Artifacts & Generated Documents
When you ask the AI to build something — a document, a table, a diagram, a small web page — it doesn't just describe it in the chat. It creates the content and shows it in a dedicated side panel, or hands you a downloadable file.
This page explains what that panel is, when it opens, and everything you can do with it.
What an Artifact Is
An artifact is a finished piece of content the AI produced for you, kept separate from the chat conversation so it's easy to read, keep and reuse.
The chat stays a conversation. The artifact is the result of that conversation — a brief, a comparison table, a flowchart, a snippet of a web page — shown at full size next to it.
When the Panel Opens
The artifact panel opens on its own, on the right side of the chat, as soon as the AI starts building rich content instead of a plain text answer.
You don't need to turn anything on. Typical requests that open it:
- "Create a comparison table of these three options"
- "Draw a flowchart of our approval process"
- "Draft a one-page project brief"
- "Build a simple landing page for this campaign"
It also opens when you press Preview on a generated file — see Generated Files below.
The chat and the panel share the screen. Drag the divider between them to give either side more room.
The Panel at a Glance
The top of the panel always tells you what you're looking at.
| Part | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Icon | A small icon matching the kind of content |
| Title | The name the AI gave the artifact |
| Type badge | A short label for the content type (see below) |
| Streaming | A pulsing blue dot with the word Streaming while the content is still being written |
| Action buttons | Copy, download and close — see What You Can Do |
Type badges
The badge is a quick hint at what the artifact is:
| Kind of content | Badge you may see |
|---|---|
| Text & documents | Markdown, Word (DOCX), PDF |
| Tables & data | Excel (XLSX) |
| Slides | PPTX |
| Diagrams & visuals | Mermaid, SVG |
| Web pages & code | HTML, React, Code |
| Anything else | Preview |
Watching It Build
While the AI works, the content appears live in the panel — you can read along as it's written.
- The header shows the Streaming indicator.
- A thin blue progress bar animates along the bottom of the panel.
- If nothing has arrived yet, the panel shows "Generating artifact...".
When the AI finishes, the indicator and the progress bar disappear and the content settles into its final form.
There's no need to wait in silence. Once it's done, just ask for changes in the chat — "make the tone more formal", "add a column for cost" — and the AI rebuilds it.
What You Can Do
The buttons in the panel header depend on what kind of artifact it is.
| Button | Appears for | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Copy source | Text, code and diagram artifacts | Copies the whole content to your clipboard. The copy icon briefly turns green to confirm it copied. |
| Download file | Artifacts that are a real file (a document, spreadsheet, PDF or presentation) | Saves the file to your computer under the artifact's title |
| Close panel (ESC) | Always | Closes the panel and gives the full width back to the chat |
You can also close the panel by pressing the ESC key.
An artifact has either Copy source or Download file, not both — text-based content is copied, real files are downloaded.
Resizing
The divider between the chat and the panel can be dragged left or right at any time, so you can favour whichever side you're working in.
Working With Several Artifacts
If the AI builds more than one artifact in the same conversation, a row of tabs appears just under the panel header.
- Each tab shows a coloured dot and the artifact's title (long titles are shortened).
- Click a tab to switch to that artifact.
- Click the × on a tab to close that one and keep the rest.
The tab you're viewing is highlighted with a white background.
Generated Files
Some requests produce an actual file rather than on-screen content. When that happens you get a download card right in the chat.
| Format | Example request |
|---|---|
| Word | "Write this up as a Word document" |
| Excel | "Export these figures to a spreadsheet" |
| "Generate a PDF summary" | |
| PowerPoint | "Turn this into a short presentation" |
Each card shows a coloured file icon, the file name, a format badge, and the note "Generated by Arketic AI".
The card has two buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Preview | Opens the file in the side panel so you can read it without leaving the chat. While it loads you'll see "Loading preview..." |
| Download | Saves the file to your computer. A spinner shows while it downloads; if something goes wrong the button shows an error and then resets so you can try again |
Generated files live inside the conversation — they are not added to your documents library. Download anything you want to keep or share outside Arketic.
Messages You May See
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| Generating artifact... | The AI has started but no content has arrived yet — give it a moment |
| Loading preview... | A generated file is being opened in the panel |
| Empty artifact | Nothing was produced for this artifact; ask again, more specifically |
Tips
- Say the format you want. "as an Excel file", "as a presentation", "as a flowchart" — being explicit gets you the right kind of artifact the first time.
- Iterate in the chat. Ask for changes in plain language and the AI regenerates the artifact; you don't have to start over.
- Download to keep. Anything you want to file away, send by email or edit elsewhere should be downloaded.
- Close what you don't need. Closing tabs keeps the panel tidy when a long conversation produces several artifacts.
Related Pages
- Starting a Chat — how to ask in the first place
- Attachments — give the AI your own files to work from
- Using Tools & Actions — when the AI does something instead of writing something
- Chat History — find the conversation an artifact came from
- Tips & Best Practices — get better results from every request