New to Smith? This is the ten-minute orientation. By the end you will know what Smith is, what each part of the screen does, how to set up your workspace, how to run your first request, and how your data is protected. No setup required to read along.
What Smith Is, and Isn't
Smith is an assistant, not a chatbot. A chatbot answers trivia. An assistant helps you do your actual job: drafting in your voice, reading the long report, prepping the meeting. You teach it once, and it helps you the same way every time.
- A governed workspace for multiple AI models
- A way to ground answers in your own files
- A tool you can teach with personas to write in your voice
- A private space where your data stays yours
- A replacement for your judgment
- A consumer chatbot; it is secure and auditable
- A training pipeline; your uploads never train models
- One fixed model; you choose and compare
The Interface at a Glance
The Smith home screen has everything within reach: your files on the left, the Custom, Prompt Library, and Personas tabs across the top, and the prompt box along the bottom. The starter cards suggest ways to begin.
My Workspace Files. Check files to ground a prompt in your own data.
Three tabs: Custom, Prompt Library, and Personas.
Model and Persona selectors. Change them anytime. The model list shows the models your project has available.
Prompt input. Type, or attach files with the plus button or drag and drop. Files you attach to a message are kept separate from your saved workspace files.
Settings gear: memory and creativity controls.
Start New Chat and Chat history.
Setting Up Your Workspace
Your workspace is where Smith fits itself to your work. It is your private file area, shown as My Workspace Files on the left. When you upload documents and organize them into folders, you can point Smith at them and get answers grounded in your own information, with sources you can trace, instead of general knowledge alone.
A little structure goes a long way. Group related files into folders that match how you work, by client, project, or topic, so that when you want an answer about one area, you can select that folder and Smith draws only from it.
Your files always live inside a folder, so if your workspace is still empty, creating one is your first step. You can create your first top-level folder straight from the empty workspace. When you upload, you choose or create a folder to put the file in rather than the top level itself.
Browse or drag and drop. Smith supports a wide range of file types, including PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, text, JSON, XML, Markdown, images, and email and calendar files including .msg, .eml, and .ics, among others, with more file types added over time. The upload area shows the current list. A file Smith cannot read is rejected as you upload it, from any upload point.
Group by client, project, or topic so you can aim Smith at exactly the right set of documents.
Check a file or folder before you prompt, and Smith answers from that source, with citations. Files are listed with their format in the name, so you can tell a report from a spreadsheet at a glance.
Everything in your workspace is isolated to you and is never used to train the models.
For the full how-to on uploading, folders, and file selection, see Organizing Your Work with Workspaces.
Prompt Library and Personas
Two of the three top tabs are worth knowing about from day one, even before you use them in depth.
Ready-made prompts you can run with one click, no need to write from scratch. Find it in the tab next to Custom. You can also write your own prompts, and manage them from a prompt table in My Workspace.
Saved instructions that shape how Smith responds: its role, tone, and rules. Build one once and switch it on in any chat. The Persona Builder Kit gives you ten ready to use.
Your First Interaction
Five steps from blank screen to a result worth keeping.
If a response starts heading the wrong way, you do not have to wait it out. You can cancel it while it is still in progress, then adjust your prompt and run it again.
From blank screen to a useful answer
A simple first prompt, and the kind of response you can expect back.
Choosing a Model
A set of base models is included, and they cover everyday work. Advanced models are specialists for when a task demands one. They are purchased and then activated for your project before anyone can use them, and an advanced model that has not been activated shows in a locked state and cannot be selected by project members. So the models you can choose from are the ones your project has activated. Each model carries a cost indicator and a one-line description where you choose it, so you can pick with confidence. The line-up changes as new releases land, including newer GPT and Claude generations, so treat the table below as a guide to how the line-up is organized rather than a complete list, and check the Settings panel for what your project can use right now.
Multi-model is switched off by default: turn it on first when you want to send one prompt to more than one model and compare the answers. For the full breakdown of models, what they cost, and how usage works, see Understanding Your Smith Plan and Usage.
What You Can Do with Smith
Emails, replies, and documents in your own voice using a persona.
Long reports, contracts, or threads down to what matters.
Spreadsheets and data for trends, anomalies, and commentary.
Options side by side, or, with multi-model switched on, one prompt across several models.
Answers based on your own documents, with sources you can trace.
Meeting briefs, action items, and follow-up emails in one pass.
Generate ready-to-use Word, Excel, PDF, text, Markdown, PowerPoint, and HTML files straight from a chat.
What's Protecting Your Data
Smith is built for work, which means your information is handled to enterprise standards from the start.
Isolated to your workspace, and never used to train the models.
Selected files keep responses tied to your own information.
Enterprise-grade encryption, in transit and at rest.
Session and usage history for oversight.
Next Steps: Now that you know your way around, the First 30 Days plan turns this into a simple week-by-week routine. New to the vocabulary? Keep the Glossary handy. Want a guided path by skill level? Try the Learning Tracks.
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Every AI and Smith term explained simply, in one place.
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