Threads
Threads is the conversational AI of MINEO. Chat with any model over your data, files, databases, and connected tools — directly inside your Projects, with full history, search, and organization.
Every Thread runs on an Assistant, and it is model-agnostic: the Assistant decides which language model answers, what data and tools it can reach, and how it behaves, but you can switch the model per conversation without losing context — no vendor lock-in. Every interaction stays governed: permissions, traceability, and per-message cost tracking apply throughout. To configure that behavior, see Assistants; this page covers using Threads day to day.
The Threads list
Each Project has a dedicated Threads section accessible from the left sidebar. It shows all your conversations and lets you manage them from a single place.
From the list you can:
- Search threads by name using the search bar.
- Filter between three views: All, Pinned, and Archived.
- Filter by Assistant or model — two dropdowns narrow the list by the conversation's Assistant or LLM model. They only list values that actually have conversations, each with its conversation count. A thread matches a model when it is the thread's per-thread selection, or the Assistant's default when the thread has no override.
- Open any thread to continue the conversation.
- Create a new thread with the New Thread button.
- Delete all threads in the project at once, from the ⋯ menu next to New Thread.
Each item in the list shows the thread name, optional description, message count, total token usage (↑ input · ↓ output; hover to see the exact figures), and last activity time. A context menu (⋯) on each item gives you quick access to Rename, Pin/Unpin, Archive/Unarchive, and Delete.
Creating a Thread from the sidebar
You can start a new conversation directly from the project sidebar without going to the Threads list. The sidebar shows:
- The available Assistants for the project — click one to open a new thread pre-selected with that Assistant.
- Recent threads — click any to jump straight into the conversation.
- A New link to open an empty new-thread view.
- An ALL link to go to the full Threads list.
- A small progress bar next to Threads with how much of your AI budget you have used; hover it for the breakdown by today, this week and this month. See Your personal view.
The Thread view
When you open or create a thread, you see the chat interface:
- Header — shows the thread name and a back button to return to the Threads list. On existing threads a context menu lets you Rename or Delete the thread.
- Message history — the full conversation displayed in order, streamed in real time as the AI responds.
- Starters — on a brand-new thread, the Assistant's conversation starters are displayed as quick-start buttons. Clicking one sends that prompt automatically.
- Assistant selector — on a new thread, a dropdown lets you choose which Assistant will handle the conversation. Type to search; Assistants shared by the organization carry an Organization tag. Assistants you are allowed to edit show a gear icon that opens their configuration in a new tab, and members (not viewers) see a New Assistant action at the bottom of the list: it opens the creation form and, on save, takes you to the new Assistant's configuration. Viewers only see the list.
- Message input — type your message and press Send. You can stop a running response at any time with the Stop button.
- Attachments — the paperclip button attaches files to your message (up to 10 per thread). Media files (images, audio, video) can weigh up to 21 MB; documents (PDF, text, Office) are limited to 10 MB, since their content travels with the conversation. Uploading the same file twice to a thread reuses the existing attachment.
Word and PowerPoint (.docx, .pptx) work with any model: MINEO extracts their text at upload and sends that to the model. Spreadsheets and legacy formats (.xlsx, .xls, .doc, .ppt, .odt, …) are read natively by OpenAI models (including a spreadsheet summary of up to 1,000 rows per sheet); other providers cannot read them — if the selected model can't read an attached file, a warning appears above the composer and the message cannot be sent: switch to an OpenAI model or remove the file. For heavy spreadsheet analysis, prefer an Assistant with code execution or a project data source.
- Initial form — if the chosen Assistant's input mode is set to Form, a brand-new thread shows that form instead of the free-text input. Fill in the fields and press the send button to start the conversation; the composer's typing, attach, and tool controls stay disabled until the form is submitted.
Pinned threads appear at the top of the sidebar with a pink pin icon, making it easy to keep important conversations accessible.
Commands
Type / on an empty message box of an existing thread to open the command palette. Pick a command with the arrow keys and Enter, or click it. Commands are actions run by MINEO, not text: nothing is sent to the model, and the message box is cleared. They are not available on a brand-new thread until the first message has been sent.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/new | Opens a new conversation with the same Assistant. |
/compact | Summarizes the conversation to free space in the context window. See Context window and compaction. |
Context window and compaction
Every model reads the conversation through a context window of limited size. The thread header shows a small progress bar with how full that window is; hover it for the token count. The bar appears once the first reply has arrived and only for models whose window MINEO knows, and it reflects what the model read on the last reply. At 85% of the window, or from 200k tokens whatever the window, the conversation counts as long: the bar turns amber with a warning badge and a strip above the message box offers New conversation (a fresh thread with the same Assistant, cheaper and faster for a different topic) or Compact. The strip can be closed for that thread; the same two actions stay in the bar's popover.
To free space, compact the conversation: press Compact in that popover, or type the /compact command in the message box. MINEO summarizes the history with a model call and replaces every message after the first one with a single summary — in the chat as well as in what the model receives. The first message is kept as the anchor of the conversation; files attached to it are not resent whole on every later reply — the model re-reads them on demand.
- It needs at least three messages; below that there is nothing to compact.
- A pending tool approval is left untouched, so you can still resolve it afterwards.
- The summarizing call is billed to you like any other reply and counts against your AI limits. It also obeys the per-response token ceiling, so a very long thread may be refused as too large to compact.
- The thread's token totals are kept.
- Compaction is always manual. Independently of it, each Assistant sends the model at most its last 20 messages.
The compacted messages disappear from the thread; only the summary remains. Compact when the bar suggests it, not as a way to tidy the chat.
Organization administrators choose which model writes the summary in Organization → AI → Compaction — platform and BYOK models are available. When none is set, the thread's own model is used; a fast, low-cost model is recommended.
Responses are streamed in real time. Each assistant reply shows its token usage (↑ input · ↓ output) in the message footer — for tool runs, in the task block header — and the Threads list shows each conversation's total. Cost tracking is visible to administrators; to cap and monitor spend, see AI Cost Limits.
See also
- Assistants — configure the AI agents that power your threads: model, instructions, capabilities, knowledge, and tools.
- Custom instructions — personal context injected into every Assistant you chat with.
- Conversation starters — the suggested prompts shown when you open a new thread.
- AI Cost Limits — track and cap AI spend per organization and project.
📄️ Custom instructions
Custom instructions let each user define personal context that is automatically injected into the system prompt of every Assistant they chat with — similar to ChatGPT's Custom Instructions. They are useful for telling the model who you are and how you prefer it to respond, without having to repeat it in every conversation.