> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dialog.tools/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Your First Query

> Learn how to write effective research queries and interpret results

Dialog's research chat is the core of the product. Here's how to get the most out of it.

## Writing a good query

The best queries are specific about what you want to learn. Here are some patterns that work well:

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Specific and focused">
    "What do SaaS founders on Reddit say about pricing their products? What strategies work and what doesn't?"
  </Card>

  <Card title="Comparative">
    "How do people compare Notion vs Obsidian for personal knowledge management? What are the main pros and cons of each?"
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sentiment-focused">
    "What's the general sentiment around AI coding assistants? Are developers excited or skeptical?"
  </Card>

  <Card title="Discovery-oriented">
    "What subreddits discuss indie game development? What are the most active communities?"
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Understanding results

When Dialog processes your query, you'll see several elements in the response:

### Thinking indicators

Dialog shows its reasoning process in real time. You can see which communities it's searching, what tools it's using, and how it's analyzing the data.

### Source citations

Every insight includes links back to the original Reddit posts and comments. Click any citation to view the source material directly.

### Structured findings

Results are organized into clear sections with headers, bullet points, and sometimes tables. Dialog identifies themes, patterns, and notable outliers in the data.

## Follow-up questions

You can ask follow-up questions in the same session to dig deeper. Dialog remembers the context of your conversation:

```
Initial: "What are people saying about Vercel on Reddit?"
Follow-up: "What about their pricing specifically? Any complaints?"
Follow-up: "How does that compare to Netlify pricing sentiment?"
```

## Session management

* Sessions are **automatically saved** as you go
* Switch between sessions using the **sidebar**
* Each session has a **generated title** based on your first question
* You can **delete sessions** you no longer need