The chat app

The chat app at https://chat.katara.com sends every message to Katara Cortex, which picks a model for it. There is no model to choose. A conversation started before the chat moved to Cortex continues on Cortex.

What you can send

• Attachments. Pictures, audio, video and PDFs, or a voice note recorded in the app: up to five files and 20 MB of media per message. A file can also be sent as plain text. Under the message box you see an estimate of the input tokens that audio, video and PDFs add and, paying with credits, what they cost.
• Pictures. Ask for a picture, or for a change to one you attached, and Cortex draws it (Images has the prices).
• Long conversations. A conversation can run to a million tokens. Past 150,000 tokens, older turns are summarised so the next reply stays fast and affordable.

Cortex searches the web when a question needs it, and the reply shows the sources it read. Each search is charged 0.006 in credits or USDC, at most five per reply. When a message searched but no answer reached you, its searches and the steps after them are not charged.

What a reply costs

The chat does not show what a reply cost. Every charge is in your usage history in the portal.

Questions about Katara

Ask about Katara itself, such as pricing, credits or running a provider, and the app answers from these docs and katara.com and links the pages it used. The question is looked up on Katara’s servers and the matching pages are added to the request, so they count toward the reply’s input tokens.

Sharing

Share a conversation or a picture and anyone with the link can open it without signing in. A shared link carries your invite code, so a person who signs up from it counts as invited by you (Referral rewards). Invite Friends in the account menu has your invite link.

The balance

The header shows the balance that pays for your next message: your Credits or your spendable USDC. Click it to switch between them. The Credits figure is your settled balance: it falls when a reply is charged, not while one is being written. A new account starts on credits, with a signup credit; buy more by card under Billing in the portal. Paying with USDC needs a wallet, and when something needs doing first, the header says so: create a wallet, approve spending, or add funds.

Replies paid with credits or USDC can run on independent providers in Katara Community as well as Katara’s own models, unless you turn it off. A reply paid with credits costs the same credits either way. With it on, Community providers are tried first, and their replies may take longer to start.

The wallet panel

Paying with USDC uses your wallet on Live, on Avalanche C-Chain. Under Account → Wallet:

• Balance and next step. Spendable, your wallet balance, your prepaid balance, and the amount you approved; your address with a copy button; the spending approval and when it ends; a withdrawal button for the prepaid balance.
• Add funds. Your address and a QR code, for a transfer of USDC on Avalanche C-Chain.
• Budget. Follow the balance, or cap the approved amount. The approval lasts 30, 180 or 365 days.

When a reply cannot be paid or served

A message that cannot be answered shows a card saying why and what to do, with a button for the fix, and “Nothing was charged.” when nothing was:

• You’re out of credits. Buy credits, or switch the header to USDC.
• Not enough USDC for this reply, or Your budget is below this reply’s cost. Add USDC or raise your budget, or pay with credits. Long conversations and large attachments raise the most a reply could cost.
• Approve spending to pay with USDC. One signature in the wallet panel.
• A withdrawal is pending. USDC payments wait until the withdrawal pays out or you cancel it.
• Katara is busy right now. The app tries again on its own after a few seconds.