Quick chat: start a No project thread in one click or tap

[josephv123]

Problem

I've started using T3 Code as my default chat interface, even for plain questions that have nothing to do with a codebase. It lets me use models from several providers in one place. Running a question through a harness also gives the model strictly more tools than a chat app does, and in my experience the answers are better, even for chat-style questions.

No project threads (#13612) make this possible, but getting to one takes too many steps on both desktop and mobile. Usually I start a new thread, open the project menu, pick No project, sometimes pick a machine, and only then type my prompt. On desktop, mod+alt+n skips some of that, but there's no button for it, and mobile has no shortcut at all. When most of what you do in the app is quick questions, those clicks add up.

These chats are also awkward to manage afterward. They share one list with project work, so they mix in with ongoing threads and are hard to find again later.

Proposal

Add a Quick chat entry point that takes you from anywhere to a focused composer in one click or tap, two at most.

• Web/desktop: a Quick chat button in the sidebar header next to New thread, plus a command palette entry. It opens a No project draft with the composer already focused.
• Mobile: a Quick chat action on the home screen that skips the project picker and opens the composer directly.
• Defaults, not questions: use the default model and your current machine (or a default machine chosen in Settings). The model and machine pickers on the draft stay available if you want to change either before sending.
• Afterward: a Chats view or filter, in the sidebar and on the mobile home screen, that shows only No project threads. That keeps quick chats separate from project work and makes earlier ones easy to get back to.

Smallest useful scope

The one-click entry point on web/desktop and mobile, opening a No project draft on a default machine. The Chats view can follow.

Related

• Put “No project” first in the new-thread picker #15745: put No project first in the new-thread picker and give it a picker shortcut.
• Ask which machine before starting "No project" when several machines are connected #19629: ask which machine before starting No project. Quick chat goes the other way: skip the question and use a default, since the draft's machine menu already allows switching.
• [Feature]: Global shortcut for a quick prompt window, similar to ChatGPT Mini #18033: a global desktop shortcut for a quick prompt window.
• [Feature]: Add Chats feature like Codex so individual chats don't require making projects. #6869, Start general question threads without a project #14446: the original requests for chats without a project, resolved by feat: start threads without a project #13612.

Note

Drafted with Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code.