Message Composer

The message composer is the box at the bottom of every chat. Besides the text field, it holds one + button that opens everything you can add to a message (files, tools, skills, MCP servers and files you uploaded before), the chips for the tools that are currently on, and the controls for reasoning, dictation and sending.

What's on the composer

To see which keys apply right now, such as / for prompts, @ for models or Enter to send, turn on Show composer tips in Settings > General. A one-line tip then appears under the text field. It is off by default.

Add files

Click + and choose an option in the Attach section. You can also drag files onto the composer or paste them.

By default, LibreChat uses the unified uploader: you pick only a source, and it decides how each file reaches the model (native provider upload, text extraction, or a tool such as File Search) from the file type and the endpoint.

If an administrator sets fileConfig.legacyFileUploadUX: true, you choose the destination yourself instead. The Attach section then shows the main option first and folds the rest behind More upload options:

With SharePoint enabled in this mode, each option also has a SharePoint version, labeled for example Upload to Provider (From SharePoint).

Reuse a file you uploaded before

The Your files section of the palette lists your most recently used files. Select one to attach it again without uploading it. Typing in the search field searches all of your files by name.

Choose Show all on the section to browse every file in a dialog, with All, Images and Documents views, a search field, and a preview for images and PDFs.

The palette shows up to five recent files. Administrators can lower that number, or hide the list with 0, using interface.composerRecentFiles.

Turn on tools, skills and MCP servers

The palette lists everything you can turn on for the current conversation, grouped into sections:

• Tools: built-in tools such as Web Search, Run Code, File Search, Skills, Memory and Artifacts, each shown only when it is enabled and you have access to it.
• Skills: individual skills you can attach to your next message.
• MCP Servers: the MCP servers available in chat.

Select a tool or MCP server to switch it on or off. The palette stays open, so you can switch several in one visit. Each tool that is on appears as a chip on the composer; remove the chip to switch it off. Some chips carry a mode menu, for example the Artifacts generation mode.

Selecting a skill stages it for your next message instead: it appears in the staged context rather than as a chip.

MCP server rows show each server's connection status. Selecting a server that is not connected starts its connection (including an OAuth sign-in, when the server needs one) or opens its configuration first if it needs your credentials. Once connected, servers that take user credentials also have a Configure control on the row, and Web Search has one for its API keys.

Show all

The palette shows a handful of rows per section. Choose Show all on the Skills, MCP Servers or Your files header to open a dialog with the full list, a search field and filters. Skills and MCP servers have three views: All, Made by you and Favorites.

Favorites and pinned tools

Star a row to add it to Favorites, which sits at the top of the palette. With a row highlighted, press Ctrl+D (Cmd+D on macOS) to star or unstar it. Favorites are saved to your account.

Administrators can pin built-in tools with interface.defaultPinnedTools. A pinned tool keeps its chip on the composer even while it is off, so you can switch it on with one click. Removing the chip of a pinned tool that is off unpins it.

Staged context

Everything attached to your next message appears above the text field before you send it:

• Files, with upload progress and a preview for images. Long pasted text can also land here as a file, which you can edit or move back into the message.
• Quotes you selected from earlier messages.
• Skills you picked from the palette or with the $ command.

Remove any item with its remove button. Everything staged is sent with your next message.

Thinking and effort

For models with a reasoning setting, the Thinking control opens a slider that runs from Faster to Smarter, plus the provider's separate modes such as Auto or off. It changes the same parameter as the Parameters panel, so it is hidden when the model has no reasoning setting or when the deployment turns parameters off with interface.parameters.

Queue and steer while a response streams

You can keep typing while a response is streaming. Depending on the endpoint and your settings, pressing Enter either queues the message to send after the response, or steers an agent's current response. The composer tip names the action that Enter performs at that moment.

Queued messages appear in a Queued messages rail above the composer, where you can:

• Edit message to move it back into the text field.
• Remove message to take it out of the queue.
• Send now to send it right away instead of waiting.
• Reorder messages by dragging them, or by focusing one and pressing the up and down arrow keys.

For how steering works and when it is available, see Steering and Queued Messages.

Keyboard shortcuts

In the text field

If you turned off Press Enter to send messages, Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter) sends and Enter adds a new line.

In the palette