The Assistant by Kagi
The Assistant by Kagi combines top large language models (LLM) with optional results from Kagi Search, making it the perfect companion for creative, research, and programming tasks — alongside everything else you can think of! All this is included in a single subscription!
NOTE: The Assistant is currently available to users with the Kagi Ultimate plan.
Features
- Access to the latest and most performant large language models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, and Mistral
- Multiple custom assistants
- The ability to control whether the Assistant has web access (powered by Kagi Search)
- Applying Kagi Search Lenses and Personalized Results to the Assistant searches
- Switch between multiple threads within a single window
- Saving Assistant threads
- Uploading files to use as context
- Altering the Assistant configuration within the thread
- For example, you can ask the initial question with web access enabled, and then disable it for subsequent questions!
- It is also possible to switch to a different LLM in the middle of a thread
- Code syntax highlighting
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Export conversations to markdown format
- Share threads with others using a link
- Voice input
Privacy
When you use the Assistant by Kagi, your data is never used to train AI models, and no account information is shared with the LLM providers. By default, threads expire after 24 hours of inactivity. This behavior can be adjusted in the settings.
Using the Assistant
The Assistant can be accessed via the Control Center located in the top right corner of all Kagi pages or by clicking on the link in the top right corner of the Kagi homepage. The direct link to the Assistant can also be used.
When you first access the Assistant, you will be greeted by a familiar-looking landing page, allowing you to get right into using it. You can either type your prompt or use voice input by pressing the microphone symbol. You can choose which LLM you wish to use by opening the dropdown menu just below the prompt field.
The Assistant's web access can be toggled via the button below the prompt field.
Which model to choose
We maintain the Kagi LLM Benchmarking Project to measure model quality in various scenarios.
Threads
The Assistant supports threads, allowing you to keep your bagel topping ideas separate from your weekend projects.
The search bar enables you to search for that one elusive thread. Currently, the search only looks through your thread titles.
By default threads are kept for 24 hours after the last message. If keeping threads alive permanently better fits your workflow, you can adjust this setting in Assistant Settings. Please note that the thread saving setting is applied when the thread is created.
Threads can be renamed, added to Quick Access, shared, deleted, and downloaded via the ⋮ button which is displayed when you hover over the thread.
The Quick Access feature can be used to better organize your threads but it will not influence the thread saving setting. In other words, threads added to Quick Access will also be deleted after 24 hours, unless you have chosen otherwise in the settings.
You can also preserve threads with the star symbol, located to the left of the thread title. Preserved threads do not expire.
Uploading Files to Assistant
The Assistant by Kagi supports file uploads, allowing you to provide additional context or information for your queries.
This can be useful for tasks like:
- Summarizing a document
- Extracting key insights from a report
- Analyzing data in a spreadsheet
- Describing an image
- Distilling main points from an audio file
To upload a file:
- Click the paperclip icon in the prompt input box.
- Select the file or image you wish to upload.
- Provide a prompt with instructions to process the file or leave blank to summarize it.
Important considerations for file uploads:
File size limit: The maximum file size for uploads is 8MB. Processing time: Larger files may take a few moments to process. Context retention: Uploaded file content remains in the conversation context for subsequent messages.
The Assistant supports various file formats across different categories, including:
| File Type | Supported Formats |
|---|---|
| Text | txt, text, md (and other text-based formats) |
| Rich Format | pdf, docx, pptx |
| Spreadsheets | csv, tsv, xlsx, json, jsonl |
| Image | jpg, jpeg, png, gif, tiff, tif, webp |
| Audio | 3gpp, aa, aac, aax, act, aiff, amr, ape, au, awb, dct, dss, dvf, flac, gsm, iklax, ivs, m4a, m4b, m4p, mp4, mmf, mp3, mpc, msv, ogg, opus, ra, rm, sln, tta, vox, wav, wma, wvpla |
Note: Unsupported formats may be treated as binary files.
Custom Instructions
Do you prefer a more personalized Assistant experience? You can provide custom instructions in the Assistant Settings. These instructions can be utilized to refine the Assistant responses. You can, for instance, instruct the Assistant to be more succinct or to consider your profession and location.
Custom Assistants
You can create Custom Assistants in the Assistant Settings. It is possible to customize the LLM, settings (the use of web access, lenses, and personalized results), and the instructions for each Custom Assistant.
The Assistant comes with a Code Custom Assistant that is optimized for programming tasks. It uses Claude 3.5 Sonnet and has web access.
Keyboard Shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts are available in the Assistant by Kagi on Mac and PC.
| Mac Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘ + K | New Thread |
| ⌘ + Shift + S | Toggle Sidebar |
| ⌘ + Shift + C | Copy Last Response |
| ⌘ + Shift + E | Edit Last Message |
| ⌘ + Shift + Backspace | Delete Current Thread |
| ⌘ + / | Focus Prompt Box |
| ⌃ + ? | Show Keyboard Shortcuts |
| PC Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + K | New Thread |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Toggle Sidebar |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy Last Response |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Edit Last Message |
| Ctrl + Shift + Backspace | Delete Current Thread |
| Ctrl + / | Focus Prompt Box |
| Ctrl + ? | Show Keyboard Shortcuts |
LLMs Available in The Assistant
The Assistant provides access to the following LLMs:
- Anthropic
- Claude 3 Haiku
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet
- Claude 3 Opus
- OpenAI
- GPT 4o
- GPT 4o Mini
- Mistral AI
- Mistral Pixtral
- Mistral Large
- Google
- Gemini 1.5 Pro
- Meta
- Llama 3.1 405B
You can learn more about how these models compare in the Kagi LLM Benchmarking Project page.
Bangs
You can quickly access Assistant from Kagi Search by using the following bangs: !ai, !chat, !assistant , !llm, !asst, !as, !expert and !fast
You can also access the Code Custom Assistant with the !code bang.
URL Parameters
You can specify a particular model in the Assistant's URL by including a profile parameter. https://kagi.com/assistant?profile=gpt-4o&q=%s The available model names include: gpt-4, gpt-4-turbo, gpt-4o, gpt-4o-mini, gemini-pro, mistral-nemo, mistral-large, claude-3-haiku, claude-3-sonnet, claude-3-opus, llama-3-405b, code.
This can also be used with custom assistants, as described on the custom assistant documentation.
The internet parameter can be used to turn on and off internet access, set to true to enable, anything else to disable. This overrides the internet setting of the profile used.
The lens parameter can be used to set the lens if internet access is enabled. The value of this is the lowercase format of the lens name, for example, https://kagi.com/assistant?lens=programming&q=%s will use the Programming lens.
Availability
The Assistant is available to all Kagi Ultimate members. If you are on a different plan you can upgrade from the Billing Settings page.
We also offer an Ultimate upgrade for Family Plans, you can upgrade from the Family Management page.
FAQ
Q: What is Kagi’s stance about using LLMs in search?
A: We continue to relentlessly focus on the core search experience and build thoughtfully integrated features on top of it. Read more about it in our AI Integration Philosophy page.