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How to switch AI models mid-conversation

Short answer: Click the active model’s name at the top of the chat (or right-click the chat’s tab and choose “Switch Model…”) and pick a different one; your chat history stays intact. Each chat is pinned to one model at a time, but you can rebind it, even to a different provider, whenever you want.

Steps

  1. In an open chat, click the model name in the info bar at the top of the panel, or right-click the chat’s tab and choose Switch Model….
  2. The picker opens as a single searchable, sortable list (columns for context window, price, and tool support) covering OpenRouter, Ollama, and Ollama Cloud.
  3. Pick a model and click Switch.
  4. The chat keeps its full history; only new replies use the new model. Every past reply still shows exactly which model produced it.

Notes & gotchas

  • You can’t switch while the AI is generating a reply: the option is disabled mid-stream. Wait for it to finish, or stop it first.
  • If the new model can’t do something the old one could (read images, use tools your current mode needs), the dialog warns you before you confirm. If the new model can’t call tools at all, it tells you upfront that your active mode will switch to Chat Only when you confirm.
  • Switching to a model with a much smaller context window shows a heads-up if the conversation is already long.
  • Media models (image, speech, music, video) are picked separately, per type, under Chat Configuration → Models; the Switch Model dialog only rebinds the chat’s main model.