adeelahmad · Oct 3, 2026 · Oct 3, 2026 · Oct 3, 2026
diff --git a/docs/assistant.md b/docs/assistant.md
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@ then.
 - **Choosing the model:** a conversation can use any model an admin offers (`llm.chat_models`, else whatever the model
   server lists); Try another model asks a question again with a different one. Each answer records the model that
   wrote it.
+- **Chat on any page:** every page except Chat itself has an Ask button that opens a chat panel beside the page (full
+  screen on phones). Its conversation follows you between pages, and across visits in the same browser, until New
+  chat; it is an ordinary conversation, also listed in Chat. Each question can share the page's text (the page chip,
+  on by default) and text highlighted on the page (Ask about this, above any selection). The model reads them with the
+  question (up to 12,000 characters of page text and 4,000 of the highlight) as what the person is looking at, not as
+  citable excerpts. The question keeps the page's address, title and highlight, shown above it; the page's text isn't
+  stored. A recording's transcript and document keep their own selection toolbar, whose Ask in chat goes to the
+  recording's chat.
 - **No model configured:** chat returns the best-matching passages instead. Anyone signed in can see whether a model
   is set up, and which (`GET /chats/capabilities`), so the app says so before the first question.
 

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/api/v1/routes/chats.py b/fastapi_backend/app/api/v1/routes/chats.py
@@ -174,7 +174,8 @@ def _ev(name: str, data: Any) -> str:
     responses={200: {"content": {"text/event-stream": {}}, "description": "server-sent events"}},
 )
 async def send_message(cid: int, body: MessageCreate, user: Writer, acl: Acl, db: Db, cfg: Cfg, request: Request) -> StreamingResponse:
-  
8000
  """Ask a question. Streams events: step, approval, notice, passages, token (answer text), error, stopped (POST
+    """Ask a question, optionally from a page (`context`: the page, its text and any highlighted part, which the model
+    reads with the question). Streams events: step, approval, notice, passages, token (answer text), error, stopped (POST
     /chats/{cid}/stop: what came before is saved, marked stopped), done (the saved message id)."""
     c = await run_in_threadpool(_own_chat, db, cid, user)
     q = body.content.strip()[:4000]
@@ -183,7 +184,9 @@ async def send_message(cid: int, body: MessageCreate, user: Writer, acl: Acl, db
         q = "I attached " + ("this file." if len(files) == 1 else "these files.")
     if not q:
         raise HTTPException(400, "ask something")
-    asked = q + chat.attached_note(files)  # what the model reads: the question, and the files it can import
+    page = body.context.model_dump() if body.context else None
+    # what the model reads: the question with the page it was asked from, and the files it can import
+    asked = chat.with_context(q, page) + chat.attached_note(files)
     # this answer's model: the one asked for (400 if it isn't offered), else the conversation's while it's still offered
     model = await run_in_threadpool(_model, cfg, body.model) if body.model else c.get("model")
     if model and not body.model and model not in await run_in_threadpool(chat.model_choices, cfg):
@@ -192,7 +195,7 @@ async def send_message(cid: int, body: MessageCreate, user: Writer, acl: Acl, db
 
     def prepare() -> tuple[list[dict[str, Any]], list[dict[str, Any]]]:
         past = chat.history(db, cid)
-        chat.add(db, cid, "user", q, attachments=files)
+        chat.add(db, cid, "user", q, attachments=files, context=chat.shared_context(page))
         if not past and c["title"] == "New conversation":
             db.q("UPDATE $r SET title = $t", r=R("chat", cid), t=q[:80])
         return past, chat.retrieve(db, q, readable, c.get("scope"), cfg=cfg)
@@ -239,7 +242,8 @@ def answer(on: chat.Answering) -> Iterator[str]:
                                 yield _ev("approval", appr)
                             yield from stopped("", [])
                             return
-                    elif kind == "direct" and passages and not setup:  # a model that skips the tools hasn't seen the archive
+                    # a model that skips the tools hasn't seen the archive (but may answer from the page it was asked on)
+                    elif kind == "direct" and passages and not setup and not (page and page.get("text")):
                         break
                     else:
                         answer = data

