trying again. It also refuses to start or send when the rule inventory cannot be checked. Existing chats can still be read. The Chat Place does not remove or edit rules, change your Codex settings, or save approval amendments.

On Windows, Codex can edit a folder only after its Windows sandbox is set up. The simplest way is Set up Agent sandbox in the Codex app. With only the command-line tool, add [windows] and sandbox = "unelevated" to ~/.codex/config.toml: that is the setting checked with The Chat Place, and OpenAI's fallback for when administrator setup isn't possible. OpenAI's Windows sandbox guide describes its preferred choices, MXC on compatible PCs and "elevated" (which needs setup approved by an administrator); they haven't been tried with The Chat Place yet. Until the sandbox is set up, Codex reports chats as read-only, and The Chat Place says so instead of giving the chat folder editing; choose read-only, or set up the sandbox and try again. Codex also reports read-only when your Codex settings allow only read-only, such as requirements an administrator set. If a new Codex chat can't be started, your first message is kept: in the open chat's message box if you can type there, otherwise on the clipboard.

Starting a session and replying

A new session

Press Ctrl+N (File, New Session). Choose Provider when more than one is available; your last choice is remembered. For Codex, Model and Effort load the choices available in Codex in the background. Configured Codex model/effort keeps its settings; choose a specific model to select one of its supported efforts. Choices are rechecked when the chat starts. If the list cannot be loaded, configured defaults remain available. Continue Here offers the same choices. Codex defaults to editing files in its selected folder with on-request approvals. Choose read-only in New Session, or use File, Change Permission Mode (Ctrl+Shift+O) on an idle Codex chat started here. Existing chats keep their saved permissions. The model names and permission modes below describe Claude chats. Then fill in:

If the first message never reaches Claude (Claude Code isn't signed in, for example), it goes back into the reply box, and Send starts the session again.

Changing a session's model, effort or permission mode

For a Claude session started by The Chat Place, these File menu items change what its next turns use. Each opens a list that starts on the current choice, marked "(now)"; choose another and press Enter, or Escape to leave it as it is.

You hear the change and when it counts, such as "Permission mode for Fix the build: plan, from its next turn." A turn that's already running carries on as it started, and you hear that too. The session's heading, at the top of its messages, says its model, and its effort and mode when they aren't the defaults: "on Opus at high effort, plan mode". Approving a plan, or allowing something "for this session" that switches mode, changes the mode as well; approving a plan starts on the mode you chose here, unless that was plan.

Desktop app and terminal sessions are set in Claude or in the terminal, so for them these items say so and change nothing.

For an Codex chat started here, Change Permission Mode changes an idle chat between read-only and editing files in its selected folder with on-request approvals. Existing saved permissions stay in effect until the change is verified and saved. Choose Codex model and effort in New Session or Continue Here; changing them later with Change Model or Change Effort is not yet supported.

Replying

In one of The Chat Place's own sessions, type in the reply box and press Ctrl+Enter (or Send). You stay in the reply box, and you hear what was sent and where, such as "Sent to Fix the build: Run the tests." When the provider finishes, its answer is announced.

While the provider is working, you can still send. Your message is queued ("Queued for Fix the build: …"), shown at the end of the messages as "Queued: …", and sent once the current turn finishes. On a queued message, Ctrl+Enter sends it now (Claude answers it straight away, in the same turn), and its menu can also edit or remove it. Stop (Ctrl+Period) ends the turn, and anything it started, such as a build; a queued message then goes back into the reply box.

Sometimes Claude starts a command that runs in the background, such as a build or a wait for GitHub checks, and answers while it runs. You hear the answer and what is still running ("Still running in the background: Windows build"), but the turn stays open. When the work finishes, Claude carries on by itself, and its next answer is announced as usual. While Claude is waiting, what you send goes to it at once instead of being queued. Stop ends the turn and the background work with it.

Ctrl+Shift+T (Turn Status) says how long the provider has been working on this turn and what it last did, or what is still running in the background, and how far along the task list is. There's no time limit on a turn.

