From a question to a decision you can defend.
ChatCatharsis is intentionally more deliberate than ordinary chat. Every control exists to preserve a difference, declare an authority boundary, or produce a receipt.
One complete governed run
- Open an archive.Your research body is saved to the device vault first; export important work whenever you want a portable copy.
- Declare the frame.Name the archive, review the directive, and confirm the three council roles, providers, and reasoning depth.
- Ask one bounded question.Three models answer independently. After all three valid responses exist, the Disagreement Map runs automatically.
- Preserve or reconsider.Save the three responses, save them with the DMap, or apply that same DMap and run all three once more. Round 2 shows held, revised, resolved, still-disputed, or uncertain movement with a reason.
- Decide only when you mean to.After a complete Round 2, explicitly request synthesis if useful. Synthesis remains a proposal until a separate human ratification action.
Device vault, optional backup, export, and deletion
An archive holds one research thread and its messages, preserved evidence, decisions, local ledger cache, receipts, and accepted sources. The research body is written to ChatCatharsis's browser-managed device vault first rather than requiring a cloud-storage subscription.
Device-local custody is a core Free Forever capability. It does not require an account. Browser storage can still be removed when site data is cleared, so use Protect device storage when offered and export important work. A free account adds shared live-model access, teams, BYOK connections, and an optional cloud-backup switch for cross-device recovery.
Turning cloud backup off stops new automatic full-workspace and source-file backups; it does not delete an older backup. If this device vault is empty, a signed-in account backup can be restored into it. A small digest-oriented account ledger may still be retained to support receipts, usage, and governed account operations without duplicating the full research body.
Delete selected appears only after at least one archive is selected. Shift-click another archive to select the entire range, review the named selection, and use the export-first option before typed confirmation. Deletion removes the selected device-vault research. If cloud backup is enabled, the matching backed-up research is also removed; billing and provider-usage authority records remain separate.
Write a prompt that exposes a decision
Ask for a comparison, boundary, failure path, or next action. Include the outcome you need, the constraints that matter, and what would count as useful evidence.
Prefer: “Which option should we test first, and why?” Over: “Tell me about these options.” The first creates a decision surface; the second invites a general essay.
Simulation, shared free inference, and BYOK
Simulation teaches the complete workflow without making provider calls. It can be used with the device vault without an account, and its outputs remain plainly labeled as simulated.
Shared live mode uses only providers ChatCatharsis has explicitly approved for shared free-model inference. A signed-in Free or Complete workspace may use that shared capacity without a ChatCatharsis per-run charge, subject to provider availability, rate limits, and fair-use protections. The service does not silently fall back to operator-paid providers.
BYOK lets a workspace use a specific supported provider account. Free workspaces may connect three providers; Complete workspaces may connect all supported providers. The connected key is verified, encrypted in server-side custody, never returned to the browser, and never written into archives or receipts. Any provider charges and quotas belong to the connected provider account.
Current shared-provider policy: Groq is the default shared provider when configured. Google Gemini shared use is separately gated because its data-use posture depends on how the operator account is configured. Other paid-capable operator credentials are not shared fallbacks.
OpenAI BYOK cost routing and receipts
OpenAI is not an automatic shared fallback. When a workspace deliberately connects OpenAI, reasoning depth is cost-routed instead of sending every request to the most expensive model. Low uses GPT-5.6 Luna, medium uses GPT-5.6 Terra, and high uses GPT-5.6 Sol. Output ceilings also rise with the selected depth.
For live OpenAI responses, the provider resolution records reported input tokens, cached-input tokens, output tokens, the applicable published rates, and an estimated USD cost. That estimate is preserved in the ledger and decision receipt; it is an audit aid, not a replacement for the provider invoice.
Default safety gate: the server rejects an OpenAI request when its conservative preflight maximum exceeds $0.50. The operator may set a lower ceiling with OPENAI_MAX_ESTIMATED_REQUEST_USD.
The master directive
The master directive defines the rules shared by every candidate. It freezes when you send the prompt so the receipt can show the exact instruction used. Declare method, constraints, and authority boundaries—do not hide the desired answer inside it.
Compiler and Expert Council
The Compiler compares the three independent Round 1 candidates and creates the Disagreement Map. If you explicitly ask for synthesis after complete Round 2, the compiler also prepares that non-authoritative proposal. It never makes the human decision.
Distinct roles beat duplicate voices. Use logic testing, counterpoint, and an operational or domain perspective so the DMap has meaningful differences to expose.
Read three candidate answers independently
Round 1 candidates answer before seeing one another or the DMap. They remain separately visible so a smooth synthesis cannot silently erase their differences.
Use the Disagreement Map, then observe movement
The DMap runs automatically only after all three valid Round 1 responses exist. It separates consensus, conflict, outliers, and risk without selecting a winner.
If you choose Round 2, every model receives the original question, its own Round 1 answer, and the same DMap—never the peers' full answers. Each valid Round 2 response must declare whether it held, revised, resolved, remained disputed, or became uncertain, and explain why.
Keep evidence choices separate from human authority
Saving Round 1 or Round 2 evidence is not ratification. Final synthesis is available only after complete Round 2 and only when you explicitly request it. The synthesis remains non-authoritative until you separately ratify it; you may also defer or reject it.
Verify, export, and preserve receipts
The local research record binds the prompt, directive, candidate readings, DMap, Round 2 movement evidence when present, provider resolution, human decision, lineage, and digests. The account ledger can preserve compact digest evidence without needing the full research body. Verify recomputes a digest; Export creates a portable user-owned copy. A valid receipt proves what the system recorded—not that every underlying claim is true.
Teams keep roles and custody explicit
Create a team workspace from Account, invite a verified email address, and assign editor or viewer access. Owners manage provider connections; members can use an available connection without seeing its key. Device-local research does not become shared merely because a user joins a team; cloud-backed team records remain an explicit account capability.
ChatVaultAI desktop vault contents remain local. Team membership and shared ChatCatharsis records do not upload a member's private desktop vault.