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/domain/chat.py b/fastapi_backend/app/domain/chat.py
@@ -219,10 +219,58 @@ def retrieve(db, question, spaces, scope=None, k=8, cfg=None):
     return out
 
 
+PAGE_TEXT, PAGE_SELECTION = 12000, 4000
+
+
+def shared_context(ctx):
+    """What a question keeps of the page it was asked from: where, its title, the highlighted text, and whether the
+    page's text was shared (the text itself isn't kept)."""
+    if not ctx or not ctx.get("url"):
+        return None
+    return store.clean(
+        {
+            "url": str(ctx["url"])[:2000],
+            "title": (ctx.get("title") or "").strip()[:300] or None,
+            "selection": (ctx.get("selection") or "").strip()[:PAGE_SELECTION] or None,
+            "page": bool((ctx.get("text") or "").strip()) or None,
+        }
+    )
+
+
+def with_context(question, ctx):
+    """The question as the model reads it when it was asked from a page: the page, the highlighted text and (when
+    shared) the page's text come first, marked as what the person is looking at in Lens rather than archive excerpts."""
+    if not ctx or not ctx.get("url"):
+        return question
+    title = (ctx.get("title") or "").strip()[:300]
+    parts = [f"The person is looking at the Lens page {title + ' ' if title else ''}({str(ctx['url'])[:2000]})."]
+    sel = (ctx.get("selection") or "").strip()[:PAGE_SELECTION]
+    if sel:
+        parts.append(f'They highlighted t
8000
his part of it:\n"""\n{sel}\n"""')
+    text = (ctx.get("text") or "").strip()
+    if text:
+        cut = text[:PAGE_TEXT]
+        more = " (cut short)" if len(text) > PAGE_TEXT else ""
+        parts.append(f'The page\'s text{more}:\n"""\n{cut}\n"""')
+    parts.append(f"Use the page to understand the question; it is not an archive excerpt, so don't cite it with [n]. Question: {question}")
+    return "\n\n".join(parts)
+
+
+def past_turns(history, n=6):
+    """The conversation's last messages for the model, with the files sent with each; a question asked about
+    highlighted text keeps (the start of) that text, so a follow-up still knows what "it" was."""
+    out = []
+    for m in list(history)[-n:]:
+        sel = ((m.get("context") or {}).get("selection") or "")[:500] if m["role"] == "user" else ""
+        said = f'(About the highlighted text: "{sel}") {m["content"]}' if sel else m["content"]
+        out.append({"role": m["role"], "content": said + attached_note(m.get("attachments"))})
+    return out
+
+
 def messages_for(question, passages, history=()):
     ctx = "\n\n".join(f"[{p['n']}] {p['title']} · {(p.get('recorded_at') or '')[:10]} · {p['time']}\n{p['text']}" for p in passages)
     msgs = [{"role": "system", "content": SYSTEM}]
-    msgs += [{"role": m["role"], "content": m["content"] + attached_note(m.get("attachments"))} for m in list(history)[-6:]]
+    msgs += past_turns(history)
     msgs.append({"role": "user", "content": f"Excerpts:\n\n{ctx or '(nothing in the archive matched)'}\n\nQuestion: {question}"})
     return msgs
 
@@ -274,13 +322,16 @@ def get(db, cid, account):
 def history(db, cid):
     return db.rows(
         "SELECT record::id(id) AS id, role, content, passages, created_at, stopped ?? false AS stopped, steps ?? [] AS steps, "
-        "attachments ?? [] AS attachments, notice, error, check, model FROM chat_message WHERE chat = $c ORDER BY id",
+        "attachments ?? [] AS attachments, notice, error, check, model, context FROM chat_message WHERE chat = $c ORDER BY id",
         c=cid,
     )
 
