> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.alpha.new/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Answers you can interact with > When an answer is better seen than read, the agent draws tables, charts, sliders, maps, quizzes and math right in the chat. An interactive answer is a part of the agent's reply drawn as live UI: a table, a chart, sliders you drag, a map, a quiz. The rest of the reply stays ordinary text, and the UI builds as the agent writes. To put a chart or a form in your own app instead, ask the agent to build it and open it in the [Preview](https://docs.alpha.new/workspace/preview.md). For a slide deck, see [Slides, drawings and diagrams](https://docs.alpha.new/workspace/decks-and-drawings.md). Try this ```text theme={"system"} If I put $500 a month into an index fund at 7%, what do I have after 20 years? ``` Alpha will: 1. Answer with the balance at your numbers, in a sentence. 2. Draw sliders for the deposit, the rate and the years, beside the balance and a chart. 3. Recompute every figure in your browser as you move a slider. No new turn starts, so it costs nothing. ## Show me, or build me? A question about information is answered in the chat, even when the whole answer is charts. Something for your app is code in your project, and nothing is drawn. | Show me: answered in the chat | Build me: code in your project | | - | - | | "Compare Postgres, MySQL and SQLite for a small SaaS" | "Add a pricing page" | | "Show me signups by week" | "Build a dashboard of signups for my app" | | "What do I have after 20 years at 7%?" | "Make me a mortgage calculator" | | "What are the best day hikes near Seattle? Show them on a map." | "Build me a store locator page with a map for my app" | "How does HTTPS work?" has nothing to chart, so it stays text. The figures in a block are always real: computed, read from your files or [database](https://docs.alpha.new/workspace/database-data.md), or given by you. The agent never draws placeholder numbers. > [!TIP] > > A request that reads either way can land on the wrong side. Say "in the chat" or "build it into the app" to settle it. ## What can the agent draw? You don't name the block. Ask the question and the agent picks one. | Block | When it's used | A prompt to try | | - | - | - | | Tables and comparison cards | Options to weigh side by side | "Compare Postgres, MySQL and SQLite for a small SaaS" | | Charts and figure tiles | Numbers over time, a breakdown, a total | "Show me signups by week" | | Buttons and short forms | A choice, or two or three details the agent needs before it goes on | Appear on their own when the agent needs your input | | What-if sliders | Figures that turn on numbers you might change | "What do I have after 20 years at 7%?" | | Maps with numbered pins | Where the places are is the point | "What are the best day hikes near Seattle? Show them on a map." | | Checklists with step timers | Something you tick off as you go, such as a recipe's timed steps | "I'm hosting a Sunday lamb roast and don't know how many are coming yet" | | Steppers | A count the figures follow, such as guests or servings | The same lamb roast prompt | | Simulations you can run again | Chance that an explanation rests on | "Help me understand the Monty Hall problem" | | Quizzes | Testing what you've learned | "Quiz me on the solar system" | | Flashcards | Studying a set of facts | "Make me flashcards on the parts of a sailboat" | | Photos | A place, dish, animal or object worth seeing | "Show me the five most iconic dishes of Rome, with photos" | Blocks can also sit in tabs, accordions and carousels. Photos come from Wikimedia Commons, credited to their author and licence. A trip plan stays a list: the agent draws a map only when where things are is the point. ## Talk back through an answer Some controls work only in your browser. Others send a message, which appears in the transcript as your own, so nothing a click sends is hidden. | Control | What happens | Reaches the agent? | | - | - | - | | What-if sliders and their fields | Every figure recomputes in your browser. Values settle when the pointer pauses, so a long drag updates in steps. | No | | Buttons, list items and follow-ups | Their text is sent as your next message. | Yes | | Forms | Submitting sends the button's text plus one `name: value` line per field you filled in. | Yes | | A clickable card | Sends its text plus a `Selected item: {…}` line with the card's details. | Yes | | Links and copy buttons | Links open web pages (`http` and `https` only) in a new tab. Copy buttons copy to your clipboard. | No | | Quiz | Each answer is graded on the spot. **Next** moves on, **See results** shows how many you got right, and **Try again** starts over. | Only **Go over what I missed**, which sends your misses | | Flashcards | "Tap to flip", then **Didn't know** or **Knew it**. At the end, **Review the … you missed** or **Start over**. | No | | Timer and stepper | The timer's start, pause and reset buttons, and the stepper's − and +. | No | | Map | Tap a pin for its note. The scroll wheel or one finger scrolls the chat; ⌘ with the wheel, or two fingers, moves the map. Use Ctrl instead of ⌘ on Windows and Linux. | No | A block's buttons stay disabled until the agent's text moves past that block, not until the whole reply ends. A click sent while the agent is working always [steers](https://docs.alpha.new/chat/queue-and-steer.md) the running turn, whatever your default for typed messages. If the turn can't take it, the message waits in the queue instead. ## Read formulas in a reply TeX in a reply or in the agent's reasoning draws as typeset math, inline or centred on its own line. Codex's `\(…\)` and `\[…\]` and Claude Code's `$…$` and `$$…$$` draw the same. ```text theme={"system"} Explain gradient descent for linear regression, with the math. ``` Prices survive next to formulas: `$5 and $10`, `$HOME/$USER` and `($$)` stay as written. A formula shows as source until it is closed, and one wider than the chat scrolls sideways. ## What are the limits? | Limit | What it means for you | | - | - | | State isn't kept across a reload | Slider settings, form values, ticks, timers and quiz progress reset. What a click already sent stays in your message. | | No live data | A block shows the figures the agent had when it wrote. Ask again for fresh ones. | | Map lines are straight | Lines join the stops directly, not along roads. Pins are only as exact as the coordinates the agent found. | | Photos need the internet | With no network on the session's machine, or no good match, the agent draws without them. | | A block that fails shows its code | You see its source as a code block, so the answer is never blank. A formula that can't be parsed shows in red. | | Viewers look but can't send | People you [share the session](https://docs.alpha.new/sharing.md) with see every block. Clicks that would send a message do nothing for them. | | Math draws only in the chat | The **Plan** tab, the **Agent** tab and Markdown file previews show TeX as source. | ## Turn it off Interactive answers come from **Generative UI**, a [skill that ships with Alpha](https://docs.alpha.new/skills/built-in-skills.md), on by default for both agents. Switching it off changes only your sessions. **1. Open the Skills page** Click **Skills** in the sidebar, then the **Installed** tab. **Generative UI** is listed under **Your skills**. **2. Switch it off** Use the switch on its row, or open it and turn off **Installed in your sessions**. The dialog reads "Off keeps it out of your sessions alone." **3. Send your next message** Replies are plain Markdown from then on. Blocks already in your transcripts keep drawing. To ask for a drawn answer outright while the skill is on, mention it in your message: `$generative-ui` in Codex, `/generative-ui` in Claude Code. Math draws either way; it isn't part of the skill. > [!NOTE] > > Admins only Two more switches in the same dialog decide for every account. **Ships with Alpha** off moves Generative UI to the catalog, so it is only in the sessions of accounts that install it. **Let the agent use it on its own** off means only a mention runs it. ## Next steps > **[Queue, steer or stop](https://docs.alpha.new/chat/queue-and-steer.md)** > > Choose whether a message typed mid-turn joins the running turn or waits for the next. > **[Prompt Alpha well](https://docs.alpha.new/get-started/prompting.md)** > > Phrase a request so it lands as an answer in the chat or as code in your app. > **[Skills](https://docs.alpha.new/skills/overview.md)** > > Install or write skills that teach the agent other ways to work and answer. > **[Follow the agent's work](https://docs.alpha.new/chat/transcript.md)** > > Everything else a reply can hold: commands, edits, plans and errors. 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