Ask

Ask view

The desktop /search route is the Ask surface. It shows your question, an answer grounded in local history, and a compact list of cited sources.

The answer card uses inline numbered citations. Hovering a citation highlights its matching source row; opening a row expands the captured text in place so you can verify wording without leaving the page.

Each citation row shows:

• Source app: which application produced the capture.
• Matched text: the snippet or transcript excerpt that grounded the answer.
• Channel and time: for example screen text, meeting audio, document, or chat context.
• Expanded provenance: full stored text, local indexing status, and links to Sources or Timeline.

Sources inspector

Use Sources (/sources) when you want the master/detail view behind a citation. The list uses one compact source row per capture or near-duplicate cluster, with type chips for all, chat, screen, meetings, and docs.

Selecting a row opens the detail panel with the stored text, parser provenance, capture time, and local status. Original images, video, and ordinary meeting audio are not retained after processing; the inspector shows the text representation stored in the encrypted local database.

Timeline

Use Timeline (/timeline) for chronological recall. It groups captured moments by day on a time rail and collapses repeated captures into a single row where possible.

Timeline is useful when you remember roughly when something happened, or when a cited source needs surrounding context.

Retrieval status

Search uses full-text retrieval in the shipping build. On the Mac, Ask uses the retrieved passages to produce an answer with source references. A lack of relevant evidence can produce an insufficient-context result.

Context export

You can copy answers with sources and export context where the current build exposes export controls. Treat exported Markdown like any sensitive artefact: it can contain quotes from your screen and microphone history.