Chat and history

Start a chat

Open Chat in the sidebar (⌘2), type your question in the chat box at the bottom of the window (Message Haruno…) and press Return or click Send. Haruno answers in the same window, and the conversation is saved on your Mac so you can come back to it from History. On Windows, the chat works much the same way; see On Windows.

You need to be signed in; if you are not, sending shows “You're not signed in. Sign in to Haruno in Settings (⌘,) to start.” The secure sandbox must also have finished downloading. Until it has, Send is unavailable and the Secure sandbox notice at the foot of the sidebar shows its progress; press Retry there if the download fails. With the sidebar hidden, the notice appears above the chat box instead. You can keep typing meanwhile.

Shift-Return starts a new line, and while Haruno works, Send becomes Stop. Name the company, the month and the figure when they matter, because a chat can see every company's books:

In Northwind Analytics, what drove the jump in professional fees in March?

Start a fresh conversation

Haruno keeps what was said earlier in a chat in mind, so start a new chat when you move to another company or question: Chats ▸ New Chat (⌘N), or + ▸ New Chat. The chat you leave is saved in History. Unsent text stays in the chat box; attachments do not carry over.

Asking from a company page

The ask buttons on a company's page, such as Ask Haruno and Explain this finding, write a question into the chat box and open the chat beside the page; they never send it. The question names the company and what the button is about. Opening a company's page adds nothing to the chat box. See Ask from a company page.

Chat beside a page

On every page except Chat, the toolbar has a speech-bubble button, Show Chat Panel (Hide Chat Panel while it is open); the View menu has the same command (⌥⌘0). The chat opens as a panel beside the page: the same conversation as the Chat tab, with New Chat, Open in Chat (to move it to the Chat tab) and Close chat panel in its header. Drag its edge to resize it; in a narrow window it floats over the page. It stays open as you change pages and when you reopen Haruno, until you close it. On the Chat tab, ⌥⌘0 shows or hides the side panel instead; see The preview panel.

What a chat can see and do

A chat works in one folder, the one the Files tab shows: Haruno's own Workspace folder, until you open another with File ▸ Open Folder… (⌘O), in either view. Beside that folder every chat is shown the books, so Haruno can read any company's books from any chat; it cannot change them, except a company's mapping file. A chat can also use the files you attach, the web, the services you connected and, with Use memory on, one memory shared by every company. See What else it can use and One memory for every company.

Choose the folder

Until you choose, Haruno uses ~/Library/Application Support/Haruno/Workspace, which it creates, so nothing asks for a folder before you can chat. After Open Folder…, Haruno shows the Files tab and reopens on that folder from then on; the open chat ends and a new one starts in it, and the earlier one stays in History. The Portfolio stays as it is. Haruno does not accept the books folder or a folder inside or around it, its own data folder, your home folder or a system folder, and the alert says why.

Haruno proposes, you apply

Haruno explains findings and variances, drafts disclosures, and proposes mapping answers and accounting treatments. You record them with the app's controls, such as Resolve… and Record answer on a finding. Haruno cannot close a month, reopen one or approve a mapping, and it is instructed never to decide a policy question for you. The books are read-only to it, except a company's mapping file, which it can edit when you ask; the change counts from the next close. See Applying an answer and What Haruno will not do.

What a chat sends

Importing, closing and the Portfolio run on your Mac and send nothing. A chat message goes through Inferara's hosted service to the model provider that answers, with anything staged in the chat box and anything Haruno reads to answer it. Each message uses your plan's allowance. Importing and closing use none, but the questions for management that Haruno drafts after a close do. See Where your data goes.

In the Advanced view

The Advanced view shows the same assistant with every step, including failed ones, Haruno's reasoning, and a permission-mode menu under +. It works in the same folder with the same books beside it. With Sandboxed Engine off, only an instruction keeps Haruno from changing them. See The normal view and the Advanced view.

Attach files and paste images

Attach a file when you want Haruno to read something that is not in the books, such as a board deck, a loan agreement or a supporting schedule. On the Mac, attachments stay attached after you send, until you remove them.

1. Click the + button to the left of the chat box (Add Context).
2. Choose Attach File or Attach Folder, then pick the item.
3. Check the chip that appears above the chat box, type your question and send it.

You can also drag files onto the chat box, choose Add to Chat on a file in the Files tab, or press ⌘V to paste files copied in Finder or a screenshot (attached as Pasted Image.png; your message waits while Preparing attachments… shows). When the figures are in a spreadsheet or a PDF, attach that file rather than a picture of it. Typing @ puts the path of a file from the chat's working folder into your message as text, without attaching it.

Attachments stay until you remove them

After you send, the chips stay above the chat box and go with every later message in that chat, for follow-up questions. Click the ✕ on a chip to remove it. If it was already sent, the chat notes “[file name] is no longer available to the agent.” (the agent is Haruno), and Haruno can no longer open a file or folder from outside the folder the chat works in. What it already read stays part of the conversation.

