A quick question to your coding agent that runs in a forked copy of the conversation, so the main task isn't interrupted and its context stays clean.

In tools like Traycer and Ghostex, /btw opens a side chat: a forked aside that answers your question without touching the main thread.

Does a side chat change the main agent's work?

No. The main thread doesn't see the aside, so its work and context carry on unchanged.

Can I do this in Pane?

Open another agent in a new panel of the same pane. It sees the same files in the same worktree but has its own conversation.

Glossary

what is a side chat?

TL;DR

A side chat is a quick question to your coding agent that runs in a forked copy of the conversation, usually in a side panel, so the main task keeps going untouched. You might ask "why did you pick this library?" while the agent is mid-change. The side chat sees everything the main thread knows, but its answer doesn't clutter the main thread's context. Traycer, Synara, Ghostex, bb and Omnigent have them, often behind a /btw or /side command.

Asking a question in the middle of an agent's work has a cost: it interrupts the agent and adds noise to the context it relies on. A side chat avoids both.

How it works

Fork the conversation, ask your question there, and leave the main thread alone.

When you open a side chat, the tool makes a copy of the current conversation and sends your question to that copy. The answer appears beside the main thread. The main agent never sees the aside, so its context and its work carry on as if you hadn't asked.

Side chats in agent tools

Usually /btw or /side; some let the aside use a different model.

Several chat-style agent tools have added side chats in 2026.

Tool	How it does side chats
Traycer	/btw or /side asks a question in a forked copy without interrupting.
Synara	A guarded side conversation with /side, which can run on another provider.
Ghostex	/btw side questions in its chat view.
bb	Hidden forks in a side panel, each with its own model, permission mode and worktree.
Omnigent	Tangential conversations with the full parent context.

Without a side chat

A second agent in another tab does the same job.

If your tool doesn't have side chats, open a second agent next to the first and ask there. In Pane that's a new panel in the same pane: it shares the worktree, so it can read the same files, but it has its own conversation and won't disturb the agent doing the work.

Sources

Corrections

If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and update the date at the top. Open an issue on GitHub

Sources

→ Traycer docs
→ Synara
→ bb

frequently asked questions

Download*

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By Parsa Khazaeepoul, co-founder of Pane. Last reviewed October 2026.