How Q works.

Start with a question. Go deeper only when you need to. Inspect what shaped the answer, challenge it, compare material, and retain what matters.

Q proposes. You govern.

Q areas and Retain
Original preserved
Q proposes
You govern

The path

Ask. Answer. Inspect. Challenge. Retain.

Start simple. Open more only when you need it. The question, answer, sources, interventions, and what you retain stay connected to the same record.

  1. Step 1.

    Ask Q

    Start with a normal question.

    Ask Q the way you would ask any capable AI. No setup or system knowledge is required.

  2. Step 2.

    Starting point

    Keep the original visible.

    Your question and material stay distinct from what Q adds, so the starting point does not disappear.

  3. Step 3.

    Answer

    Q proposes an answer.

    The answer can stay simple. Q's output remains a proposal rather than becoming your decision.

  4. Step 4.

    Inspect

    See what shaped it.

    Open the record when you want more context around scope, sources, conflicts, inference, or uncertainty.

  5. Step 5.

    Challenge and compare

    Test the answer.

    Question it, compare material, or correct the starting point without losing the original answer or source records.

  6. Step 6.

    Retain

    Choose what stays.

    You decide what belongs in the record, what remains unresolved, and what you want to keep.

  7. Step 7.

    Receipt

    Keep the path connected.

    Where available, a Receipt can preserve the question, material, interventions, uncertainty, and what you retained.

Inside the record

Inspect what matters.

Open only the part you need. Each area gives you more context without changing the answer or deciding for you.

Q areas and Retain

Identify

What did Q understand?

See the question Q understood and any assumptions behind it.

Your authority

Inspect. Challenge. Decide.

Question the answer, compare material, correct what Q understood, and decide what belongs, what remains unresolved, and what you retain.

Challenge

Question a claim, assumption, source, or conclusion and keep the challenge with the record.

Correct

Fix what Q understood or add missing context without rewriting the original.

Compare

Inspect two sources or positions together without replacing either one.

Retain

Choose what you want to keep in the record. Q cannot retain it for you.

Go deeper when you need to

More detail stays optional.

Open claims, sources, conflicts, branches, notes, and Receipts only when they help. Visible material does not automatically enter Q's scope, become evidence, or get retained.

Claims

Claims Q is examining.

Contradictions

Conflicts that stay visible.

Branches

Alternative lines of inquiry.

Sources

Material and where it came from.

Notes

Notes that stay separate from the answer.

Receipts

A portable record of retained work.

Your control

Nothing important happens silently.

Scope stays explicit

Opening material does not automatically put it in scope for Q.

Retrieval stays explicit

Q does not search the web unless that permission is given.

Sources stay sources

Retrieved or parsed material does not automatically become evidence.

Receipt

Keep the record, not just the answer.

Where available, a Receipt can preserve the question, material, challenges, comparisons, uncertainty, and what you retained so the path remains reviewable.

A Receipt records what happened. It does not make Q infallible or turn a proposal into truth.

Begin with Q

Start with a question.

Use Q normally. Inspect more only when you need to.