The Assistant is the part of Referenta you'll probably use the most. It's an AI you work with through a conversation — like chatting with a very well-prepared colleague who can read fast, draft fast, and never gets tired.
What You Can Do Here
A few examples of jobs that fit the Assistant well:
- Drafting: "Help me write a press release about today's announcement."
- Asking questions: "What are the main arguments for and against this bill?"
- Summarizing: "Summarize this 40-page report into half a page for my minister."
- Editing: "Rewrite this paragraph in a more neutral tone."
- Exploring: "Give me three different ways I could frame this issue for the public."
If you've used a chat-style AI before, this will feel familiar. What's different is that the Assistant lives next to the rest of Referenta — your research, your contacts, your documents — so you can move from "find" to "draft" to "send" in one place.
How A Conversation Works
When you open the Assistant, you land directly in a conversation. Each conversation keeps everything you've shared — your questions, the AI's replies, any files you've added — so you can pick up where you left off.
A simple flow:
- Open the Assistant from the sidebar.
- Type what you need in plain language. The clearer the goal, the better the result.
- Add context if it helps — paste in a document, upload a file, or reference something from Knowledgebase.
- Keep going. Ask follow-up questions, request changes, try alternatives. The Assistant remembers what you've said earlier in the conversation.
When you start a clearly different task, start a new conversation so the older context doesn't leak in.
When To Use The Assistant (And When Not To)
Use the Assistant when:
- The work involves writing, thinking, or exploring.
- You want to talk through a problem rather than fill out a form.
- You're not yet sure what the final output should look like.
Reach for a Tool instead when:
- The task is the same shape every time (transcribe an audio file, compare two legal texts, clean up a transcript). A Tool will be faster — see Tools.
Reach for Analysis & Research instead when:
- You need to find an existing document or scan press coverage. Bring what you find back into the Assistant once you've got it.