Commands, skills and attachments

These are for The Chat Place's own sessions:

Saved prompts

Keep messages you send often as prompts, each with a name, and put one in the reply box when you need it:

Answering permissions and questions

Answer (Ctrl+Shift+A, File, Answer) handles the loaded chat first. A Codex permission request shows the command, its folder and Codex's reason, and a "This also needs" list when Codex names extra access, such as writing to another folder or using the network. When it names none, the dialog says the command may run outside the chat's folder sandbox, where it can change any file you can. It offers only the one-time answers Codex allows for that request: Allow Once, Deny, Deny and Stop Turn, and always Answer Later. Deny lets Codex carry on without it; Deny and Stop Turn also stops the turn. Enter chooses Deny, or Answer Later when Deny isn't offered. Each answer covers one request: allowing for the rest of the session and Codex's "always allow" rules are never offered or saved. Questions show the provider and keep secret answers masked. New Session and Change Permission Mode offer read-only or editing files in the selected folder, both with on-request approvals. Finish or Stop active work and clear queued messages before changing the policy. Verification and saving must succeed before the new policy can send a turn.

Claude permissions and plans

In one of The Chat Place's own sessions, when Claude needs a permission, asks you a question, or has a plan for you to approve, the turn waits for you. You hear it ("Fix the build needs you. Claude wants to run git push. Ctrl+Shift+A answers."), and the session shows as "needs you" in the list. Press Ctrl+Shift+A to answer:

Escape answers later. Nothing is allowed or refused by waiting: the turn keeps waiting, and Ctrl+Shift+A brings the same request back. "Allow for this session" lasts for the rest of that session, not just the turn. The Chat Place never changes Claude Code's own settings files.

For a desktop app session, a "needs you" means the desktop app's summary of its latest turn says it's waiting on you. Answer it in the desktop app (Ctrl+O). The desktop app doesn't write that summary after every turn, so a desktop session can be waiting on you and still show as idle.

Organizing your sessions

With many sessions, these keep the list manageable.

Choosing which sessions are listed

View, Show Sessions (Alt+V, H) chooses what the list shows: all sessions; the ones that need you or are working; just the ones that need you; just the working ones; the ones with a new reply you haven't read yet; the idle ones; desktop app sessions (Code and Cowork); just Cowork sessions; The Chat Place's own; terminal sessions; Remote Control sessions; Claude chats; Codex chats; ungrouped sessions; archived ones; hidden ones; or one of your groups. Claude Chats and Codex Chats filter by provider. They remain available when Codex is off; Codex Chats is empty until it is enabled. View, Sort Sessions (Alt+V, O) chooses the order: by status, newest first, oldest first, by title, or by folder. Both choices are remembered, and you stay on the same session when it's still listed.

Choosing what each line says

View, Session List Columns (Alt+V, E) chooses which parts each session's line reads, and in what order. Move Status to the top, for example, and each line starts with "needs you", "working" or "idle", so you can stop on the one you want before hearing its title.

The parts are called columns: Title, Provider (Claude or Codex), Folder, Status, New reply, Last activity, Kind (desktop app, Cowork, terminal or The Chat Place), Remote Control, Archived, Hidden and Groups, all read at first. Started and Last message are read only once you add them. Provider says which AI; Kind says where the session started. Older saved choices gain Provider once, immediately after Title (or first if Title is hidden), without changing their other columns. If you remove Provider afterward, it stays removed. A column with nothing to say for a session, such as New reply when there isn't one, is simply left out of that line.

Last activity ("active 5 minutes ago") is the last time the session did anything, even in the middle of a long turn, or while it's being run outside The Chat Place. How long the turn now running has taken is in Turn Status (Ctrl+Shift+T). Started ("started 2 days ago") is when the session began.

Last message tells you where each conversation ended without loading it: the provider's name ("Claude:" or "Codex:") or "You:" and the start of the last message either of you wrote, as plain text on one line, cut at about 150 characters with "…". A link reads as its words, and a bare web address as its site. Tool calls and their results don't count. To read the whole message, press Enter to load the session, then Enter on the message. A session whose conversation is missing or can't be read says nothing in this column. While a session is working, the line you're on keeps its last message until the status changes, so you don't hear the line again each time the provider writes; the other lines change at once, and you hear the new message when you arrow back. With Last message first, lines start with the provider's name or "You", so typing a letter no longer jumps to a title; Ctrl+F still finds a session.

The dialog has two lists. Available columns (Alt+V in the dialog) are the ones not read; Shown columns (Alt+S) are the ones read, in order. The buttons Add, Remove, Move Up, Move Down, Move to Top, Move to Bottom and Reset to Default do what they say, and each tells you what happened ("Status moved to top, 1 of 11"). The keys work too:

You stay on the column you moved. The preview at the bottom reads the selected session's line as it will be. OK saves your choice and changes the list at once, still on the same session; Escape or Cancel leaves it as it was.