 
-def add(db, cid, role, content, passages=None, stopped=False, steps=None, notice=None, error=None, model=None, attachments=None):
-    """Save a message; an answer keeps the tool steps it took, any notice (e.g. the model can't use tools) and error."""
+def add(
+    db, cid, role, content, passages=None, stopped=False, steps=None, notice=None, error=None, model=None, attachments=None, context=None
+):
+    """Save a message; an answer keeps the tool steps it took, any notice (e.g. the model can't use tools) and error; a
+    question asked from a page keeps what it shared of it (shared_context)."""
     mid = db.next_id("chat_message")
     db.q(
         "CREATE $r CONTENT $d",
@@ -298,6 +349,7 @@ def add(db, cid, role, content, passages=None, stopped=False, steps=None, notice
                 "notice": notice,
                 "error": error,
                 "model": model,
+                "context": context,
             }
         ),
     )
@@ -386,9 +438,7 @@ def tool_answer(cfg, toolbox, question, history=(), max_steps=6, model=None, set
     answered without looking anything up (it never saw the archive, so the caller can answer from a search instead).
     Raises llm.ToolsUnsupported."""
     system = TOOL_SYSTEM + ("\n\n" + SETUP_SYSTEM if setup else "")
-    msgs = [{"role": "system", "content": system}] + [
-        {"role": m["role"], "content": m["content"] + attached_note(m.get("attachments"))} for m in list(history)[-6:]
-    ]
+    msgs = [{"role": "system", "content": system}] + past_turns(history)
     msgs.append({"role": "user", "content": question})
     for step in range(max_steps):
         msg = llm.chat_message(cfg, msgs, tools=toolbox.specs(), model=model)

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/app/schemas/chats.py b/fastapi_backend/app/schemas/chats.py
@@ -82,6 +82,30 @@ class ToolStep(ResponseModel):
     summary: str = ""
 
 
+class PageContext(RequestModel):
+    """The page a question was asked from (chat on any page): where it is, and what of it the person shared."""
+
+    url: str = Field(max_length=2000, pattern=r"^/([^/]|$)", description="the page's path in Lens, e.g. /resources/12?t=30")
+    title: str | None = Field(None, max_length=300)
+    text: str | None = Field(
+        None,
+        max_length=200_000,
+        description="the page's visible text, when the person shares the page (only the first 12,000 characters are used)",
+    )
+    selection: str | None = Field(
+        None, max_length=50_000, description="text the person highlighted on it (only the first 4,000 characters are used)"
+    )
+
+
+class SharedContext(ResponseModel):
+    """What a question shared from the page it was asked on. The page's text itself isn't kept."""
+
+    url: str
+    title: str | None = None
+    selection: str | None = None
+    page: bool = Field(False, description="the page's text was shared")
+
+
 class Attachment(ResponseModel):
     id: str = Field(description="the upload")
     filename: str
@@ -93,6 +117,7 @@ class ChatMessage(ResponseModel):
     id: int
     role: Literal["user", "assistant"]
     content: str
+    context: SharedContext | None = Field(None, description="a question asked from a page: the page, and any highlighted text")
     attachments: list[Attachment] = Field(default_factory=list, description="files sent with it (POST /uploads with hold)")
     passages: list[Passage] | None = None
     created_at: str | None = None
@@ -127,6 +152,7 @@ class Chat(ChatSummary):
 
 class MessageCreate(RequestModel):
     content: str = Field("", description="the question (up to 4000 characters); may be empty when files are attached")
+    context: PageContext | None = Field(None, description="asked from a page: the page, its text and any highlighted part")
     attachments: list[str] = Field(
         default_factory=list,
         max_length=20,

diff --git a/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_chats.py b/fastapi_backend/tests/api/test_chats.py
@@ -391,6 +391,72 @@ def test_tools_stay_in_scope_and_say_what_is_missing(app, db, cfg, folder, new_c
     assert box.approvals == []
 
