Sign in Subscribe

Brainbox: Using @Mentions and Cross-Tab Conversations

Last updated on 

@ mentions let you pull content from another tab directly into your Brainbox conversation without leaving the current tab. This is one of the most powerful ways to work across multiple sources simultaneously.

What @ Mentions Do

When you type @ in the Brainbox prompt box, you can instantly reference any open tab in Wavebox. The AI gets access to that tab's content—whether it's an email, spreadsheet, document, web article, or PDF—and can incorporate it into its response.

Key benefit: You can compare sources, reference information, and synthesize ideas across tabs without manual copying and pasting.

How to Use @ Mentions

  1. Click in the Brainbox prompt box.
  2. Type @ to open the tab selector.
  3. A dropdown list appears showing all your open tabs (from any Group, Space, or window).
  4. Click on the tab you want to reference, or type to search for it by title.
  5. The tab name appears in your prompt with an @ prefix (example: @Sales Quarterly Report).
  6. Complete your message and press Enter.

Brainbox sends your message plus the full content of the referenced tab to the AI model.

Which Tabs Are Available?

All tabs in your Wavebox workspace are available to reference via @ mentions:

  • Active tabs: Tabs you currently have open and visible.
  • Sleeping tabs: Tabs you've opened before but haven't revisited recently (they're backgrounded to save memory).
  • Tabs from any Group or Space: You can reference a tab from a different Group or even a different Space.
  • Tabs from different windows: If you have multiple Wavebox windows open, all their tabs are accessible.

This means you can reference information from anywhere in your workspace without manually switching between tabs.

Practical Examples

Comparing Two Documents

You're reading Contract v3 in one tab and Contract v2 in another. You want to identify the changes:

  1. Open Brainbox in the v3 tab.
  2. Type: @Contract v2 What are the key differences between these two contracts?
  3. Brainbox pulls the v2 content and compares it to v3, highlighting changes.

Referencing an Email While Drafting

You're drafting a response in a document and need to reference an email:

  1. Open Brainbox in the document tab.
  2. Type: @Urgent: Approve Q2 Budget Should I approve based on the information in this email?
  3. Brainbox reads the email and helps you decide.

Pulling Data from a Spreadsheet into a Report

You're writing a report and need to incorporate numbers from a spreadsheet:

  1. Open Brainbox in the report document.
  2. Type: @Q1 Metrics Sheet Summarize the key metrics from this spreadsheet and format them as a paragraph for this report.
  3. Brainbox extracts the data and integrates it into a narrative format.

Synthesizing Multiple Sources

You want to combine insights from three different articles:

  1. Open Brainbox.
  2. Type: @Article on AI trends @Competitor analysis 2026 @Industry forecast Based on these three sources, what are the three biggest opportunities?
  3. Brainbox analyzes all three tabs and synthesizes the key opportunities.

Tips for Using @ Mentions

  • Use multiple @ mentions in one message: You can reference 2, 3, or more tabs in a single prompt. Just type @ multiple times to add more tabs.
  • Tab names are identifiers: Tabs are identified by their page title or browser tab title. If you have multiple tabs with similar names, rename them in Wavebox for clarity.
  • Content flows naturally: You can mix @ mentions with regular text. Example: @Meeting notes Draft a follow-up email addressing the three action items from this meeting.
  • Live content: When you reference a tab via @, Brainbox pulls the current content of that tab at the moment you send the message. If the tab updates later, your reference stays the same (snapshots aren't taken, but the content is evaluated when sent).

@ Mentions vs. Attaching Content

There are two ways to include external content in Brainbox:

@ Mentions

  • Reference any tab in your workspace.
  • Pull live page content at the moment of the message.
  • No extra steps—just type @.
  • Great for quick references and multi-tab analysis.

Attaching Content

  • Explicitly attach a file or screenshot.
  • Useful when you need a specific, documented snapshot.
  • More deliberate—you're creating a record of what you referenced.

Use @ mentions for quick, fluid conversations involving multiple sources. Use attachments when you need to document exactly what you analyzed.

How Brainbox Handles Tab Content

When you @ mention a tab, Brainbox:

  1. Retrieves the full text and structured content from that tab.
  2. Sends it to the AI model along with your prompt.
  3. The AI responds based on all the information (the tab content plus your instructions).

The more specific your prompt, the better the AI can work with the referenced content. Example:

Vague: @email summarize this Better: @email Extract the three action items and their owners from this email.

Limitations and Considerations

  • Private/authenticated content: If a tab requires authentication (Gmail, Slack, private company tools), Brainbox can only see the content as it appears on the page you're viewing. It cannot access anything hidden behind login screens.
  • Large pages: Extremely large or code-heavy pages may be abbreviated by Brainbox to fit within token limits. In that case, be specific about which part you want analyzed.
  • Sleeping tabs: Content from sleeping tabs is still accessible via @, but if a tab is truly old or the page has changed significantly, the content may be stale.

Building Powerful Cross-Tab Workflows

@ mentions are particularly powerful when combined with Skills and Chats:

  • Create a Skill that analyzes multiple @ mentioned sources (e.g., "Compare these two contracts").
  • Have a back-and-forth conversation where each message references different tabs.
  • Use @ mentions to pull real-time data into drafts, reports, and emails.

Once you get comfortable with @ mentions, you'll find yourself checking fewer separate windows and tabs, and spending more time on actual analysis and creation in Brainbox.