---
title: "Using the assistant"
description: "Where to open the assistant, what to type, the requests it understands, and what happens when it does not understand."
---

> Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.overlane.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Using the assistant

## Open it

- In the app: press `⌘J` or `Ctrl+J`, or select the assistant button in the top bar. Press `Esc` to close it.
- On the docs site: press `⌘J` or `Ctrl+J`, or select **Ask the docs**. The docs panel answers questions only; it cannot change anything.

Until your workspace is connected, the app panel runs in **sample mode**: its replies are scripted and change nothing. The panel says so at the top.

## Requests it understands

Ask a question in your own words, or give a short command.

| You type | Result |
| --- | --- |
| `How do guardrail rules work?` | An answer quoted from the docs, with links to the pages. |
| `go to issues` | A link to the Issues page, if your role and plan can open it. |
| `explain this page` | A short description of the page you are on. |
| `list issues in project web` | Your issues, read with your permissions. |
| `show issue iss_123 in project web` | One issue. Its text is shown as quoted data. |
| `create issue Fix the login page in project web` | An approval card. Nothing is created until you approve. |
| `update issue iss_123 in project web status in review` | An approval card with the before and after. |
| `assign issue iss_123 in project web to codex` | An approval card. |
| `undo` | An approval card for the opposite of your last change. |

Add `via github`, `via gitlab`, `via linear` or `via jira` to a request about an issue only if you use that connection. Without it, the request applies to the issues kept in the app itself.

## When it does not understand

If a request starts like a command but matches nothing, the assistant says so and lists what it can do. It does not guess a change. When a planner model is configured by your team, an unrecognised command may be passed to it; whatever it proposes goes through the same role check, argument check and approval as a typed command.

## Keyboard and touch

Every control is a real button or link. Tab moves through the conversation, the approval card and the message box. Approve and Reject are 44 px tall so they are easy to hit on a phone. After you decide, focus moves to the result line.

Source: https://docs.overlane.app/overlane-agent/using-the-agent/index.mdx