Chat Quickstart

This quickstart walks you through your first conversation in Ivy, from opening a new chat to interpreting AI responses and saving your work. Start here if you're new to Chat and want the shortest path to a working query. It sets up the conversational thread that the rest of the Chat pages -- features, campaigns, canvas, and collaboration -- build on.

Chat Quickstart

This guide walks you through your first conversation in Ivy, from opening a new chat to interpreting AI responses and saving your work.

Opening Ivy

1. Sign in to Ivy Biosciences at ivybiosciences.com.
2. Click Chat in the top navigation bar, or navigate directly to /chat.
3. You will land in Ivy with an empty conversation pane and the action rail on the right.

Starting a conversation

Typing a query

The input bar sits at the bottom of the workspace. Type any natural-language question or instruction related to drug discovery. Examples:

• "Fold the BRCA1 BRCT domain sequence with ESMFold"
• "Search PubChem for kinase inhibitors with MW under 500"
• "What are the known drug targets for Alzheimer's disease?"
• "Run DiffDock on PDB 4HJO with aspirin"

Press Enter or click the send button to submit your message.

Multi-line input

Hold Shift + Enter to insert a newline without submitting. This is useful for pasting multi-line sequences or writing detailed instructions.

Attaching files

Click the attachment icon (paperclip) next to the input bar to upload files directly into the conversation. Supported formats include PDB, SDF, MOL2, FASTA, SMILES, and CSV. Uploaded files are referenced inline and can be used as inputs to computational tools.

Understanding AI responses

Streamed text

Responses stream in real time as the AI generates them. Markdown formatting is applied automatically, including headers, bold text, code blocks, and lists. You can read the response as it arrives without waiting for completion.

Tool calls

When your query requires computation, the AI selects and executes tools automatically. Tool calls appear as expandable cards within the response, showing:

• Tool name -- the computational method being invoked (e.g., ESMFold, BLAST, DiffDock)
• Parameters -- the inputs passed to the tool
• Status -- progress indicator while the tool runs
• Results -- output data once the tool completes

Tool results are also added to the canvas as interactive cards. See the Canvas page for details.

Citations

The workspace extracts citations from database and literature links in the response. Common sources include:

• UniProt
• PubChem
• NCBI Gene
• PubMed
• ChEMBL
• ClinicalTrials.gov
• RCSB PDB

Citations appear as numbered references at the bottom of each message. Click a citation to open the source in a new tab.

SMILES preview chips

When the AI mentions chemical compounds using SMILES notation, interactive preview chips render inline. Hover over a chip to see a 2D structure thumbnail.

File references

References to uploaded or generated files appear as clickable chips with the @ prefix. Click a file reference to preview or download the file.

Managing conversations

Pinning a chat

Click the star icon in the chat header to pin a conversation. Pinned chats appear at the top of your sidebar for quick access.

Renaming a chat

By default, chats are named after the first query. To rename one, use Rename on the chat in the file explorer.

Branching a conversation

Click the branch icon (fork symbol) in the header controls to create a copy of the current conversation. The branch starts from the same history, letting you explore alternative directions without affecting the original thread.

Duplicating a chat

Open the three-dot menu in the header and select Duplicate Chat to create a full copy of the conversation, including all messages and canvas cards.

Deleting a chat

Open the three-dot menu and select Delete Chat. This action is permanent and cannot be undone.

Saving and organizing

Auto-save

All conversations are automatically saved to your account. Messages, tool results, and canvas cards persist across sessions and devices.

Campaigns

Group related chats into campaigns for structured research. See the Campaigns page for details on organizing your work.

Exporting

You can export individual messages, full conversations, or canvas card data through the action rail's export panels. Supported formats include Markdown, PDF, CSV, and JSON.

Keyboard shortcuts

Read next

• Features -- Learn about response styles, thinking mode, and advanced capabilities.
• Action Rail -- Explore the sidebar panels for tools, exports, and reports.
• Canvas -- Understand how tool results become interactive visualizations.