# Welcome to Tandem

Tandem lets you work on documents with an AI — by default Claude, but any MCP-capable client can connect over MCP. You can highlight text and your AI sees it directly, no copy-paste needed. Because Tandem speaks MCP, your AI brings all its knowledge and tools to the document.

## Getting Started

> Follow the tutorial in the bottom-left corner to learn the basics. You can dismiss it at any time. For a full walkthrough of all features, see the [User Guide](../docs/user-guide.md).

Open Claude Code from any directory — your Tandem tools are already configured. Both you and your AI can see and edit this document at the same time. Your AI's cursor appears as a soft blue highlight on the paragraph being read, and a typing indicator shows when it's writing.

## Annotations

Tandem has five kinds of annotation, each with its own color in the margin and side panel:

- **Highlights** — your color-coded marks (yellow, green, blue, pink) that flag text for attention.
- **Notes** — private thoughts kept to yourself; your AI never reads them.
- **Comments** — questions or remarks on a passage, shared with your AI.
- **Suggestions** — a comment from your AI that proposes replacement text you can act on.
- **Imported comments** — comments carried in from Word `.docx` files.

Open the side panel to review any pending annotation, or switch on the margin view to see them anchored beside the text.

## Working Together

You choose how closely your AI participates:

- **Tandem mode** — your AI's annotations appear live as it works.
- **Solo mode** — annotations are held back until you're ready, so you can write undisturbed.

## Try These

1. **Respond to a suggestion** — Look at the highlighted text in this document. Open the side panel to accept or dismiss annotations, or press Ctrl+Shift+R for Review Mode.
2. **Ask a question** — Select some text and press Ctrl+Shift+A, or type in the Chat panel.
3. **Make an edit** — Click anywhere in the document and start typing. You can simplify sentences, fix typos, or add new content.

## Get Around Faster

Tandem is built for keyboard-first work:

- **Command palette** (Ctrl+Shift+P) — jump to any action or open document.
- **New tab / scratchpad** (Ctrl+N) — open a fresh scratchpad; Tandem keeps every open file in its own tab.
- **Find & replace** (Ctrl+F) — search the current document or across every open tab, with regex, case, and whole-word options.
- **Outline panel** — navigate by heading and collapse whole sections to focus.
- **Keyboard shortcuts** (Ctrl+Shift+,) — customize any shortcut, or press ? to see them all.

You can connect more than one model, too: open the Models settings to add providers and pick a default, or use the first-run picker when you start out.

## Sample Content

The project launched in early 2025 with three core goals: simplify onboarding, reduce support tickets by 40%, and ship a self-service dashboard by Q3. The team completed the first two milestones ahead of schedule, but the dashboard timeline slipped due to an unexpected API redesign in May.

> Once your AI connects, try asking it to help you improve this text — you'll see highlights and suggestions appear in the side panel.