With Status first, every line starts with "needs you", "working" or "idle", so typing a letter in the list no longer jumps to a title starting with it. Ctrl+F still finds a session by its title or folder, whichever columns you show.

Groups

A group collects related sessions, such as everything for one project or everything you're waiting to hear back on, so you can show just those.

A session can be in several groups, and its line in the list says which ("group Work"). To see one group, choose it in View, Show Sessions. Ungrouped, in the same menu, lists the sessions that aren't in any group yet.

The desktop app's own groups show here too: in View, Show Sessions, in each session's line, and in Add to Group. They can only be changed in the desktop app. Choosing one of them in Add to Group makes a Chat Place group of the same name, which is shown together with the desktop app's.

Renaming, hiding and deleting

On a Mac laptop, Delete and Shift+Delete are Fn+Delete and Fn+Shift+Delete.

The session's menu (the Applications key or Shift+F10 in the session list) has all of these, and the other commands for the selected session.

Announcements and notifications

When the open session gets a reply, when one of The Chat Place's sessions finishes a turn, or when any listed session stops working, it's announced through your screen reader (or a system voice when no screen reader is running) and put on the status bar. Ctrl+Shift+R repeats the last announcement.

Settings (Ctrl+Comma) chooses how much is said:

Settings also chooses whether every listed session is announced or just the open one, which speech engine and rate to use, whether your own messages are read back when they're sent, and whether The Chat Place tells you when an update has been installed.

On Windows, Automatic speaks through JAWS or NVDA, whichever is running, in your screen reader's own voice and rate. NVDA works without installing anything else. A system voice speaks only when no screen reader is running, so you never hear a second voice over your screen reader. If your screen reader is running but The Chat Place can't reach it, a Windows notification says announcements aren't being spoken, the status bar gives the reason beside the announcement, and Settings shows it in a Speech problem box after the speech engine.

When you're in another window, The Chat Place can show a notification: when one of its sessions finishes a turn, fails or needs you, when the session you have loaded finishes, or when a desktop app session starts needing you. Choosing the notification brings The Chat Place forward with that session loaded. Settings, Windows notifications (on a Mac, Notifications) chooses every finished turn (the default), only when a session needs you, or off. While you're in The Chat Place, the announcement is enough and no notification is shown.

More things you can do

Codex usage

View, Usage and Context (Ctrl+Shift+U) reads current Codex account limits in the background. Arrow through the used/remaining percentages and reset times, and use the same Copy/Copy All controls. Limits are shared across your Codex chats. Missing values say not reported. Codex chats started here also show the latest reported model request's input, output and total tokens separately from cumulative usage. When Codex reports its context window, the latest request's percentage appears here and in the status bar; at 80% The Chat Place warns once until the next compaction. After an owned Codex turn ends, account limits are checked in the background. The Chat Place warns at 80% and 100%, once per allowance and reset window, without interrupting read-back. These values are available only after this connection receives a usage report. Missing windows stay not reported; The Chat Place never substitutes Claude's counts or model defaults.

A link to a session takes you straight to it, from anywhere you can paste one: a note, an email, a message to another session.

Copying one. In the session list, press Ctrl+Shift+L (or File, Copy Session Link, or Copy Session Link on the session's menu). A list offers the links that apply, best first, and Enter copies the first: a Markdown link, with the session's title as its text, that opens the session in The Chat Place. Arrow down for the others:

What was copied is said, such as "Copied a Markdown link to Fix the build, to open it in The Chat Place." Escape copies nothing.

Following one. A link that starts thechatplace://session/ opens The Chat Place, or brings it forward if it's running, with that session selected and its messages loaded, and you in the messages, just as if you'd pressed Enter on it. If the list is showing a view or a search that leaves it out, it shows all sessions (or Archived or Hidden, where the session is) and says so. A link in a message works too, from the message's formatted page. If a dialog is open, the link waits until you close it.

A link only finds a session, as Enter on it does. It never sends a message, runs a turn or changes a conversation, so it's safe to follow one from anywhere. A link to a session that's gone says "No session with that link", and anything else that starts thechatplace: says "That link isn't one The Chat Place knows."

Where links work. On Windows, the installed copy of The Chat Place sets up thechatplace:// links for your Windows account when it's installed and each time it starts, and uninstalling it removes them. The portable copy doesn't, so links open the installed copy if you have one. On a Mac, links work once The Chat Place is in Applications. A link copied on one computer opens the session only on that computer.

