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

# Sidekick: create whole productions by conversation

> Sidekick is the creative agent on Mage: it plans, generates, edits, and checks whole productions with you. How sessions, approvals, and spending limits work, and what it costs.

Sidekick is the creative agent on Mage. Describe a production, such as an ad, a campaign, a short film, or an edited video, and it plans the work, runs the generations, edits files and timelines, and checks the result before it hands it back. Open it at [mage.space/sidekick](https://www.mage.space/sidekick).

## Start a session

Describe what you want, such as "a 20-second product video for these sneakers", or start from a template. Type `@` to mention your [Characters](https://docs.mage.space/features/characters.md) and [References](https://docs.mage.space/features/references.md), and attach images or videos as source material.

**1. Describe it, or pick a template**

Write the brief in the box, or choose a template and edit its text and
files.

**2. Approve the plan**

For larger jobs Sidekick proposes a plan with its outputs and their price.
Approve it, or decline and say what to change.

**3. Steer while it works**

Send a message at any time to change direction; Sidekick picks it up without
starting over. Press Stop to end the turn.

**4. Review the deliverables**

Finished files land in the session, with a QA report on each. Open them,
download them, or save them to your creations.

## Customize Sidekick

Open **Customize Sidekick** under **New session** to tell Sidekick who to be and how to work for you. Your settings apply from your next message, in every session.

* **Guided** takes a few choices: a name and standing instructions, a personality (tone, reply length, emoji), a working style (how much initiative it takes, whether to save Gems or go for quality, and a default aspect ratio), a default model for each job (images, image edits, video, video edits, Magejutsu, and audio), and a note about you.
* **Custom** is one box where you write the full instructions yourself. **Start from my Guided settings** fills it with your Guided choices written out, to edit from there.

Your instructions take priority over how Sidekick normally works, and what they spell out counts as asking: with "always make two takes" saved, a request for an image makes both takes without a card. What you say in a message wins over them, including a model you name. They don't change Mage's content rules or your spending limits, and a blanket line like "never ask me" doesn't turn approvals off.

## The workspace

Each session has a workspace beside the chat:

| Tab | What it shows |
| - | - |
| Plan | The steps Sidekick is working through and how many are done |
| Media | Every generation it started, with its status and price |
| Files | The files it published, and where they were saved |
| Spend | Gems spent this session and this turn, split into generations, thinking and writing, computer time, tools, and web research |
| QA | Checks on each deliverable, a critic score out of 10, and the trade-offs that remain |

Once Sidekick assembles a cut, an **Edit timeline** button appears in the session header. It opens the timeline, where you can trim, move, or delete clips; Sidekick picks up your edits, and **Render draft** asks it for a draft of the current cut.

## Approvals and spending limits

Sidekick asks before it spends, publishes, or deletes. Two settings under **Session spending** control how often it asks:

* **Session limit** pauses the session once it spends a set number of Gems. Turned off, Sidekick can use your whole balance.
* **Ask before spending more than** sets the step size that needs your click. A paid step at or below it runs on its own when Sidekick can match it to your request.

When a step would leave too little of the limit to finish, the approval card says so; raise the limit to continue.

## What Sidekick costs

Sidekick runs on Gems on every plan. Each reply shows what it cost, which covers the generations it ran and its own work: thinking and writing, computer time, tools, and web research. Generations are priced as they are anywhere else on Mage, and refunded the same way when they fail. If your balance runs out mid-session, the session shows Buy Gems. See [how Gems work](https://docs.mage.space/plans/how-gems-work.md).

## Privacy

Sessions and everything they generate stay private to your account, like the rest of your creations. See [why Mage is private by default](https://docs.mage.space/privacy/private-by-default.md).


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.