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

# How Voyager works

> The five ideas behind Voyager: the agent, chats and projects, files on your disk, generation providers and Voyager credits.

Voyager is built around five ideas. Once they click, the rest of the app is easy to find your way around.

```mermaid theme={"system"}
flowchart LR
  you([You]) -- "request, notes" --> chat["Chat<br/>(in a project)"]
  chat <--> agent["Agent<br/>Claude, ChatGPT or Voyager models"]
  agent -- "makes and edits" --> files[("Files on your disk")]
  agent -- "new images, video, audio" --> providers["Generation providers<br/>your keys or Voyager credits"]
  providers -- "finished media" --> files
  files -- "preview and review" --> you
```

## 1. The agent does the work

The **agent** is the AI you talk to. It reads your request, plans the piece, uses tools to make it, and checks its own result before showing you.

You choose which AI powers the agent:

* **Claude**, signed in with your Claude subscription or an Anthropic API key.
* **ChatGPT**, signed in with your ChatGPT subscription or an OpenAI API key.
* **Voyager models**, open models that run through your Voyager account and need a Voyager plan.

Using your own Claude or ChatGPT costs nothing extra from Voyager. With an API key, the provider bills you per use. You can switch models from the model picker in any chat.

Before a paid step, the agent shows you an estimate. Whether it waits for your answer depends on how you've set [approvals and spending](/guides/approvals-and-spending).

## 2. You work in chats, grouped into projects

A **chat** is one conversation with the agent. You write a request, the agent replies, and you keep going until the piece is done.

A **project** groups related chats around one folder, with its own brand kit and a short brief the agent reads every time. Use a project for anything you'll come back to, like a product launch or a client. A quick one-off can live in a chat without a project.

> **Example:** A "Spring launch" project holds a chat for the teaser, a chat for the social cutdowns and a chat for the thumbnail. All three see the same logo, colors and brief.

Learn more in [Chats and projects](/guides/chats-and-projects).

## 3. Your work is ordinary files on your disk

Everything the agent makes is saved as normal files in a folder on your computer: videos, images, audio, and the editable source behind them. There's no special library to export from.

* A chat without a project saves to its own folder inside **\~/Voyager** (you can change this in **Settings → General**).
* A project saves to the folder you chose when you created it.

You can open these files in any app, back them up, or move them like any other file. See [Where your files are](/first-video/find-your-file) and [Data locations](/reference/data-locations).

## 4. Generation providers make new media

When the agent needs something that doesn't exist yet, like a generated video shot, an image or a voiceover, it asks a **generation provider** to make it. Providers are services such as Higgsfield, FAL, Google and ElevenLabs.

You decide who pays, in **Settings → Accounts → Generation providers**:

* **Your own media keys or sign-ins.** The provider bills your account with them directly. No Voyager plan needed.
* **Voyager credits.** Voyager makes the request and takes credits from your plan.

Voyager tries your providers in the order you set. If one is out of credits, rejects its sign-in or is down, Voyager tries the next one, which may bill a different account. To stop this, turn off **Automatic fallback**, or tell the agent which provider to use for a job and it will stick to that one. See [Generation providers](/account/generation-providers).

Plenty of work needs no provider at all. Editing your own footage, cutting clips together, captions and most motion graphics run on your computer.

## 5. Voyager credits pay for Voyager's services

**Voyager credits** come with a Voyager plan. They pay for media generated through Voyager and for chats that use Voyager models. They don't pay for your Claude or ChatGPT, and your Claude or ChatGPT doesn't pay for media.

A plan is optional. You can use Voyager with only your own Claude or ChatGPT and your own media keys. Plan names, prices and how many credits each includes are on [voyager.so/pricing](https://voyager.so/pricing). Manage your plan at [voyager.so/dashboard/billing](https://voyager.so/dashboard/billing). See [Plans and credits](/account/plans-and-credits).

## How the pieces fit

| You want to… | What's involved |
| - | - |
| Ask for a cut of your own footage | Agent + files on your disk. No generation, no credits. |
| Generate a 15-second teaser from an idea | Agent + a generation provider (your keys or Voyager credits). |
| Use Voyager models instead of Claude or ChatGPT | A Voyager plan. Chats use your plan's credits. |
| Pick up a project next week | Open the project. Its chats, brief and files are all still there. |

## Next

<Card title="Choose your setup" icon="route" href="/get-started/choose-your-setup">
  Decide which agent to use and who pays for generated media.
</Card>


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