Writing Assistant

The Writing Assistant helps you generate, rewrite, or refine content directly within your notes. It's an AI-powered chat-style sidebar that works alongside your editor, ready to help when you need it.

Before using it, make sure you have at least one AI provider or Ollama configured. See Configuring AI for setup instructions.

Opening the Assistant

• Press Cmd/Ctrl + J to open the Writing Assistant sidebar
• By default, the current note is used as context
• To change context, use the context selector or press @

Using selected text: Select any portion of text and press Cmd/Ctrl + J (or click "Add to chat" in the Bubble Menu). The selection appears as "x ch" where x is the character count.

Working with Context

• The base context (current note) can be removed if you don't want it influencing responses
• When you change the context selection or switch files mid-chat, a "Context Changed" indicator appears. This ensures previous responses that no longer apply are discarded, keeping your conversation relevant.
• Each chat session remembers previous exchanges for consistent, context-aware assistance
• Each query displays the model name and timestamp below the prompt, making it easy to track which model was used and when the request was sent

Editing Previous Prompts

You can edit prompts you've already sent to refine your requests without starting over:

• Click on any previous prompt in the conversation to edit it
• Adjust your request to be more specific or change direction
• The AI will generate a new response based on the updated prompt
• This helps you iterate quickly without losing conversation context or retyping similar requests

Research Mode

The Writing Assistant includes a built-in research mode that responds to your queries with clarifying questions or requests for more information to provide the most accurate answers.

After research is completed, it offers a range of options to help you draft, refine your writing, continue the discussion, or shift the conversation in a new direction.

Web Search (Beta)

The Writing Assistant can include web sources in its responses. This feature is currently available for OpenAI (and openai-compatible) & Claude models.

To toggle web search on or off, click the globe icon next to the model selector.

Using Responses

After receiving an AI response, you have several options:

• Copy — Copy to clipboard
• Insert — Add at your cursor position
• Replace — Swap the originally selected text with the response
• Retry — Get a new version
• Delete — Remove the response from chat

Custom Slash Commands

Create shortcuts for prompts you use often. Configure custom slash commands in Settings → AI Assistant → Slash Commands. They're saved in .octarine/ai/slash-commands.json in your workspace.