Work with Agent: questions, web search and history

Choose a task and effort, review project context and search consent, then manage device and account conversations.

Agent helps explain source, plan an edit, write a testbench and investigate results. Treat its answer as a proposal to review against the project and the relevant checks. Agent does not grant an engine or permission that the selected host lacks.

Ask a focused question

Open the project's Agent window or AI side panel. Confirm the organization and project.
Choose Agent and an available effort. Read the status line for the answering connection, conversation storage and project-read behavior.
Describe one outcome and its boundary: for example, explain a module's state transitions, suggest test cases, or propose an edit limited to one file.
Review any project-read request above the composer. Open View details and check the requested files before Allow, Deny or Cancel.
Read the answer beside the source. Review proposed changes and run the supported check explicitly; retain its result rather than treating the answer as proof.

Available tasks include explanation, RTL/testbench work, diagnostics, simulation-result analysis, project investigation, ISA design, circuit reasoning and document work. Availability is checked for the actual request. BYOK is a separate explicit connection with your provider's charges.

Ask for public web search

In Settings → Context, search & connections, review Web search and Web search consent. On hosts with separate settings pages, open Web search. Search starts off for both Agent and Own API key. It needs separate consent for its billing path and confirmed adult eligibility; company-AI consent or an API-key connection alone does not enable it.
Prepare a public query. Remove private source, internal paths, personal data, secrets and protected project information.
Include @websearch in the public-information request. In the send flow, separately review and confirm the exact public search words. Typing the token does not complete consent or query confirmation.
Read the returned sources and verify claims against the source pages. Search results do not override your task boundary or approve project changes.

Search and answer steps can both contribute to cost. For company Agent, confirmed usage is included in its shared QUOTA calculation. BYOK requests can incur your provider's fees. A disabled organization policy or missing consent must be resolved in the relevant setting; repeating the prompt does not bypass it.

Choose where conversations are kept

Open Conversation history in Settings → History, data & consent, or its separate Conversation history settings page when offered. Check whether the edited scope is Me, This organization or This project.
Where account history is available, new adult conversations start at 30 days; 7 days and off are selectable. Unconfirmed-age and 14–18 accounts default off. Organization policy can shorten or disable retention but cannot override your off choice. Read the effective value.
Choose Open conversation history. Use its search, period, This device and Account filters and read the storage and expiry labels.
Use Continue only when it is offered for that conversation. Account history can be readable without a continuation target.
Before deleting one, several or all conversations, read the confirmation's exact device/account scope. Turning retention off does not delete existing records.

Existing device conversations are not uploaded automatically. Device history, account history, operational/safety records, provider retention and backups follow separate rules. Download AI conversations in Data control is a device-history export; the JSON is not an importable backup.

Consent, eligibility and limits

Use company Agent only when current age, country, account, organization and consent requirements allow it. Company Agent is for users aged at least 19 who are legally adults where they live. Check the AI Notice for provider processing and retention before sending confidential material.

Eligible Agent and Cloud compute share the organization's active QUOTA. Weekly funding uses seven-day cycles; an existing monthly or legacy grant, including Pro, can remain until its original expiry. Check the active Usage period, reset and personal/administrator caps. Exhaustion stops company Agent without automatically spending purchased Credit or switching to BYOK.

If a request is blocked

Message or symptom	Check
Consent or project-read approval required	Review the exact notice/request; only approve the intended data.
Quota/cap reached	Current organization, active allowance period and reset and effective caps.
No tool or host capability	Available task and host operation; a chat cannot activate an absent engine.
History cannot continue	Read it in history; use Continue only for an available target.
Connection or provider refusal	Keep a sanitized message and time. Do not repeatedly resubmit private prompts.