 
+def test_asking_from_a_page(plain, client, db, cfg, folder, llm):
+    """Chat on any page: the model reads the page and the highlighted part with the question; the question keeps where
+    it was asked and what was highlighted, not the page's text."""
+    seed(db, cfg, folder)
+    make_user(db, "ed@x.io", "editor password 1", roles={"pods": "editor", "calls": "editor"})
+    h = login(client, "ed@x.io", "editor password 1")
+    cid = client.post("/api/v1/chats", headers=h, json={}).json()["id"]
+    page = {"url": "/library?ns=calls", "title": "Library", "text": "Shipment report " + "x" * 20000, "selection": "  Dyno shipment  "}
+    llm.seen.clear()
+    ev = sse(client.post(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages", headers=h, json={"content": "When does it leave?", "context": page}).text)
+    assert "done" in ev
+    asked = llm.seen[-1]["messages"][-1]["content"]
+    assert "Lens page Library (/library?ns=calls)" in asked and '"""\nDyno shipment\n"""' in asked
+    assert "Shipment report" in asked and "(cut short)" in asked and len(asked) < 14000 and asked.endswith("Question: When does it leave?")
+    msgs = client.get(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}", headers=h).json()["messages"]
+    assert msgs[0]["content"] == "When does it leave?"
+    assert msgs[0]["context"] == {"url": "/library?ns=calls", "title": "Library", "selection": "Dyno shipment", "page": True}
+    assert client.get("/api/v1/chats", headers=h).json()[0]["title"] == "When does it leave?"
+
+    # only the highlighted part, no page text; then a question with nothing shared reads as before
+    sse(
+        client.post(
+            f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages", headers=h, json={"content": "Who?", "context": {"url": "/x", "selection": "Alice"}}
+        ).text
+    )
+    sse(client.post(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages", headers=h, json={"content": "And then?"}).text)
+    assert "page's text" not in llm.seen[-2]["messages"][-1]["content"] and llm.seen[-1]["messages"][-1]["content"].endswith(
+        "Question: And then?"
+    )
+    msgs = client.get(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}", headers=h).json()["messages"]
+    assert (msgs[2]["context"], msgs[4]["context"]) == ({"url": "/x", "title": None, "selection": "Alice", "page": False}, None)
+    for bad in (
+        {"title": "no url"},
+        {"url": "https://elsewhere.example"},
+        {"url": "//elsewhere.example/x"},
+        {"url": "javascript:alert(1)"},
+    ):
+        assert client.post(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages", headers=h, json={"content": "?", "context": bad}).status_code == 422
+
+    # a follow-up still knows what the highlighted text was
+    llm.seen.clear()
+    sse(client.post(f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages", headers=h, json={"content": "Say more"}).text)
+    turns = [m["content"] for m in llm.seen[-1]["messages"]]
+    assert '(About the highlighted text: "Alice") Who?' in turns
+
+
+def test_page_context_reaches_the_tools_too(app, db, cfg, folder, new_client, llm):
+    seed(db, cfg, folder)
+    make_user(db, "ed@x.io", "editor password 1", roles={"pods": "editor"})
+    c = new_client()
+    h = login(c, "ed@x.io", "editor password 1")
+    cid = c.post("/api/v1/chats", headers=h, json={}).json()["id"]
+    llm.tool_script[:] = [{"content": "It's the capsid one."}]
+    llm.seen.clear()
+    ev = sse(
+        c.post(
+            f"/api/v1/chats/{cid}/messages",
+            headers=h,
+            json={"content": "Which?", "context": {"url": "/resources/1", "title": "Ep 1", "text": "Capsid talk"}},
+        ).text
+    )
+    assert ev["token"][0]["text"] == "It's the capsid one."
+    asked = llm.seen[0]["messages"][-1]["content"]
+    assert "Lens page Ep 1 (/resources/1)" in asked and "Capsid talk" in asked and asked.endswith("Question: Which?")
+
+
 def test_a_model_that_skips_the_tools_still_answers_from_the_archive(app, db, cfg, folder, new_client, llm):
     s = Assist(app, db, cfg, folder, new_client)
     c, h = s.cl["editor"]