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Overview

Discussion Mode offers project-specific insights without generating any code. This feature uses Gemini 2.5 Flash with search grounding, enabling the model to dynamically access both Bolt’s support documentation and sources from the internet. Discussion mode provides high-quality, up-to-date answers about the technologies you use in your application.

Using discussion mode helps reduce token usage, as you you’re sending less information to and from the AI than in Build Mode. It’s also safe: no code changes until you say so.

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Use Discussion Mode

  1. In the Bolt prompt box in your project, click Toggle Chat icons used as button to toggle between build mode and discussion mode to toggle between Discussion Mode and Build Mode.
  2. Enter your prompt, and read the AI response. You can then either:
    • Continue the discussion.
    • Use one of the quick action buttons to implement the AI suggestion. Bolt generates quick action buttons dynamically, depending on your discussion and project. Choosing one of the quick action buttons switches Bolt back to Build Mode to generate code.

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Features

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Project context awareness

Every discussion message includes your project codebase for context-aware responses, as well as the six most recent messages.

Because Discussion Mode has the entire context of your project, there are a wide range of use cases, including:

  • Debugging assistance
  • Recommendations on tools, libraries and APIs
  • Product/project decision-making
  • Suggestions on how to improve design
  • Suggestions for new features
  • Understanding and integrating external APIs
  • Generating implementation plans for later execution
  • Use the Inspector tool to highlight a component within a page, and discuss potential changes

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Search grounding

When the AI answers a question, it can pull in realtime, up-to-date information from trusted sources like Google Search instead of just relying on what it was trained on. This helps ensure the answers are accurate, relevant, and not outdated. When a search has been conducted, Bolt displays the sources at the top of the response.

For example:

  • If you ask about the latest Stripe API updates, the AI won’t just rely on old knowledge, it will search for the latest documentation and give you a more reliable answer.
  • If you ask about a bug in a popular library, it can check forums or support pages for the most recent solutions.

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Quick action buttons

After every discussion mode response, users can take immediate actions such as:

  • Implement this plan (auto-switches to Build Mode to apply changes)
  • Show an example
  • Refine this idea

The exact quick action buttons are contextual and vary based on your project and what you’re discussing.

Choosing one of the quick action buttons switches Bolt back to Build Mode to generate code.

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Non-code discussions

Think of Discussion Mode as having a smart teammate who you can talk things through with. It’s excellent for weighing trade-offs, asking for recommendations, trying to debug something, or when you just need a second opinion. Discussion Mode gives you space to do that, with full awareness of your project.