Ask Salt reference
Look up Ask Salt entry points, chat surfaces, composer and source behavior, and tool activity indicators.
Ask Salt is available in a side pane and in full-page Threads. This reference catalogs the labels, routes, agent behavior, source controls, and tool activity indicators shown in each surface.
Entry points
| Location | UI label | Opens |
|---|---|---|
| App sidebar | Ask Salt | The Ask Salt side pane. The shortcut badge shows ⌘ / on macOS and CTRL / on other systems. |
| Pipeline editor floating toolbar | Ask Salt | The Ask Salt side pane. Its tooltip reads Open Chat. |
| App sidebar | Threads | A new full-page thread at /chat/new. Existing threads use /chat/{thread ID}. |
| Global search menu | Conversations | A new full-page thread at /chat/new. |
| Global search menu | New Conversation | A new full-page thread at /chat/new. |
Chat surfaces
| Surface | Empty-state heading | Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Side pane | Ask Salt BETA | Shares the screen with the current Salt page. |
| Full-page Threads | What should we do today? | Uses /chat/new for a new thread and /chat/{thread ID} for an existing thread. |
Both surfaces use a composer labeled Ask Salt.
Composer and agents
| Behavior | Salt Agent | Selected custom agent |
|---|---|---|
| Agent picker | Shows Salt Agent when no custom-agent selection is stored. | Shows the custom agent's name and published version. The picker includes only active custom agents with a published version, and the selection persists across new chats. |
| Prompt placeholder | Ask, search or build something... | Ask {agent name}… |
| Source control | Shows the selectable source control. | Replaces the selectable source control with read-only Agent sources. |
Source controls
| Agent selection | Control | Available behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Salt Agent | Select sources | Opens a source menu containing Web Search, available chat sources, Connections, and Knowledge bases. The control displays No Sources, 1 Source, All Sources, or the selected source count. |
| Custom agent | Agent sources | Lists the sources from the custom agent's published version without allowing changes in the composer. The panel reads Managed by {agent name}. and identifies each source as Connection or Knowledge base. |
When the selected custom agent has no sources, the control shows No Sources and the panel reads This agent has no connected sources.
Tool activity indicators
Tool rows show the tool purpose and an icon rather than a status label.
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Animated activity icon | The call is running. |
| Check | The call completed successfully. |
| X | The call failed or was denied. |
| Dot | The call is pending, awaiting approval, or superseded. A superseded call also adds (retried) to the tool purpose. |
Expanding a tool row shows its input parameters. The row does not expose the tool's raw returned data.