To use Chat with AI plug-in

Installation

Chat with AI is available as the ChatAI plug-in. You can download it from ChatAI plug-in downloads. The ChatAI plug-in is not available for the Store App or the 32-bit version of EmEditor.

  • If you use the Desktop Installer version of EmEditor, click Installer to download the installer version. Run the downloaded installer.

  • If you use the Portable version of EmEditor, click Zip archive to download the zip file, then unzip the ChatAI.dll file to the PlugIns folder in your EmEditor folder. Navigate to Customize Plug-ins in EmEditor and Add the ChatAI.dll file.

API Key

To start using Chat with AI, create and copy an API key from one of these AI providers.

Deepseek API Key

  1. Log into your Deepseek account and visit the API keys page.

  2. Click Create new API key. Add a name for the key.

  3. Copy the API key.

OpenAI API Key

  1. Log into your OpenAI account and visit the API keys page.

  2. Click Create a new secret key. Optionally, add a name and select any project.

  3. Select All permissions, or select Restricted and add the required permissions below. The required resources may change in the future as new features are added:

    • Model capabilities: Write

    • Responses API: Write

    • All other resources: None

  4. Copy the generated API key.

Setup

  1. After ChatAI is installed, the AI menu should appear in the main menu. Open the AI menu and select Chat with AI.

  2. In the Chat with AI app, click the ⚙️ button in the sidebar and select Settings.

  3. Paste your API key into the API key field.

Chat panel

  • Type your question or prompt in the input box at the bottom and press Enter or click to send.

  • Your message appears on the right; the AI’s response will appear just below it shortly. Prompts and responses remain in the conversation for context-aware replies.

  • Hover over any message to see buttons for:

    • Copy to clipboard: Copies the message to clipboard

    • Copy to New Document: Opens a new document and inserts the text.

    • Edit message: Make revisions to the message.

    • Regenerate response: Requests a new reply based on the same prompt. Useful if you would like a different phrasing.

  • Click the button or right-click on any message for additional options:

    • Copy to Editor: Inserts the text at the cursor position in the editor.

    • Message Info: Displays details about this message.

  • Code blocks contain programming code. In a code block, you can click on for options to copy the code.

Settings

  • You can change AI connection and user interface settings by clicking the ⚙️ button in the sidebar and selecting Settings.

  • AI Connection

    • Configure how the app connects to an AI service.

    • You can select the following providers: Deepseek, LM Studio/OpenAI compatible, OpenAI

    • Clicking on Test Connection checks that the settings are correct for the provider by sending a small AI request.

  • AI Parameters

    • Adjust parameters for AI generation.

    • Chat completion and reasoning models are supported.

    • Read the providers' documentation for more details about each setting.

  • User Interface

    • These settings customize the Chat with AI interface.

  • Debug Log Options

    • The debug log helps diagnose technical issues with the app.

LM Studio setup instructions

The LM Studio integration requires initial setup. Follow these steps to set up LM Studio.

  1. Download and install LM studio from lmstudio.ai.

  2. In LM Studio, go to the Discover tab to download a model.

    • mistralai/mistral-7b-instruct-v0.3 is a good model to try, as it can run on most computers.

    • Attempting to load a model unsupported by your system may result in an error.

  3. At the top of the LM Studio window, load the model that you downloaded.

  4. Go to the Developer tab. Click on the switch on the top left to start the server. It should now say "Status: Running".

  5. Open the Settings next to the switch. Enable CORS.

  6. Open Chat with AI and open Settings.

  7. In the AI Connection page, set the Provider to "LM Studio/OpenAI compatible". Leave the API key field empty.

  8. Go to the AI Parameters page. Under Model, select the model you downloaded.

    • If it is not listed, verify that CORS is enabled in LM Studio. You can manually enter the model name by selecting "Other".

  9. Go back to AI Connection, and click Test Connection to ensure that it can connect to LM Studio.

  • Each time you restart your computer, the LM Studio service starts automatically. However, you’ll need to manually load a model before you can use it in Chat with AI.