Frequently asked questions
Common Questions About SecondMindOS.
Find quick answers about getting started, capturing context, plans, integrations, privacy, and backups.
For step-by-step help, open the guides. If something is not working, use the troubleshooting guide.
Getting Started and Availability
Begin here to understand the product, choose a supported browser, and learn which workflows need an account, internet access, or a local model.
What Does SecondMindOS Do?
SecondMindOS brings AI conversations, notes, files, and webpages into one workspace. Source-linked summaries, insights, decisions, and action items keep derived knowledge connected to the original material. Projects, search, graphs, timelines, AI Chat, cross-model continuation, Markdown exports, and context bundles provide different ways to organize, examine, and reuse that knowledge.
Is an Account or Paid Plan Required to Start?
No. The extension can capture sources, organize workspaces and projects, search saved knowledge, explore visualizations, and export your work without an account. A Free account can also use AI Chat and Settings in the web app. Free product data stays in that browser. AI Chat can use Ollama or your own provider API key; managed models and cloud workspace sync require a configured Plus account.
Where Is SecondMindOS Available for Installation?
Browser extensions are installed through a supported desktop browser and the browser’s extension store. SecondMindOS is available for Chrome and Firefox on a computer. Follow the install guide to add the extension and save the first conversation.
Does SecondMindOS Support Mobile Browsers?
Use the extension in desktop Chrome or Firefox. You can read these help pages on a phone.
Does Capture Work in Private or Incognito Windows?
Private and incognito windows isolate browsing state and require separate extension permission. SecondMindOS capture is supported in a normal browser window, not a private or incognito window.
What Works Offline?
You can read and export saved chats offline. Local AI also works if the service is running and the model is installed. New web pages, model downloads, cloud AI, and cloud backups need internet access.
Capture, Sources, and AI Answers
These answers explain what SecondMindOS can capture, how saved sources become AI context, and how to verify an answer against the original material.
Which AI Conversations Can Be Saved?
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and Perplexity are supported. Open one conversation and scroll to the final reply. When the full reply is visible and the website no longer shows a response spinner or Stop button, open the SecondMindOS sidepanel and click Sync Now. Changes made while a tab is closed or on another device require reopening and syncing that conversation. Live Sync observes only the open conversation page; Live Sync does not import the provider history.
Which Files and Other Sources Are Supported?
Add pasted text or Markdown, supported text and code files, JSON, HTML, images, screenshots, PDFs, webpages, and read-only API responses. Direct webpage and PDF capture keeps the original snapshot or file together with searchable extracted text. Research discovery saves matching paper details and links, while website monitoring saves matching passages and source details instead of copying an entire provider response or website. Local uploads support up to 10 MB per file. Parsing depends on the format and available local processing; a scanned or protected PDF may need an accessible text copy. Audio and video are planned.
What Pages Can Website Monitoring Check?
Website Monitoring supports authorized public HTTPS pages. It makes anonymous requests no more than once per day, checks the site’s robots.txt rules, and saves matching passages instead of the full page. Before enabling it, confirm that the site’s terms permit automated checks and that your use of any personal data follows applicable law.
Why Is a Source Saved but Absent from an AI Answer?
First open Chats or Search and check that the missing text was saved. In AI Chat, check the selected workspace, project, or conversation. In Settings > Integrations > Context Bundles, choose AI Chat under Integration and include the source types you need. Ask about one recognizable detail, such as the launch date. The model may still miss or misread text, so compare the answer with the original.
Can a Saved Conversation Continue with Another Model?
In AI Chat, choose Captured Chat and select the original conversation title. SecondMindOS opens a separate continuation whose title ends with Continued in SecondMindOS. Select a configured model and send the next message. Check the original saved conversation if an answer misses an earlier detail. Use Review Context before sending to inspect selected saved sources. That review is optional; sending does not open a mandatory approval dialog.
Does Local AI Send Workspace Context to a Cloud Model?
Ollama can run AI Chat locally with an installed local model. LM Studio supports automatic local insight extraction, not AI Chat. Before sending a cloud request, check the provider and use Review Context to inspect saved sources. A failed local request will not automatically send the text to a cloud model. SecondMindOS asks for your approval before downloading a local model.
How Do Paid Insights Stay Current?
With a configured Plus account, SecondMindOS checks the workspace, project, and chat currently loaded. When saved source content changes, the product runs one fresh extraction pass for that scope within each rolling 24-hour window. Loading a different workspace, project, or chat checks that scope immediately. Unchanged scopes reuse their existing results. A selected hosted model runs through the paid account; Ollama and other supported local runtimes keep extraction on the computer.
Local Data, Backups, and Recovery
These answers distinguish browser-local storage, readable exports, portable workspace backups, cloud backup snapshots, and continuous synchronization.
Where Is the Library Stored?
On Free, saved sources, projects, extracted insights, AI conversations, and enabled web app data stay in the browser profile used during creation. Signing in does not enable cloud workspace sync. Work saved in Chrome's Personal profile will not appear in the Work profile or in Firefox. To move a workspace, select the workspace on Home in the original browser. Open Settings > Workspace > Import and Export and select Download Backup. Use Import Backup in the destination browser, repeat for each workspace, and check the imported chats before removing the original copy.
What Is the Difference Between an Export, a Backup, and Sync?
