Foundations
12 minChat memory versus live evidence
Run the same current-events request with and without tools.
Start lesson MaiaChat Learning Lab
AI is more than a conversation.
Learn how models search, create media, understand documents, work with files, coordinate agents, and finish repeatable tasks. Change one control at a time and see what actually happens.
Your guidance
contextual
Use question-mark controls whenever you want an explanation.
Change learning settingsFirst experiment
Model memory versus live evidence
Ask the same current-events question twice. Simple mode can only use the model's existing knowledge. Agent mode can search the web and show its sources. Compare freshness, evidence, time, and cost.
Review every source before relying on the result. Tool access does not guarantee that every claim is correct.
Guidance preference
Learn your way
This changes explanations, not permissions. You keep access to the same supported controls.
Practical lessons
Learn by changing one thing and observing the result
Each lesson connects explanation to a real MaiaChat control, experiment, or evidence surface.
Models
15 minCompare models and instructions fairly
Use MaiaChat’s Comparison Lab to isolate the model or instruction profile.
Start lessonSafety
12 minUse API keys without surprises
Connect a provider while protecting credentials and controlling spend.
Start lessonKnowledge
18 minDocuments, memory, and privacy
Learn what belongs in temporary context, document retrieval, or durable memory.
Start lessonAgents
20 minAgents, prompts, and specialists
Turn a general model into a bounded specialist and inspect what changed.
Start lessonLoops
20 minLoops that verify and stop
Use iterative agents without creating an endless or expensive process.
Start lessonCoding
25 minRehearse coding work safely
Move from a hosted exercise to project work with approvals, diffs, and rollback.
Start lessonOrchestration
22 minOrchestration and multiple agents
Learn when specialist collaboration improves a result—and when it only adds cost.
Start lessonAutomation
20 minAutomation with oversight
Turn a successful workflow into scheduled work with clear limits and notifications.
Start lessonCapability path
From asking questions to running real work
Follow the path or enter anywhere. Nothing is locked, and every lesson should end with something observable.
Stage 01
01
Chat, models, and providers
Understand what an LLM is and why the model you choose changes the result.
Outcome: Compare two models with confidence.
Stage 02
02
Documents and memory
Move from temporary conversation context to grounded documents and durable knowledge.
Outcome: Know what MaiaChat can recall and why.
Stage 03
03
Tools and current information
See the difference between a model answering from memory and an agent using evidence.
Outcome: Run a grounded web-search experiment.
Stage 04
04
Images, speech, and audio
Explore models made for visual creation, image understanding, transcription, and speech.
Outcome: Choose a model for a non-text task.
Stage 05
05
Files, projects, and coding
Progress from a safe hosted workspace to inspected, approved, and verified project changes.
Outcome: Complete a reversible project change.
Stage 06
06
Agents and instructions
Learn how roles, system prompts, models, tools, and parameters shape reliable specialists.
Outcome: Build and compare a specialist agent.
Stage 07
07
Loops and verification
Replace 'the model says it is done' with observable checks and explicit stopping conditions.
Outcome: Run a bounded task with evidence.
Stage 08
08
Teams of agents
Compare one agent with sequential, parallel, hierarchical, consensus, and MOA collaboration.
Outcome: Explain the quality, latency, and cost trade-off.
Stage 09
09
Automation and channels
Turn successful work into reusable skills, schedules, workflows, and notifications.
Outcome: Run a safe repeatable routine.
Provider lesson
Your first API key, handled safely
An API key lets MaiaChat use models billed to your provider account. Treat it like a password: create it on the provider's official site, store it only in the Settings key field, monitor usage, and revoke it if exposed.
Never paste a key into a chat message, lesson, screenshot, source file, or public repository. MaiaChat's Settings page masks stored keys and validates them without returning the full secret.
Images
Learn which models create images and which understand them.
Audio
Compare transcription, speech generation, and voice conversation.
Agents
See how instructions, tools, loops, and orchestrators change work.