AI Modes
Modes are the depth dial on a Workbench task: the flow is the same, the difference is how deeply Irys investigates and what the answer looks like when it comes back. You pick the depth from the selector below the input bar; Workbench picks the right machinery for it. Exactly one mode is active at a time, and Quick is the default. Most of the time you won't need to think about them.
The three are Quick (fast answers), Standard (right for most work), and Thorough (for deep research and multi-step jobs).
At a glance
| Quick (default) | Standard | Thorough | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reach for it when | You want a fast answer, a draft, or a quick rewrite | You want one thorough, memo-quality write-up | The question turns on case law or your matter, and you'll stand behind the answer |
| Skip it when | The answer has to be cite-backed for a partner, client, or court | You need a quick reply, or the question hinges on case law | You just need a fast draft or off-the-cuff answer |
| How it works | A single, direct answer | One comprehensive pass across legal sources and your matter | A full investigation: plans, runs leads, checks citations, shows its thinking |
| Context & documents | Draws on your full matter context, answered directly | Pulls from your matter plus online legal sources and synthesizes across them | Reads selectively, opening only what each lead requires, so a 500-document matter is no harder than a handful |
| How citations come back | None; copy-ready text | Aggregated at the end; copy-ready | Inline, each linked to the source |
| Speed | Seconds | Slower; plan for it like a research memo | Scales with the question; you watch it work in real time |
How to choose
- Fast answer, draft, or quick question? → Quick. Seconds. Clean text, no citations, nothing to wait for.
- Need solid coverage of a statute, regulation, or legal topic? → Standard. One comprehensive pass, citations gathered at the end, ready to paste straight into your work.
- The question turns on case law, or the answer goes to a client or court? → Thorough. A full investigation with inline citations you can click and verify.
Not sure? Quick is the fastest path to an answer. Move to Thorough the moment the question touches case law or matter documents and the answer has to hold up.
Quick
The default mode, and the right tool for most of the day: drafting a clause or a letter, summarizing a document, rewording a paragraph, settling a quick point of law, or firing follow-ups after a bigger run. It works from the full document context of your matter and stays fast even as a matter grows.
Citations. None. The answer comes back as clean, copy-ready text, ready to drop into an email, a draft, or a message.
Speed. Seconds. Comparable to a fast web search.
Example asks. "Draft a mutual NDA for a software development engagement." "Summarize the key risks to the buyer in this purchase agreement." "Rewrite this paragraph in plain language for a non-lawyer client."
Skip Quick when the answer has to be cite-backed, when the question turns on case law, or when the output is going to a client, a partner, or a court. Those are Thorough questions.
Standard
When a question deserves a real write-up, Standard makes one comprehensive pass, pulling from online legal resources and your matter and synthesizing across them into a structured, memo-quality report.
Citations. Aggregated at the end of the report, gathered into a reference section rather than threaded inline, so the body stays clean and copy-ready.
Speed. Noticeably slower than Quick; plan for it the way you'd plan for a research memo, not a quick reply.
Pair it with Cite Check. Because Standard gathers citations at the end rather than checking each as it writes, run Cite Check on the result to confirm every case is real and still good law before you rely on it. For case-law-heavy questions, Thorough checks citations against source as part of the investigation.
Skip Standard when you just need a quick answer (use Quick) or when the question turns sharply on case law (use Thorough; its inline-cited memo is built for that).
Thorough
The most capable mode, for the answers you put your name on. Thorough plans an investigation, pursues several leads at once, reads the right documents, searches case law and the web, and writes a structured legal memorandum. Full detail on the Thorough Mode page.
Citations. Inline and clickable. Hover a footnote to see the citation; click it to open the Sources & Citations panel. A case-law citation opens the original court opinion in a new tab. Thorough checks case-law citations against source as it works. It is still AI: review holdings before you file.
Speed. Scales with the question. A focused question may wrap up in under a minute; a complex, multi-document investigation may take several. The Thinking panel shows the investigation as it runs, so you're following progress, not waiting blind.
Skip Thorough when you want a quick draft, a fast rewrite, or an off-the-cuff answer. Its depth is overkill for those; Quick will be faster and just as useful.
Combining modes in one workflow
Mode is a per-question choice, so it's normal to move between them inside a single session. Common patterns:
- Triage in Quick, dig in Thorough. Start in Quick to get oriented or test a framing, then switch to Thorough for the part that needs to hold up: the cite-backed analysis you'll actually use.
- Standard for the survey, Thorough for the case law. Use Standard to lay out the legal landscape on a topic, then switch to Thorough to check and analyze the specific cases that drive the answer.
- Standard → Cite Check. Always run Cite Check on a Standard report before relying on its citations. Treat the two as a paired step.
- Thorough for the memo, Quick for the cover note. Once Thorough has produced the memo, switch back to Quick to draft the email or summary that goes with it.
For how a switch actually behaves (which message it applies to, how the mode sticks per chat and across new chats), see Switching Modes & Sessions.
Working with any answer
Whatever mode you used, you can download the reply as PDF or Word (DOCX), Save this output to Notes in My Desk to keep it with the matter, or copy it straight out.