Steer or queue while Bilby works
You don't have to wait for an answer. While Bilby works, add a message it reads at its next step, or line up your next questions so each one goes when the answer before it is done.
4 min read · Updated 4 Nov 2026
Before you begin
Steer or queue?
While Bilby works, whatever you type in the box can go two ways:
- Steer changes the answer Bilby is writing now. Use it when you spot something to fix or add: "Focus on what changes for banks", "Leave out anything before March", "Use the regulator's own figures".
- Queue saves a message for later. It goes as your next question when Bilby finishes, as if you had waited and sent it then. Use it for the next thing you want to ask: "Now do the same for Malaysia".
Enter to steer · ⌘Enter to queue
Leave out anything before March.
Step 1: Type while Bilby works
Type in the box at the bottom, as you would for any question. Once you start typing while Bilby works, the box shows "Enter to steer · ⌘Enter to queue", and Queue and Steer appear beside the red stop button.
Step 2: Steer with Enter
Press Enter, or press Steer. Your message joins the list over the box, marked Steering.
Bilby reads it as soon as it finishes the step it's on, such as a search, and carries on with your message in mind. It doesn't start over: what it has already found stays. Once Bilby has read it, the message leaves the list and shows in the conversation as one of yours, at the point Bilby read it, between the work before and the work after.
For banks, the main change is the new limit on sending customer data abroad without the customer's consent. mas.gov.sg +1
If Bilby finishes before it gets to your message, nothing is lost: the message goes as your next question.
Step 3: Queue with ⌘ Enter
Press ⌘ Enter (Ctrl Enter on Windows), or press Queue. Your message joins the list marked Queued.
When Bilby finishes its answer, the first queued message goes as your next question, then the next, one answer after another. Bilby keeps the queue itself, so you can close the tab or switch to another conversation: your questions still go, and their answers are waiting when you come back.
Step 4: Change what's waiting
Each message in the list has buttons beside it:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Move up, Move down (the arrows) | Change which queued message goes first. Only queued messages have them. |
| Edit message (the pencil) | Takes the message out of the list and puts its words back in the box, to change and send again. |
| Remove (×) | Takes the message out of the list. |
Once Bilby has read a steering message, it's part of the answer and can't be removed. A queued message with a file, a tool or a command has no pencil: remove it and queue it again instead.
When the queue pauses
Queued messages wait, marked Paused, when Bilby can't go straight on to the next one:
- you stopped Bilby,
- the answer stopped because of an error,
- Bilby asked you a question, or is waiting for you to allow one of its tools,
- you've used this month's AI allowance (see Questions people ask).
Nothing is lost. A steering message Bilby hadn't read yet moves to the front of the queue. The queue starts again after Bilby's next answer finishes, so answer its question, or ask something yourself. To send a paused message now, press its pencil and send it from the box.
Stop Bilby
Press the red stop button, Stop generating. With an empty box you can also use the keyboard: press Enter, and when the box says "Press Enter again to stop", press Enter again. Bilby stops and keeps what it has done so far.
Good to know
- Up to five messages can wait at a time. Remove one, or wait for one to go, to add another.
- Files and tools wait for the next answer. A message with a file attached, a tool or command picked with @ or /, or something you added from Explore can only be queued. Enter queues it, and the box says why: "files can't join work in progress", or "tools and context apply from your next message".
- On a phone, press Steer or Queue: they appear beside the stop button once you type.
- In a vault conversation shared with others, you steer and queue only while Bilby works on your own question, and the list shows only your own messages. While it answers someone else, the box says so and sending waits until that answer is done. See Share a vault.
Try it in Bilby
Ask a question, then steer it.
While Bilby works, type "Focus on what changes for banks." and press Enter. Then type "Now do the same for Malaysia." and press ⌘ Enter to queue it.
Follow up on an answer
Carry on in the same conversation. Ask the next question, pick one Bilby suggests, ask about part of an answer, change an earlier question, or steer Bilby while it works.
Read the sources
See which source is behind a point in an answer, read the passage Bilby used, and open the original.