Remote Control

Remote Control lets you keep an eye on one of The Chat Place's own sessions when you're away from your computer, on claude.ai or in the Claude app on your phone. Turn it on with File, Remote Control, or from the session's menu. Its line in the session list then says "Remote Control", and File, Remote Control copies the session's claude.ai address.

What you can do today:

What you can't do yet:

Good to know: turning Remote Control on copies the conversation to claude.ai, and it stays there even if you turn Remote Control off or delete the session here (you can archive it on claude.ai). While Claude is working, anyone signed in to your Claude account can type into it. Settings can turn Remote Control on for all of The Chat Place's sessions; then a session's line says so once it has connected.

For a Claude desktop app session, File, Remote Control offers to open it in the desktop app, where you turn Remote Control on, or to continue it here as a copy with Remote Control on.

Your sessions on other computers

If you use Claude Code on more than one computer, say a laptop, a desktop and a Mac, The Chat Place can send a message to a session on another of them and let you hear the answer, without going to that computer. It goes through Claude: Claude in one of The Chat Place's own sessions here passes your message on, and the other session's reply comes back to that session.

What you need:

Sending a message:

  1. Load your session and press Ctrl+Shift+M (File, Other Machines).
  2. The first time, the list only offers Refresh the list (asks Claude). Choose it. Claude looks up your sessions on other computers, as a turn in this session, and says what it found.
  3. When it has answered, press Ctrl+Shift+M again. Now the list has each session on your other computers and how it is: "idle", "working", "needs you" or "offline".
  4. Choose one, type your message, and press Enter. Claude sends it word for word.
  5. The answer arrives in the same session as a message from that session, "From Mac Hub" for example, and it's announced. Enter reads it in full, like any message.

The list is Claude's latest look, so after a while choose Refresh again. Other Machines works between turns. While Claude is working, wait for it to finish.

Messages from other sessions. Any message another Claude Code session sends to one of your sessions shows as "From" and that session's name, not as something you typed, and it's announced. It doesn't matter whether you asked for it with Other Machines, or in your own words ("ask the Mac session what it's working on"). A message that arrives while Claude is working shows up when it does.

Good to know:

Updates

The installed app checks for a new version shortly after it starts, and says so only if there is one. Help, Check for Updates asks right away and offers to install it (No is the default). It won't install while any provider is working in one of its sessions, and it warns you about a reply you haven't sent. Updating never touches your sessions or settings.

The Help menu's update item always says which version you're running, such as Check for Updates (running 0.1.4). When a newer version has been found, it says so instead, such as Update to 0.1.5 Available, and choosing it offers the update. Alt+H, U reaches it either way.

The first time The Chat Place starts after an update, The Chat Place Update Installed says which version you now have. See what's new (Alt+W) opens that version's release notes in your browser; Close or Escape goes back to the app. To stop it appearing, clear "Tell me when an update has been installed, with a link to what's new" in Settings (Ctrl+Comma).

When something isn't right

I don't see a session I expected. Check View, Show Sessions: you may be showing only some sessions, and archived and hidden sessions aren't in All. A Find (Ctrl+F) also narrows the list; Escape in the list clears it. F5 refreshes the list at once. Only supported local sessions are listed, not the desktop app's ordinary chats.

I can't reply to a session. Externally started chats are read-only here. Reply in their originating app or terminal, or use Continue Here (Ctrl+Shift+N) when available. Ctrl+O opens supported Claude desktop sessions; it is not an Open in Codex command.

The provider is waiting and nothing is happening. It may need you: press Ctrl+Shift+A. Ctrl+Shift+T says what the turn is doing.

A turn stopped with a usage limit. The announcement says when the limit resets. Ctrl+Shift+U shows which limits are used, and how much of each.

An old session's messages are gone. Claude Code deletes old conversations after a while (its cleanupPeriodDays setting). The session can still be listed, and the messages list says its conversation is no longer there.

A reply is spoken twice. If you've installed ClaudeSpeak, its hook also speaks The Chat Place's turns.

Something else. Help, Report a Bug asks what happened and shows exactly what the report includes before it goes anywhere: version numbers and settings, never your sessions' titles, folders or messages. Open on GitHub files it; Copy Report copies it, to email to support@theideaplace.net.

Good to know

For every keyboard shortcut, see Help, Keyboard Shortcuts (F1), or the keyboard shortcuts page. The README has the full details of everything here.