• Attachments added while Haruno works apply to your next message. You cannot remove one until the reply finishes or you stop it.
• New Chat starts with none. Reopening a chat from History brings its attachments back.
• A Playbook run (a message that starts with /) does not carry them.

What Haruno receives, and the limits

A file from elsewhere on your Mac is copied into the secure sandbox read-only, and a folder is shared read-only, so Haruno cannot change your originals. From outside the folder the chat works in you can attach files of up to 256 MB and up to 8 folders at once. A pasted image can be up to 64 MB and 40 million pixels, and one paste up to 256 MB. A message suggesting you move a file “into the project folder” means the folder the chat works in. Putting a company's export there does not add it to the company: use Add data on its page.

While Haruno works

A reply can take several steps: Haruno reads files, searches and writes before it answers. A line at the bottom of the chat shows it is working and for how long; it reads Getting ready… while a new chat starts. You can type meanwhile, but Return does nothing until the reply has finished: a chat runs one reply at a time.

In the normal view each step shows as a plain label, such as Reading a file; failed steps and Haruno's reasoning are hidden. The Activities panel beside the chat (⌥⌘0) lists the steps, helper tasks, files produced and sources read.

When Haruno asks you something

When Haruno needs a decision before it continues, a question card appears in the chat. Pick one of its options, or type your own answer in the field below them, then click Send (⌘Return); picking an option sends nothing by itself. A card with several questions offers Back, Next and, on the last, Submit.

Approvals

Some steps wait for your approval. In the normal view the card says in plain words what Haruno wants to do, for example “Haruno wants to run something on your Mac.”, and offers Allow once and Deny. Before opening a website you have not allowed, Haruno asks Let Haruno open this website?; your answer holds for that site for the rest of the chat. See The approval card and Websites.

Suggestions, notifications and notices

• After some replies, a Suggestion card offers a next step: Yes sends it, Reply… lets you answer in your own words, No thanks dismisses it. Suggest what to do next in Settings ▸ Advanced (Advanced view only) turns them off.
• When Haruno is not the front app, a notification says it needs your approval (Permission required) or has finished (Agent finished).
• If the connection falters, a notice such as Struggling to reach the server… appears and the app retries. If a reply cannot finish, nothing is lost: click Continue.
• Near a usage limit, a banner above the chat box warns you.

See Suggestions and Usage warnings.

Stop a reply

Press ⌘. or click Stop, which takes the place of Send while Haruno works (Chats ▸ Cancel Turn). The reply ends where it is, the chat notes “Turn stopped.”, and you can send your next message, or edit the one you sent, straight away.

• Stop does not undo steps Haruno already finished. A file it was still writing shows Stopped on its card.
• There is no Continue button after you stop. To carry on, send a message that says so.
• Helper tasks Haruno runs in the background keep going. Stop all, under Agents in the Activities panel, ends them.

Documents Haruno writes

When you ask for something worth keeping, such as a board paragraph or a variance memo, Haruno is instructed to build it as a document in the preview panel and keep its chat reply short. A card in the chat stands for the file, with Preview, Save and Open. The file is saved in the folder the chat works in, not in the books; find it later in the Files tab (⌘3).

To send it as a PDF, open it in the preview panel, click Export or share the document and choose Save as PDF…; see Save as PDF, print or share. It is a draft: check its figures against the company's own reports first, as in Checking an answer.

Edit an earlier message

You can rewrite any message you sent and send it again, once Haruno has finished replying. Haruno answers the new version, and everything after that message is removed from the chat for good, so the app asks first.

1. Hover over your message and click the pencil, or right-click it and choose Edit message.
2. Change the text, then press Return or click Send. Esc or Cancel leaves it as it was.
3. If replies follow, the app asks Discard everything after this message? and says how many replies will be permanently removed. Click Discard and Send, or Cancel.

• Sending the message unchanged asks for a fresh answer. On a Mac there is no separate regenerate command.
• Files Haruno wrote in the replies you discard are not put back.
• The Mac app cannot branch a chat. To try another direction, start a new chat (⌘N) and paste in what you need.

Find, copy and export a chat

Press ⌘F to find a word in the open chat; History searches every chat. To pass a conversation to a colleague, use Edit ▸ Copy Chat (plain text) or Copy Chat as Markdown, or File ▸ Export As to save it as plain text, Markdown or a web page; History is not shared between people. A copy or an export includes the steps Haruno took but, in the normal view, not its reasoning. If saving fails, the app shows “Couldn’t save chat” with the reason. To copy one message, click its copy icon, or right-click its text and choose Copy Message as Markdown. To quote part of a conversation in your next message, select the text and choose Quote from the right-click menu, or right-click a message and choose Quote message: the text goes into the chat box as a block quote, with the caret on a new line below it.

History: find, pin and delete past chats

Every chat is saved on your Mac and listed in History (⌘4), grouped by date unless you choose another grouping. It shows the chats on this Mac only. The drafts of questions for management that Haruno writes after a close are not listed.

