> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ainomos.ch/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Asking questions > Ask a question in a room, follow up on it, and find your past conversations again. The chat is where you ask Ainomos questions. You always ask inside one room. Ainomos answers from the knowledge of that room and the rooms above it, follows the rules that apply there, and shows what each answer is based on. Who can do this: every member of the room. ## Choose the room you ask in The room picker at the top left shows the room you are in and its data class, from C0 (experimental) to C3 (strictly confidential). Select it, type to search if you like, and select a room. The top bar shows where the room sits in the tree and the title of the open conversation. The chat always asks one room. **All rooms** appears in the room picker only on pages that look across rooms, such as the **Inbox**. ### What the room choice changes | What | How the room decides it | | - | - | | Knowledge | Ainomos searches the room, the rooms above it, and shared knowledge the room subscribes to. The **Reads** line under the input field lists these rooms. A room above yours that you cannot open shows as **A parent room**. | | Rules | The rules of the room and of every room above it apply. | | Models | The data class decides which models may answer. The model picker lists only those. | | Budget | Each question's cost counts against the room's monthly budget. | | History | The **Recent** list shows your conversations in this room only. | The chat never sees more than you could open yourself. ## Ask a question A new conversation opens with the **Room boundary** around the input field. Before you ask, it shows how many rules apply and how many records the room holds, whether the chosen model works inside the EU or Switzerland (**Inside EU/CH**) or outside (**Outside EU/CH**), and whether connected apps can reach the room (**Agent door reachable** or **Agent door closed**). **1. Type your question** Type into the field **Ask this room …**, or select one of the questions under **Ask about this room**. A selected question lands in the field, so you can still change it. **2. Pick a model, if the room allows more than one** The picker at the right of the field shows the model that will answer. **3. Send** Press Enter or select the arrow button (**Send**). While the answer is being written, the arrow turns into **Cancel**. A cancelled answer is discarded and not saved. Before answering, the chat may look up decisions, read a passage or check a planned action against the room's rules. It does this as you, with your rights, and lists the steps above the answer. See [Reading answers](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/reading-answers.md). ## Ask a follow-up question After the first answer, the input field moves to the bottom. Ask your next question there. Ainomos passes up to the last six exchanges to the model, so it understands what "it" or "that rule" means. The search for sources, however, uses only the new question, and each answer gets its own sources, checks and evidence record. > [!TIP] > > Keep follow-ups specific. Instead of "And for contractors?", ask "Does the travel policy also apply to contractors?" ## Start a new conversation Select **New conversation** at the top of the left sidebar, or press N while you are not typing. The conversation starts in the room you are in, so switch the room first if you want another one. ## Find and delete past conversations The **Recent** list in the left sidebar shows your conversations in the current room, newest first, each titled with its first question. Select one to open it again with its answers and sources. Other members of the room do not see your conversations. To delete one, point at it, select the bin icon (**Delete conversation**), then **Delete**. The conversation leaves your history, but the evidence records of its answers stay as part of the audit trail. See [Audit log](https://docs.ainomos.ch/privacy/audit-log.md). ## Ask in German or English Ainomos answers in the language of your question. With **Question translation** on, it also searches each German or English question in the other language, so an English question finds German documents and the other way round. This costs one small model call per question, paid from the room's budget. Questions in other languages are searched as written. Question translation is on unless someone turns it off. Room owners can switch it off for their room in the [room details](https://docs.ainomos.ch/admin/rooms.md#the-room-details), with a reason. The platform can also switch it off everywhere. ## Ask good questions * **Name a decision by its key**, the type and number shown on the record. Ainomos then brings that decision into the answer, however the question is worded. This works for up to eight decisions of the room and the rooms above it. A draft named this way is used but treated as not binding. * **Use the words of the document.** Ainomos searches by meaning and by exact words, so names, codes and terms from the document help. * **Ask one thing at a time.** One topic gives a focused answer with clear sources. * **Describe what you plan to do.** "May I send this customer list to our agency?" lets the chat check the plan against the rules. * **Name the law if you need it.** If an answer says law passages were left out, ask again and name the law. ## When a rule blocks a request If a check stops a request, a red card stands in place of the answer. It starts with **Blocked by** and the rule's key, and names who is responsible for the rule. | What happened | What you can do | | - | - | | Your question contains a password, API key, private key or session token. | Remove it and ask again. There is no exception, and the question is not saved. | | The answer contained personal data in a room with low protection needs (data class C1 by default). | Ask without personal details, ask in a room classified for personal data, or select **Request exception (time-limited)**. | | The chosen model is not approved for the room's data class. | Choose another model. | | The room's monthly budget is used up. | A room owner can ask for more in the **Context** drawer. A platform admin decides. | | The organisation's starter credit is used up. | An administrator connects a chat model of the organisation's own. | See [Block cards](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/reading-answers.md#block-cards) and [Exceptions](https://docs.ainomos.ch/knowledge/exceptions.md). > [!NOTE] > > A message above the input field tells you when you cannot ask at all, for example during maintenance, or when no approved model may read a strictly confidential room yet. ## Related * [Reading answers](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/reading-answers.md) * [Inbox](https://docs.ainomos.ch/chat/inbox.md) * [Rooms](https://docs.ainomos.ch/admin/rooms.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.