Use Download Backup to save the selected workspace as a JSON file that SecondMindOS can import later. Use a Markdown export for a readable document that opens in another app. A Drive backup is an on-device encrypted copy from the time of backup creation. Hosted sync updates supported account records between connected devices using TLS, provider encryption at rest, authentication, and account access controls. Hosted sync is not end-to-end encrypted with the backup passphrase, and saving a backup does not set up continuous sync.
How Are Cloud Backups Protected?
Google Drive backup content is encrypted on the device using the passphrase. Use at least 12 characters after trimming surrounding whitespace. The passphrase is session-only by default, with an explicit option to remember the passphrase in the extension’s private storage on a trusted device. It is not synchronized through the account; enter the original passphrase when restoring that backup on another device. Keep a separate secure record because SecondMindOS cannot recover it.
What Happens After a Backup Passphrase Is Lost or Changed?
An encrypted backup requires the passphrase used during backup creation. A newer passphrase cannot unlock an older copy. If the original chats stay readable in SecondMindOS, create a new backup and securely record the new passphrase. An encrypted backup without the original passphrase cannot be unlocked by SecondMindOS.
What Happens After Extension Removal, Browser-Data Deletion, or Device Loss?
These events can remove or make the local library inaccessible. Restore a JSON file created with Download Backup, or restore an encrypted Drive backup with the original passphrase. Without one of those usable copies, local data may not be recoverable. Before removing the extension, download a JSON backup and verify a successful import in another browser profile before deleting the only original copy.
Will Deleting Local Data Remove Every Other Copy?
No. Exported files, uploaded backups, and content already sent to a connected service are separate copies. Manage those at the destinations. Disconnecting a connector stops future access but does not undo prior transfers. Deleting one local record is not a request to delete provider copies or previously downloaded files.
Plans, Upgrades, and Regional Availability
These answers explain which capabilities work locally, what paid access can add, and where paid checkout is available.
What Do Paid Plans Add?
Plus covers the configured account-linked capabilities shown on the pricing page, such as supported connectors, encrypted backup, and managed models. Availability also depends on service setup. Read each feature’s implementation status; purchasing a plan does not enable planned functionality or replace a provider’s own subscription.
Is Hosted AI Unlimited?
No. Plus includes a monthly managed-service allowance. The available request volume varies with request size and the work being performed. Pro is planned to offer a higher allowance per member. The pricing feature tooltip and secure checkout explain the selected plan’s metering before payment. Local AI through Ollama and AI used with your own provider key are outside the SecondMindOS hosted-AI allowance.
What Happens When I Reach the Hosted AI Allowance?
SecondMindOS shows an option to make a one-time $5 purchase through Stripe Checkout. After Stripe confirms payment, $4 is added to your hosted AI usage allowance for the current month. The number of additional requests varies by model, prompt, and response size. You can also switch to your own provider key or a local model without buying more hosted usage.
Are Pro Upgrades Available, and What Is the Price?
Pro is planned at $24.99/month/seat but is not available for checkout yet. Use the Pro waitlist button to request launch updates. Plus checkout is limited to cleared paid markets; the Free plan remains available worldwide where lawful.
Does Submitting an Address Immediately Join the Waitlist?
You must confirm the email. After submitting the form, open the confirmation message and choose Confirm Email on the linked page. Opening the link alone does not change your preference. SecondMindOS sends launch notifications only to confirmed addresses that have not unsubscribed.
What If the Confirmation Email Never Arrives?
Check the entered address, spam and promotions folders, and workplace filtering. Delivery can be delayed. Repeated submissions for the same active signup do not resend the message. If the email stays missing, contact support with the signup email and approximate time; do not send authentication or waitlist links.
Can a Waitlist Signup Be Removed or Renewed?
Use the unsubscribe link in a waitlist email, then choose Unsubscribe on the page. You can rejoin through the pricing popup, but you must confirm again. Rejoining replaces the previous links, so use the newest message. Waitlist preferences do not cancel an existing paid subscription.
Why Does Current Plan Appear Instead of an Upgrade Popup?
Pro currently opens the waitlist because the plan has not launched. For an available paid plan, an active subscription appears as Current Plan; signed-out visitors in a cleared market are asked to sign in before secure checkout.
Integrations, Permissions, and Support
These answers explain how to judge integration readiness, understand visible settings, protect credentials, and report a problem with useful evidence.
How Is Integration Availability Established?
Read the status shown with the integration. Available means the current product exposes the controls. Planned means the control is a roadmap item and cannot be used. A provider name in a list does not show that connection or content transfer is available.
What Do the Knowledge Platform Controls Confirm?
Connect saves the selected service’s connection state. Check Connection tests the saved configuration and displays a result below the card. Neither action adds a page or file. A connected card shows Sync only when that service can add content in the installed version.
Can a Local Folder or Obsidian Vault Be Connected?
Select Obsidian in Settings > Integrations > Knowledge Platforms. A Vault Label names the connection; the label does not grant folder access. If Sync does not appear after connecting, add an individual Markdown file through Sources > Add Context.
What Information Is Needed for a Support Request?
Send the browser and extension versions, affected feature, exact error, shortest safe reproduction steps, approximate time, and checks already tried. Include redacted diagnostics if available. Do not send API keys, OAuth tokens, passphrases, private files, full exports, or authentication links. The support page has checks organized by symptom.