> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vlm.run/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat

> The interactive playground for chatting with Orion, VLM Run's visual agent

<div className="platform-figure">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/autonomiai/31N4NFzIelpYJkPB/images/platform-chat.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=31N4NFzIelpYJkPB&q=85&s=38ff0755879e21ae85f33c0f5d2addfc" alt="VLM Run Chat interface" width="2712" height="1530" data-path="images/platform-chat.png" />
</div>

Chat is the primary playground on the VLM Run platform. It gives you a direct conversational interface with **Orion**, our visual agent that can see, reason over, and act on images, documents, and videos.

Use Chat to explore what Orion can do before integrating via the API, or as a daily tool for ad-hoc visual understanding tasks.

<Note>
  Try it now at [chat.vlm.run](https://chat.vlm.run/). No setup required.
</Note>

## What You Can Do

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Chat with PDFs and documents" icon="file-pdf">
    Upload a PDF, invoice, medical form, or any multi-page document. Ask Orion to summarize it, extract specific fields, compare sections, or answer questions grounded in the document's content. Orion processes every page and returns structured, cited responses.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Analyze and caption images" icon="image">
    Drop in a photo, screenshot, or diagram. Orion can caption the image, detect and label objects, identify UI elements, extract text via OCR, or answer open-ended questions about what it sees. Results include bounding boxes and visual annotations when relevant.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Ask questions about videos" icon="video">
    Attach a video and ask Orion to summarize it, identify key moments, describe actions, or extract metadata across frames. Video understanding works across formats and durations, from short clips to multi-minute recordings.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Re-use a skill" icon="wand-magic-sparkles">
    Select a skill from the skill picker to guide Orion's response. Skills constrain the output to a specific schema (invoice line items, receipt totals, document classifications) so you get consistent, structured data every time. You can also create new skills directly from a conversation.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Compose multi-step visual workflows" icon="diagram-project">
    Chain operations in a single conversation: detect objects, crop a region, enhance it, then analyze. Orion maintains context across turns, so each step builds on the last.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

## Key Features

| Feature                     | Description                                                         |
| --------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **File attachments**        | Upload images, PDFs, videos, and audio directly in the chat window  |
| **Skill picker**            | Select a skill to constrain outputs to a specific schema            |
| **Structured responses**    | Get JSON-structured results alongside natural language explanations |
| **Conversation history**    | Resume past conversations and iterate on results                    |
| **Create skills from chat** | Turn a successful conversation into a reusable skill in one click   |
| **Real-time streaming**     | Responses stream token-by-token for immediate feedback              |

## From Playground to Production

Chat is designed to be the bridge between exploration and integration. A typical workflow looks like:

1. **Explore**: Upload a sample file and ask Orion a question to see what's possible.
2. **Refine**: Iterate on your prompt, select or create a skill to structure the output.
3. **Integrate**: Take the skill and model configuration from Chat and wire it into your API calls using the [Python SDK](/sdk-reference/getting-started), [Node.js SDK](/sdk-reference/node/getting-started), or [REST API](/api-reference/v1/post-chat-completions).

Every chat conversation is logged in the [Observe](/platform/observe/overview) dashboard, so you can inspect completions, debug responses, and track costs as you go.

## Related Pages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Agent Chat (API)" icon="robot" href="/agents/chat">
    Use the Orion agent in conversational chat mode via the API.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Chat Completions API" icon="server" href="/api-reference/v1/post-chat-completions">
    Explore the chat completions REST endpoint.
  </Card>

  <Card title="CLI Chat" icon="terminal" href="/cli/chat">
    Run chat sessions from the command line.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Skills Overview" icon="wand-magic-sparkles" href="/platform/skills/overview">
    Learn how to create and manage skills on the platform.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>