Sessions: the list and lifecycle
A session is one chat: everything you and DataMind Oda do together lives in it. This page covers the lifecycle behind the chat lists, from when a chat appears to the actions its view offers; the sidebar itself, with its groups, order and row marks, is covered in Sessions in the sidebar.
When a chat enters your lists
- A new chat starts blank. Blank means its conversation has not started, not that the chat is empty, and a blank chat stays out of your lists.
- One-off actions do not start a chat: running a command, setting a plan, or changing permissions or the access mode leaves a fresh chat blank.
- The first message Oda accepts starts the chat. It appears in your lists and stays.
- If Oda refuses your first message, the chat stays blank and nothing has started, so you can send the message again.
- A chat with no workspace folder yet is left out of the lists. If Oda cannot connect a chat to its workspace folder, the chat still appears and Oda reports the failure instead of hiding it.
- Once a chat has started, a later or slower refresh never hides it again.
How a chat is shown
- A row is labelled from the chat's own details, in order: the chat's saved title; if it has none, the name of the folder the chat works in; and if even that is missing, a plain identifier for the chat.
- A chat that belongs to another chat sits directly under it, indented. A chat whose parent is not shown stands at the top level instead.
- A chat with several versions keeps one row. The row follows the version you are on and shows a small count of how many there are (Conversation branches).
- The conversation map card shows each turn of a chat by the message that opened it, in up to three short lines.
- Opening a chat loads its stored history. While that loads you see a loading state, and a chat that cannot open shows the failure.
Keeping the lists up to date
- The lists are built from each chat's stored record, so your chats survive restarts and new windows.
- Oda keeps every open view in step as things change: a chat arrives when it starts, and its state follows the work inside it.
- After a reconnect, Oda rebuilds the lists from the records rather than trusting what was on screen.
- While the lists are still loading, an empty list means nothing has arrived yet. Once loading has finished, an empty list means there is genuinely nothing to show.
Archived chats
An archived chat cannot start new work: a step that tries to run in it, for example a scheduled task waking it up, is stopped before it runs. A copy you fork from an archived chat does not inherit the archive, and unarchiving lets the chat work again. The archive controls and how archived chats appear are in Sessions in the sidebar.
What you can do from a chat
Every chat view offers the same actions, wherever you meet the chat in Oda:
- Send a message. Type into the box and send; the chat carries the work on from its own history (Chat with Oda).
- Stop the work. Stopping cancels the running turn, and messages you queued while it worked are kept and resume after it stops (Stopping Oda and queued messages).
- Rename the chat. Oda tidies the name before saving it, and it keeps a name you save; a name with nothing visible in it is refused.
- Read older messages. Step back through the chat, and older messages load in pages as you go (Session search and history paging).
- Open a path in your own apps. Open the chat's folder or a file in an app on the computer, or show the file's location in the file manager (Open files and folders in other apps). Oda opens only a path it can match to this computer; when it cannot match one, it refuses and nothing opens.
- Run a command. A line such as
/plan is a command, and it runs in the chat (Commands Oda runs).
Questions, answered
Why is my chat list empty?
Two moments look the same. While Oda is still loading the list, an empty list means nothing has arrived yet, so wait for loading to finish. Once it has finished, an empty list means there is genuinely nothing to show; start a chat and send your first message (Chat with Oda).
How does Oda label a chat in the list?
From whatever the chat has, in order: its saved title; if it has no title, the name of the folder the chat works in; and if even that is missing, a plain identifier. Saving a name replaces the fallback from then on.
Why did Oda refuse my chat's new name?
Oda tidies a name before saving it: spaces around the edges are dropped, and a run of spaces becomes one. A name with no visible characters left is refused, and the dialog shows session title must contain visible characters. Type a name with at least one visible character and save it again.
Does the chat list update on its own?
Yes. Oda keeps every open view in step as a chat changes: a chat appears when it starts, and its state follows the work inside it. After a reconnect, the lists are rebuilt from the stored records, so they catch up on their own.
What happens if a chat cannot connect to its folder?
When Oda creates a chat, it also connects the chat to its workspace folder. If that fails, the chat is still created and stays in your lists, and Oda reports the failure instead of hiding the chat.
Will Oda rename my chat after I name it?
No. A name you save is kept, and Oda does not replace it with a suggested name later. The name changes only when you rename the chat again.