Helios / User guide / Messages, files and images
Messages, files and images
Write Helios prompts, attach project files and screenshots, queue follow-ups and understand provider-specific image support.
Helios 0.114.4 · Source reference ↗
Write, send and queue messages
Type in the composer below the transcript. Use Enter for a new line and Ctrl+Enter to send. Ctrl+L returns focus to the composer.
A useful request includes the change, constraints and a result you can check. Reference the test command or a sample input when you know it. For example:
In tasks.py, reject a task title that is only whitespace.
Keep existing non-empty titles unchanged. Add a focused test and run it.While a turn runs, additional messages queue. Stopping the turn with Esc or Ctrl+. returns queued messages to the composer so you can review them.
Attach project files
The attach control inserts an @path reference. You can also include a path directly in the message. A reference tells the agent which local resource to consider; the provider’s tools and current permission mode determine what it can read.
Use project-relative descriptions in prose when they make a task easier to understand, and check that the conversation’s working directory is the intended repository.
Add images and screenshots
- Paste an image from the clipboard with Ctrl+V.
- Drop an image file into the composer.
- Use the composer’s camera button to capture through the desktop screenshot portal.
- Use the Browser pane’s camera button to attach the current page.
Attached images appear as thumbnails and as path references in the message. Pasted images are saved in Helios’s media directory. Click transcript thumbnails to open the full image in the side pane.
| Provider | Current image path |
|---|---|
| Claude, Codex, Muse, Kimi | Supported image references are converted to native image input. |
| Gemini, OpenRouter | The reference remains text; the current Helios integration does not send a native image payload. |
| Large images | Images above the 5 MB conversion limit remain path references. |
The provider and model still need image capability. A thumbnail in Helios establishes that the attachment exists, not that every provider received its pixels.
Use commands and skills
Type / in the composer or press Ctrl+Shift+P to open agent commands. Claude chats can also list the CLI’s reported commands and skills with descriptions.
Commands are gated by provider capability: manual compaction is available for supported Claude, Codex and Kimi sessions; native Review is a Codex action; a head fork is available for Codex and Kimi. A generic Revert action is not currently available.
In Claude chats, typed /model <alias> and /effort <level> route through Helios’s model and execution controls. Supported levels come from the provider and model. A live model change takes effect only when the integration can apply it.
Read tool output and open files
Expand tool cards to inspect commands, file operations and their results. Image results render as thumbnails. A card referring to an existing file can offer an open control; the side pane can display supported images, HTML and PDFs.
Use Copy message for a message or Copy code for a code block when transferring a focused result to an editor or another conversation.
For a follow-up tied to a specific change, use hunk comments in Changes. For selected command output, use Send to chat.