> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://cortex-foundation-add13747-droid-2a5c5e50-docs-ferndesk-pro.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Models and thinking > Pick a model per conversation from the composer chip, set how long Cortex thinks before answering, and know what happens at peak hours. Every conversation runs on a Cortex model. The chip under the composer — *Cortex 1 Mini · Preview · Thinking Low* by default — is where you change it. The choice belongs to the conversation: existing threads keep the model they were created with, and new chats start from the default. Model picker — Cortex 1 Mini and Cortex Teutonic-1 in Preview, Thinking Low / Medium / High, and Deep Research ## What you can pick | Model | Status | Context | Capabilities | Role | | --------------------- | ------- | ------- | ---------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Cortex 1 Mini** | Preview | 262.1K | Reasoning, tools | The model Cortex is serving today. Default for new chats. | | **Cortex Teutonic-1** | Preview | 32.8K | Reasoning, tools | Second public preview, under active training. | | **Cortex-Image-1** | Preview | — | Image generation | Used when you ask for a picture. Built on NVIDIA Cosmos. See [Image generation](/chat/images). | The composer model chip is a Chat control. Web Code has no model picker; the CLI has its own `/model` picker with the same family under English names (**Cortex Mini 1**, **Cortex 1**, **Cortex Max 1**) — see [CLI modes](/cli/modes-and-permissions). Settings → Models — Cortex 1 Mini, Cortex Teutonic-1, Cortex-Image-1, default thinking level, reasoning summaries ## Thinking level **Low**, **Medium**, or **High**. Higher thinking spends more time before answering and suits multi-step reasoning, careful writing, and anything where a wrong first draft is expensive. Low is right for quick questions. The level is per conversation; a saved default under **Settings → Models** is marked *coming soon*. **Show reasoning summaries** (also *coming soon* in Settings) displays a short summary of the model's thinking above each answer. ## Deep Research The toggle at the bottom of the chip turns a conversation into a research run: plan the questions, read live sources, and write a cited report. It is a Chat feature only. See [Deep Research](/chat/deep-research). ## How a turn uses the model 1. You pick the model on the conversation. 2. Chat assembles the prompt — your message, attachments from Library, memory, project instructions, tool results — and clamps generation so prompt plus output fit the model's context window. 3. The model runs the tool loop until it stops or reaches Chat's round budget. See [How Chat works](/chat/how-it-works). Completions for Teutonic use their own upstream. If that upstream is not configured on a deployment, the request fails closed before any quota is spent and never falls through to Mini. ## Availability and peak hours Model availability depends on your plan. During peak hours new chats may fall back to a faster model; the chip always tells you which model is serving the conversation. Go and higher plans get priority when the fleet is busy — see [Plans](/getting-started/plans). ## What this page is not There is no public inference API on this site. Model names here are product names inside Cortex Chat, not endpoints. See [Coming soon](/platform). ## Related * [Streaming](/chat/streaming) — tokens as they arrive. * [Settings](/getting-started/settings) — defaults for new chats. * [Plans and quotas](/getting-started/plans) — quotas fail closed.