adeelahmad · Oct 18, 2026 · Oct 16, 2026 · Oct 17, 2026 · Oct 17, 2026 · Oct 17, 2026
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,8 +11,10 @@ The backend (`fastapi_backend`) and the frontend (`nextjs-frontend`) are version
   it, or say "yes" in a chat room; an API key or an app only declines it unless `research.agents_skip_review` is on.
   It runs in the background, one run per person at a time, within its tool calls, `research.max_minutes` and your
   budgets, survives a restart, and stops when asked; the cited report comes back in the conversation, its claims
-  checked against their sources, and saves as a note or makes a podcast episode. The web app's plan and progress
-  cards are in progress ([Deep research](docs/assistant.md#deep-research)).
+  checked against their sources, and saves as a note or makes a podcast episode. In the web app, the composer's Deep
+  research switch asks for it; the plan is a card to edit and approve with Enter, then a progress card that survives a
+  reload; and the report saves as a note, reads aloud, makes a podcast or exports as Markdown. Settings → AI assistant
+  → Deep research holds its limits ([Deep research](docs/assistant.md#deep-research)).
 - **Read any message aloud.** Every question and answer in a conversation has a speaker button: one click reads it
   aloud by the speech model and voice picked in Settings → AI assistant → Voice (else the browser's own speech),
   another stops it. One message plays at a time, long answers go in pieces under every provider's limit, and each

diff --git a/docs/assistant.md b/docs/assistant.md
@@ -475,11 +475,12 @@ an image the sandbox shared inline in the answer, not only as a download; the 20
 
 ## Deep research
 
-Built in the API, MCP, chat rooms and the assistant's tools; the web app's plan and progress cards are in progress.
+Built: the web app, the API, MCP, chat rooms and the assistant's tools.
 Give the assistant a goal that needs many look-ups, and it comes back with a plan; once you approve it, the research
 runs in the background and a cited report comes back in the conversation.
 
-- **Asking.** Start a question with `/research` (`/research what changed in the capsid work this year?`), send it with
+- **Asking.** Turn on the composer's Deep research switch (the telescope) and type the goal, start a question with
+  `/research` (`/research what changed in the capsid work this year?`), send it with
   `research: true` (`POST /api/v1/chats/<id>/messages`), call `POST /api/v1/chats/<id>/research {goal}`, or ask the
   assistant for research: its `start_research` tool (the `research` [tool group](#choosing-tools-namespaces-and-a-limit))
   works from chat, voice and [chat rooms](chat-rooms.md). It needs a language model that uses tools.
@@ -490,6 +491,11 @@ runs in the background and a cited report comes back in the conversation.
   labelled an estimate: from what each tool call of past research runs cost in the activity ledger, else its likely
   tokens at the model's price in Settings (no figure when the model has no price). The plan is the answer to the
   question, and it waits as an approval of the assistant's (tool `research`).
+- **The plan card.** In the conversation the plan is a card: the follow-up questions with their answers to tap (or
+  type your own), the sub-questions as a list to reword, add to or remove from, where it looks as ticks (only the
+  sources you have), a stepper for its tool calls with the estimate beside it, and the report's outline. Enter
+  approves it, with your edits; once you've answered a question, Enter revises it with your answers instead (Approve
+  as it is stays one click away). Decline drops it.
 - **Approve, edit or revise.** Approve it as it is, or with your edits (`POST /api/v1/approvals/<id>` with
   `decision: approve` and `params`: any of `title`, `sub_questions`, `sources`, `max_tool_calls`, `report_outline`), in
   the conversation or the Approvals page; or send your answers and edits back for one more planning call (`POST
@@ -498,8 +504,8 @@ runs in the background and a cited report comes back in the conversation.
   it at once, as your own pick.
 - **Agents only decline.** An API key, an app or an agent (MCP, the assistant) can decline a plan but not approve it,
   as for every approval, unless an admin turns on `research.agents_skip_review` (off by default): then an agent's plan
-  starts without review. The `research` settings are saved with `PUT /api/v1/settings/research`; their place in
-  Settings → AI assistant is in progress.
+  starts without review. The `research` settings are in Settings → AI assistant → Deep research, and
+  `PUT /api/v1/settings/research`.
 - **The run.** Once approved, one process runs it at a time (a claim it keeps with a heartbeat every 10 seconds;
   another process takes it over after two minutes of silence and goes on from the last finished step), in stages:
     - *gather*: each sub-question in turn, with the assistant's tool loop, its share of the tool calls that are left,
@@ -519,7 +525,10 @@ runs in the background and a cited report comes back in the conversation.
 - **Budgets.** Before each stage the [budgets](budgets.md) of the conversation's namespaces and `all` are checked. One
   that is over holds the run (`held`, saying why) until the budget allows it, or until you let it go on anyway (`POST
   /api/v1/research/<id>/resume`); a budget that skips stops it with what it found.
-- **Progress and stopping.** `GET /api/v1/research/<id>` gives its status (planned, declined, queued, running, held,
+- **Progress and stopping.** Once approved, the plan card becomes a progress card that reads the run again every few
+  seconds, so it carries on after a reload and on a phone: its stage, a bar of the sub-questions done with each one
+  ticked off, sources found, tool calls, cost and minutes, why a budget holds it with Go on anyway, and Stop. When the
+  report is saved, the conversation shows it. `GET /api/v1/research/<id>` gives its status (planned, declined, queued, running, held,
   done, stopped, failed), stage, and progress: sub-questions done, sources found, tool calls, minutes, and tokens and
   cost so far. `GET /api/v1/research?chat_id=<id>` lists a conversation's. `POST /api/v1/research/<id>/stop` stops it
   after the step it's on (at once while it waits), and what it found so far is saved in the conversation as its
@@ -528,7 +537,9 @@ runs in the background and a cited report comes back in the conversation.
   (`namespace` when there are several), its archive citations as mention links to what they cite, web ones as links,
   and a link back to the conversation (`@[Research: title](chat:12)`), which only you see named. `POST
   /api/v1/research/<id>/podcast` makes a [podcast episode](podcasts.md) from the assets the report cites, about its
-  goal. The report reads aloud and exports like any answer.
+  goal. In the web app the report has these as Save as note (asking which namespace when it could go in several),
+  Read aloud (with the voice in Settings → AI assistant), Make a podcast, and Export (a Markdown file with the sources
+  it cites). Follow-up questions go on from the report.
 - **Agents.** MCP has `start_research` (a new conversation unless `chat_id` is given; `namespaces`, `tools`,
   `max_tool_calls`) and `research_status` (the plan and progress, and once it's done the report with its sources and
   their links).