> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.usegradient.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Chat

> Run an agent over chat from the dashboard Conversation or the public invoke endpoint.

Chat and voice run on the same engine and the same published graph; only the transport differs. Over chat there are two ways to talk to an agent.

## Dashboard Conversation

Open an agent in the dashboard and use the **Conversation** panel to talk to it in the browser. It runs your published agent (the latest published version), so it is the quickest way to sanity-check a version right after you ship it.

While you are still building, you can also chat the **draft** to test unpublished changes before you publish. See [Agents](/build/agents) and [Publishing and versions](/publish/versions).

## Public invoke endpoint

Every published agent exposes a public invoke endpoint. You send the user's message as plain text and get JSON back.

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST https://api.usegradient.dev/v1/agents/<agent-uuid>/versions/1/invoke \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $GRADIENT_API_KEY" \
  -H "content-type: text/plain" \
  --data-raw 'Hello'
```

A few things to know:

* The path segment is the **agent UUID**, not the display name, so agents can share names safely.
* The version must be a **published positive integer**, not `draft`.
* Authenticate with an organization API key as a Bearer token.
* The `content-type` is `text/plain` and the body is the user's message.
* The response is a JSON object containing the agent's output.

The engine runs the turn end to end, building the node's tools, calling the model, and resolving any tool call or handoff, before it returns. See [Invoke](/api/agents/invoke) for the full reference.

## Continuing a conversation

The invoke endpoint is stateless: each call is a self-contained turn. To drive a multi-turn conversation with server-managed continuation state, use the lower-level `POST /v1/turn` route, which the dashboard and advanced integrations use. See [Turn](/api/agents/turn).