1. Scroll, or type in Search messages (⌘F).
2. Click the chat. If another chat is on screen, the app asks Switch chat? Click Switch and Resume.

The chat opens with its attachments, and what you add continues the same conversation: History does not list a second copy. A chat that worked in another folder asks Switch folder? first; see Opening a chat made in another folder. Opening the chat already on screen asks Restore this chat?: Restore reloads its saved version and may discard unsaved changes. When you quit and reopen Haruno, your last chat is back on screen.

Search messages

Search messages finds every chat that contains exactly the text you typed, ignoring capitalization. Two words match only side by side, so when unsure of the wording, search for one distinctive word, such as a vendor's name. It also matches words from files Haruno opened, and searches archived chats. Open a result and press ⌘F to find the place. Press ⌘K (Edit ▸ Search Chats) on any page to open History with the search field ready. Filters in the toolbar opens a panel with Recent, All Chats, Projects (one row per folder a chat worked in: chats in Haruno's own Workspace folder are under Workspace, earlier ones under Books) and Archived. Haruno's service writes each chat's title; you cannot rename a chat in the Mac app.

Sort, filter and group

Sort and Filter in the toolbar, or the View menu while History is open, sets how far back the list goes (Last Activity: Any Time, Today, Last 7 Days or Last 30 Days), the order (Sort By: Last Activity, Date Created or Title, then Newest First or Oldest First, or A to Z or Z to A for Title) and the grouping (Group By: Date, Project or None). Pinned chats stay on top, Reset puts the choices back, and Haruno remembers them. If the time limit hides every chat, the list says “No chats match these filters.” with Clear Filters.

Pin, archive or delete a chat

Right-click a chat. Pin chat keeps it at the top of the list. Archive moves it to Archived; Unarchive brings it back. Opening an archived chat leaves it in Archived until you continue it. Delete asks Delete this chat? and moves the chat to the macOS Trash, where you can restore it. Deleting a chat takes it out of the search Haruno can do over your earlier chats, but notes memory already saved from it stay; see Deleting a chat does not delete its notes. The same menu has Open, Copy Path, Reveal in Finder and Copy Session ID.

Playbooks: instructions you reuse

A Playbook is a set of instructions you write once and run with a slash command, such as the way you like a variance memo laid out. Playbooks are kept on this Mac.

1. Click + to the left of the chat box, choose Manage Playbooks…, then New Playbook.
2. Under Command, type the name you will run it with.

   For example, a Playbook with the command board-note runs when you type /board-note in the chat.

3. Under Instructions, write what Haruno should do, and in what format. A short note is enough: click AI Optimize under the field to expand it into full instructions, and Undo to get your text back. It needs you to be signed in. Optionally add a Description, which helps Haruno decide when to use the Playbook on its own, and Parameters.
4. Click Save.

To run one, type / at the start of a message and pick it, or choose + ▸ Recent Playbooks. Text after the command goes to the Playbook: in its instructions, $ARGUMENTS stands for that text and $name for a named parameter. A Playbook you create while a chat is open works from the next chat; Start New Chat starts one and keeps what you typed. A Playbook with parameters opens a form showing what it Will send, with Run; if it arrived after the chat started, the form warns “This Playbook arrived after the current chat started, so running it begins a new one — clearing the transcript.” The earlier chat stays in History. The Playbooks window also edits and deletes them; a deleted Playbook goes to the Trash.

Dictate a message

Dictation turns what you say into text in the chat box for you to check. When you stop, the recording goes to Haruno's transcription service, so it leaves your Mac before you press Return.

1. Click the microphone button (Voice input). The first time, macOS asks whether Haruno may use the microphone.
2. Speak. A recording stops by itself after 60 seconds.
3. Click the button again (Stop recording and transcribe), or click Discard recording.
4. Check the text, correct it if needed, and send it.

Dictation needs you to be signed in. A short extract of the chat goes with the recording so names and terms come out right. If nothing should leave your Mac before you press Return, type instead. See Requests besides your messages.

Settings that shape the chat

In Settings ▸ General (⌘,): Advanced view (off by default) shows every step and more controls; Language also sets the language Haruno replies in; Chat Font Size sets the chat text size. In the Advanced view, Settings ▸ Advanced also has Use memory and Suggest what to do next, both on by default. The app has no setting for choosing which AI model answers. See Settings.

Keyboard shortcuts for chat

Every shortcut: Keyboard shortcuts, or Help ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts (⌘/).

Messages you may see

Sign-in and sandbox messages are in Signing in and The secure-sandbox download; connection, reply and usage messages in Chat and usage; connector sign-ins in Connectors. These are not listed there:

On Windows

The Windows app has the same kind of chat, with Windows keys and a few extra features. It has company pages too, and their ask buttons put the question in the chat box and open the chat beside the page. See What the Windows app does.

Approvals work differently on Windows; see Approvals on Windows. Settings ▸ Shortcuts lets you change the keys. Help ▸ User Guide in the Windows app covers its chat step by step and works offline.