Claude Context Mentions: Reference a Past Chat with @@ (2026)
Type @@ in the Claude prompt box with AI Toolbox (formerly Claude Toolbox) installed, pick a past conversation, and its content is pulled into your current message, so Claude has the earlier context without you copying and pasting. It is the fastest way to continue a thought from another chat on claude.ai, where conversations are otherwise siloed. Trusted by 25,000+ active users with a 4.5/5 Chrome Web Store rating. Free plan available.
By Adi Leviim, Co-Founder at Infi Developments, 7+ years building AI productivity tools.
Can Claude Reference Another Conversation?
Claude does not let you reference a different past conversation inside a new chat. Each conversation is self-contained: Claude only knows what is in the current thread plus any Project knowledge you attached. If the detail you need lives in a chat from last week, your options natively are to reopen it, scroll, and copy the relevant part into your new prompt by hand.
Context Mentions removes that friction. Typing @@ opens a searchable dropdown of your past conversations, and selecting one injects its content into your current prompt automatically, so Claude answers with the full earlier context in place. It works entirely from the composer, without leaving the chat you are in.
How to Use @@ Context Mentions on Claude
Context Mentions lives in the prompt box, so referencing an old chat is part of typing your message.
Install AI Toolbox from the Chrome Web Store and open claude.ai.
In any chat, type @@ in the prompt box. A dropdown of your past conversations appears.
Search by title and select the conversation you want to bring in.
AI Toolbox inserts that conversation's context into your prompt. Finish your message and send as usual.
Short conversations are inserted directly so Claude sees the original exchange message by message. Long conversations are condensed into a focused summary before insertion, so you get the relevant context without blowing past the prompt limit. Either way, the earlier chat informs Claude's next answer without a single copy-paste.
Native Claude vs Context Mentions
Capability
Claude (native)
AI Toolbox Context Mentions
Pull in another past chat
Manual copy-paste
Type @@ and pick it
Search past chats from the composer
No
Yes
Handle a very long source chat
You trim it yourself
Auto-summarized to fit
Stay in the current conversation
Reopen the old one
Yes, never leave the box
Reference several chats at once
No
Yes, on Premium
Price
Included with Claude
Free for 3 mentions/day, then $9.99/mo or $99 lifetime
When Context Mentions Earns Its Keep
The feature shines whenever the thing you need is in a different chat. Continue a design discussion from yesterday inside today's implementation chat. Bring a requirements thread into a drafting session. Feed an earlier debugging conversation into a new bug. Reference your notes chat while writing a summary. Instead of rebuilding context every time, you point Claude at the conversation that already has it.
Context Mentions works hand in hand with the rest of the toolkit: organize source chats with folders and Smart Tags so the right conversation is easy to find when you type @@. AI Toolbox is also available for the ChatGPT and Gemini modules, so cross-conversation context follows you across every AI you use.
Free vs Premium for Context Mentions
The free plan includes 3 context mentions per day, one per message, which is enough to feel how much faster cross-chat work becomes. Premium ($9.99/month or $99 one-time lifetime) removes the daily cap and lets you reference several conversations in a single prompt, and the same plan unlocks full-text search, folders, message bookmarks, and the Artifact Vault on Claude. If you use more than one AI, the All Access Lifetime ($149) covers the ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude modules in one purchase and saves $148 versus three single-platform Lifetimes. All paid plans include a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Stop re-explaining context to Claude. Type @@ to pull any past conversation into your prompt, right inside claude.ai. Trusted by 25,000+ users with a 4.5/5 Chrome Web Store rating. Compare Claude plans →
Who Context Mentions Is For
Developers carry an architecture chat into each new implementation thread. Writers reference a research conversation while drafting. Product and ops teams bring a requirements or notes chat into a planning session. Students pull an earlier explanation into a follow-up question. Anyone whose work spans more than one Claude conversation gets the earlier context in two keystrokes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Claude reference a previous conversation in a new chat?
Not on its own. Claude conversations are siloed, so natively you would copy and paste from the old chat. AI Toolbox adds Context Mentions: type @@ in the prompt box, pick a past conversation, and its content is inserted into your current message automatically.
What does typing @@ in Claude do?
With AI Toolbox installed, @@ opens a searchable dropdown of your past conversations. Selecting one injects that chat's context into your current prompt so Claude can answer with the earlier information in place.
What happens with a very long source conversation?
Short conversations are inserted in full, message by message. Long conversations are automatically summarized before insertion so the reference fits inside the prompt without you trimming anything by hand.
How many context mentions are free?
The free plan includes 3 mentions per day, one per message. Premium ($9.99/month or $99 lifetime) removes the daily cap and allows multiple mentions in a single prompt. A 14-day money-back guarantee applies to paid plans.
Is my conversation data kept private?
Yes. AI Toolbox is a local Chrome extension and your daily usage is tracked in your browser. Your conversations stay in your Claude account; only the context you choose to mention is placed into your prompt.
Does AI Toolbox work on browsers other than Chrome?
AI Toolbox runs on all Chromium browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, and Arc. It does not support Firefox or Safari, which matches Claude's own browser support.
A Full Stack Developer with 7+ years of experience building AI productivity tools. Leads product development and frontend architecture for AI Toolbox, the Chrome extension suite (ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude modules) that helps users search, organize, and export their AI conversations.
Adi Leviim