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Metal has two ways to find things fast: a global command palette and a dedicated Files search.

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Global search (command palette)

Press ⌘ K (or click Search in the sidebar) to open the command palette. In Search the workspace…, start typing to jump to:
  • Pages — Home, Companies, Folders, and more.
  • Companies and Deals.
  • CIMs: matched by their company. Selecting one opens it in the CIM library.
  • Expert calls: shows the expert’s role and company. Selecting one opens the transcript.
  • People: shows name, title, and company.
  • Activities: shows subject, type, and date.
  • Files — matched by name.
The CIMs, Expert calls, People, and Activities groups appear after Companies and Deals, with up to 5 results each.
The command palette matches records and files by name. To search across the contents of your documents, use Files search.
Open Files and use Search files and documents, then press Enter. This searches across your ingested documents, not just titles. Narrow results with the company, document type, and source filters. Search boxes inside a folder — in My Files, shared folders, and connected storage such as Box, Google Drive, ShareFile, and SharePoint — match names, not contents. In connected storage, search covers the whole current folder, not only the files already loaded on screen.

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Search vs. chat

Search finds existing records and files. The AI Chat (press ⌘ J) is conversational — ask questions and have Metal reason over your firm’s context. They’re separate tools for different jobs. To have chat follow a repeatable playbook, use a skill.

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Compact a long chat

Use /compact when a long chat is running out of room. Chat summarizes the older conversation to free up context, so you can keep working in the same chat. To run it, type /compact in the composer and pick Compact context from the slash menu. You can also open Actions in the composer and choose it under Commands. A Compacting context… entry appears in the thread right away. It resolves to one of these outcomes:
  • Context compacted. The older conversation was summarized.
  • Nothing to compact yet. The chat isn’t long enough to compact.
  • A refusal, if work is still running in the chat. Wait for it to finish, then try again.
  • Couldn’t compact context. Try again. The command failed before it could summarize.
  • Didn’t finish — try again if needed. The command stopped reporting and expired after five minutes.
If the command can’t be sent, a toast appears instead. In activity rows, this step shows as Compacting Context while it runs and Compacted Context when it’s done.

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Control tool permissions in chat

Chat asks for your approval before it runs certain tools, such as actions that create or change data. The permission mode decides when chat stops to ask. Use it to choose between reviewing every call and letting chat work with fewer interruptions. When chat asks, you can approve the call once or choose Always allow. Always allow saves a standing approval that applies across all your chats.

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Set your default mode

  1. Open Settings → Account → Permissions.
  2. Under Default mode, choose Ask, Auto, or Allow all.
New and existing chats use this default unless a chat has its own override. See Permissions for managing saved approvals.

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Change the mode for one chat

Each chat has a permission chip in the composer that shows the current mode. Click it and pick a mode to override your default for that chat. Choose Use default to clear the override and return to your default mode. On mobile, open the + options sheet and tap Permissions. You can also pick a mode before the chat exists. The chip appears in the composer on Home and when you start a new chat in a project. Metal applies your choice to the chat when you send the first message. If you leave the chip on Use default, the new chat follows your default mode. Only the chat’s creator or an org admin can change a chat’s mode. People the chat is shared with see the mode read-only.

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How Auto works

Auto is a best-effort automatic review, not a safety guarantee. When a call looks unclear, chat still asks you, and the approval banner explains why:
  • It’s not clear the call matches your request.
  • It may do more than your request calls for.
  • It departs from the approach the agent has been taking.
  • It couldn’t be evaluated automatically, so you need to review it yourself.
Calls that Auto clears run without a prompt and show an Auto-approved note next to the tool call in the transcript. Expand the tool call to see the review details.

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Schedule messages in chat

You can ask chat to send a follow-up to the current conversation later. Use this for reminders or recurring check-ins, such as a weekly summary of new activity. Describe the timing and what you want in plain language:
  • One-off or recurring. Schedules can fire once (for example, “at 3pm”) or repeat (for example, “every other day” or “every Monday and Friday at 9:30am”).
  • Permission first. Chat asks for your permission before it creates a schedule. It then reports the next run time.
  • Time zone. Chat uses your message’s time zone when one is set, otherwise UTC. Name an IANA zone to be explicit, such as “at 9am America/New_York”.
  • When it fires. Metal posts a message marked SCHEDULED MESSAGE into the chat session, and the agent replies to it.
  • Manage schedules. Ask chat to list the pending schedules in this conversation. The list shows each schedule’s next run time. Ask chat to cancel any schedule you no longer need.
Schedules only work in chat sessions. They aren’t available in workflow tool steps. A schedule stops if its chat session, project, or organization is removed. Removing a user stops the schedules in their personal chat sessions.