Chat over another app

Spotlight and Chat Window are lightweight chat windows that float above whatever you're working in, inside or outside of the app. Both let you ask Glean Tau something without leaving your current task.

They differ in how long they stay. Spotlight is transient: it opens a fresh chat and hides again as soon as focus moves elsewhere. Chat Window is persistent: it stays beside your work until you close it. A Spotlight composer can expand into a Chat Window once the conversation begins.

Choose between Spotlight and Chat Window

The following table compares how each window behaves and when to use it.

Behavior	Spotlight	Chat Window
Lifetime	Hides when focus moves away	Stays open until you close it
Chat	Starts a new chat each time	Keeps one conversation
Opened by	Global shortcut or the menu bar	A chat's context menu, or sending a prompt from Spotlight
Best for	A quick question or instruction, or dropping in a screenshot or snippet	Following a longer conversation beside another app

Use the main Glean Tau window instead when you need panels such as Explorer, Review, or Browser. Neither surface includes them, so web links always open in your external browser.

Spotlight

Spotlight opens a fresh chat over whatever application you're in, then gets out of the way. Use it for a question or instruction you want answered without switching windows.

Open Spotlight

Press Cmd+Shift+J, the default shortcut, or select Open Spotlight from the Glean Tau menu bar. Each launch starts a new chat and accepts your prompt once that chat is ready.

To change the shortcut, open Settings → Keyboard shortcuts and set Open quick entry.

Dismiss Spotlight

Move focus to another window, or press Esc. Focus returns to the app you came from, not to the main Glean Tau window.

Spotlight limitations

• It doesn't persist. Spotlight hides on focus loss and starts a new chat each time you open it.
• To keep a conversation, move it. Expand the Spotlight composer into a Chat Window, or open the chat in Glean Tau.

Chat Window

Chat Window is a compact conversation window you can keep on top while you work. Use it when you want to follow a longer exchange beside another application.

Open Chat Window

Open it from a chat's context menu with Open in chat window. A Spotlight conversation also becomes a Chat Window when you send a prompt.

Control the window

Use the Chat Window action menu for:

• New chat
• Open in Glean Tau
• Stay on top

To close the window, select its close button.

Reach chats from the menu bar and Dock

The Glean Tau menu bar lists Running, Pinned, and Unread chats, so you can return to a running chat instead of hunting for its window. When nothing is unread, it shows Recent chats instead. The Dock menu also lists unread and recent chats, and offers New Window.

Global shortcuts and both menus depend on Glean Tau running, though it can stay in the background.

See also

• Settings — change keyboard shortcuts and other preferences