Pointing Cobb at something

Tick a few rows and press Ask Cobb, or press his button on a record, and whatever you ask next is about those. A chip above the box says what he is looking at, and a sent message keeps its chip.

1. Rows: tick them, then Ask Cobb in the bar that appears.
2. One record: the Cobb button beside its other actions. Press it on more records and they add up. Press a lit one to drop just that record.
3. A screen: open him from any page and he knows which one.

Rows, a record, or a whole screen

Tell Cobb what you mean by "these" instead of describing it:

• Press the Cobb button on a record. Every record's detail page carries a small Cobb button beside its other actions, and so does each row of a list that shows one. Press it and that record is what Cobb is talking about: the panel opens and the chip shows its name. The buttons add up: press Rack 5's and then Rack 6's and he has both. Press a lit one to drop just that record.
• Tick rows, then press Ask Cobb. Ticking is for the bulk actions on that list (print labels, delete). Ask Cobb in that same bar hands the rows over, on Parts, Assets, Machines, Projects, Purchases and Locations. Your message then carries those records themselves, so "order more of these" acts on exactly the rows you picked rather than on a search.
• Highlight text anywhere on the page. The chip says "Selected text". A highlight that names a record is sent as that record.
• The chip sits above the message box ("About: Rack 12", "12 parts", "3 machines") and the conversation stays where it was: nothing scrolls, no divider.
• A sent message keeps its chip beside your words, so scrolling back to "tell me about these" still tells you which records you meant.
• The × on the chip drops the context, and sending clears it, so the next question starts clean. A half-written question survives a page refresh.

Edges: screens that send nothing, how a highlight is held, the amber button, and row actions

Screens that select things that are not records yet, like the scan inbox, deliberately put nothing in context rather than ids that mean nothing.

The highlight is captured the moment you make it and held while you type, so clicking into the chat box does not lose it.

On Locations the Cobb button is on every area and every container. It stays lit amber while it is the one in play, the same amber as highlighted text, and it is always visible rather than appearing on hover, so it works the same on a phone.

Separately from Cobb: an action you bound to a kind rides the rows too. Say once that printing a label applies to everything physical and a Print label button appears on every such row, not only on each record's own page. Up to three bound actions show per row. Anything that cannot be put right again asks first, because a row button sits between an edit pencil and a delete bin: the first tap says "sure?" and the second one does it.

Opening him on a screen

• The panel opens Cobb for the whole workspace.
• Ask Cobb on a screen or detail modal docks Cobb alongside what you are looking at, with a short opening line about what it can do there. Both stay usable side by side.
• Cobb reads a one-line summary of the screen you are on, so "what do I have going on?" from the Scan Inbox, Inventory, Purchases or Machines reflects what that page is showing. A workspace-wide question still gets a workspace-wide answer.
• Your earlier conversation is kept and stays where it was. Scroll up to read it.
• The Ask Cobb button wears Cobb's face and stays lit with no AI connected, because basic mode still answers.