Smooth Streaming

Smooth Streaming makes live responses easier to follow by fading in newly streamed words. It applies to the latest assistant message while a response is generating, including expanded reasoning text. For Agents with parent activity phases, it also lets a newly generated phase summary fold the visible activities into its collapsed group.

The setting is enabled by default. To change it, open Settings → Chat → Messages and toggle Smooth streaming text (fade in new words).

Smooth Streaming is visual only. It does not delay token delivery, change response content, or alter saved messages. Previously loaded text and activity phases are treated as existing content when a stream reconnects or a conversation changes, so they do not replay their entrance animations. The word fade does not apply to structured regions such as code, math, artifacts, citations, and MCP UI content; parent activity phases use their own fold transition.

LibreChat automatically disables the animation when the device reports the prefers-reduced-motion accessibility preference, regardless of the saved toggle.

Elapsed Generation Time

While the latest assistant response is streaming, LibreChat shows its elapsed generation time beneath the response in compact seconds or minutes. The timer begins when the message is submitted and keeps that start time during same-session navigation. If a live stream is recovered after a full reload without its original client-side start time, timing begins when the response remounts.

The timer is separate from the Smooth Streaming setting and remains available when the fade animation is disabled. It appears only on the latest response while generation is active and is not saved as message content.