---
title: "Conversations and folders"
description: "Find a conversation, rename, fork, rewind, make room, archive or delete it, and read the line under the composer."
works_on: [desktop, phone]
---

# Conversations and folders

Find any conversation, pick up where you left off, and branch, rewind, tidy
or remove it.

**Works on:** the desktop app; the phone app lists and opens conversations.
Web: not available yet.

![The sidebar with conversations from two folders, harbor and codewhale](images/sessions.png)

## Find a conversation

Every conversation sits in the sidebar with its state beside it, such as
Running, Needs you, Ready or Blocked. A resting conversation shows no word.

- With one folder, conversations are grouped by day: Today, Yesterday, then
  the date.
- Once you've worked in more than one folder, they're grouped by folder
  instead, with the folder you have open first.
- Conversations with other people sit under **Groups**.

Click a conversation to open it. Use ↑ and ↓ to move through the list. To
search for one, press ⌘K (Ctrl+K) and type its name.

## Rename a conversation

Right-click it (or select it and press Shift+F10) and choose **Rename**, or
press ⌥⌘R (Ctrl+Alt+R on Windows and Linux). Type the new name and press
Enter. Esc keeps the old name.

## Fork a conversation

A fork is a new conversation that starts from this one. The original stays
as it was, and so do your files.

- **Fork › Everything so far** copies the whole conversation.
- **Fork › Fresh start, same setup** starts empty, in the same folder with
  the same setup.
- **Fork from here**, under any reply, keeps the conversation up to that
  reply. What you asked next goes back into the composer, ready to change.

## Edit an earlier message

With the composer empty and the whale not working, press Esc twice. **Edit
an earlier message** opens above the composer with your messages. Use ↑ and
↓ to choose, then press Enter.

![Edit an earlier message, open above the composer](images/sessions-rewind.png)

A new conversation continues from just before that message, with the
message back in the composer to change and send. The original keeps
everything. Esc closes the list.

## Make room

Long conversations fill up. To make room yourself, choose **Make room** from
the conversation's menu (the title at the top, or right-click it in the
sidebar). Older parts are summarized. When a conversation is 80% full or
more, the line under the composer shows "Context 80%" (or higher), with a
**Make room** button whenever the whale isn't working. To have Codewhale do it on its own, see **Make room
automatically** in [Settings](settings.md).

## Archive and unarchive

Choose **Archive**, or press ⌥⌘E (Ctrl+Alt+E). The conversation leaves the
list and a toast says "Archived" with **Undo** for 6 seconds; ⌘Z (Ctrl+Z)
does the same. Archiving also ends any "Allow for this conversation"
choices, so the next matching step asks again.

To see archived conversations, right-click empty space in the sidebar and
tick **Show archived**. Open one's menu to **Unarchive**, rename, copy its ID
or delete it.

## Delete a conversation

Choose **Delete…**, or press ⌘⌫ (Ctrl+Backspace). Codewhale asks once, next
to the conversation: "Delete “…”? This can't be brought back." **Cancel** has
the focus, so Enter keeps it.

![The delete confirmation, next to the conversation](images/sessions-delete.png)

After **Delete**, a toast says "Deleted" with **Undo** for 6 seconds. The
conversation is removed only when the toast goes away. A conversation that
is still working can't be deleted; its menu says "Still working".

## In a group conversation

Rename, fork, edit an earlier message, Make room, archive and delete aren't
offered for a conversation you share with other people. Its menu has
**Copy › Conversation ID**, plus **Invite people…** for the owner or **Leave
conversation…** for everyone else. See [Groups](groups.md).

## Read the line under the composer

The line under the composer shows what the conversation is doing, such as
"Needs you · approve a command". While a reply is being written it also
shows how long that reply has taken. It shows "worked …" once the
conversation has worked for more than a minute in all, how many agents are
running (click to see them in Overview), and "Context 80%" or more once the
conversation is that full.

## Under each reply

![Under a reply: copy, good reply, report, fork from here and how long it took](images/sessions-reply-row.png)

Copy, good reply, report, fork from here, and the time the reply took.
Point at the time, or move to it with Tab, to see how long it took, the
tokens it used and how much came from the cache. **Good reply** and
**Report** say "Not available yet".

## On the web

Not available yet.

## On your phone

The phone's **Conversations** list shows the conversations in your account,
with the ones that need you first, then the most recent. Tap one to open
it; pull down to refresh. The phone can't rename, fork, archive or delete a
conversation. See [Codewhale on your phone](phone.md).

## Related

- [Talk with the whale](conversation.md)
- [The work pane](work-pane.md)
- [Commands and the palette](commands.md)

Previous: [Talk with the whale](conversation.md) · Next: [Approvals and permissions](approvals-and-permissions.md)