All chapters

  1. Getting started

    1. Start here
    2. Install, update & first launch
    3. Bring your notes in
    4. Your vault & the window

  2. Daily work

    1. Writing & the editor
    2. The Note Inspector & history
    3. Capturing ideas
    4. Today & daily notes
    5. Tasks
    6. Minutes: recording meetings

  3. Find and understand

    1. Finding & connecting notes
    2. Setting up AI
    3. Ask Header
    4. AI writing tools: Review, Refactor & the selection assistant
    5. Lenses
    6. Atlas
    7. Mindprint, Review & Retro

  4. Research and publish

    1. Research & the Reading Room
    2. Manuscripts
    3. Boards

  5. Protect your notes

    1. Trust, safety & privacy
    2. Sync & backup

  6. Reference

    1. Header across macOS
    2. Settings
    3. Keyboard shortcuts
    4. Help, feedback & FAQ
Header AI

Ask Header

Ask Header answers questions about your notes and shows where each answer came from. Press ⇧⌘A, type something like "What did we agree with Acme about the launch date?", and press Return. The answer comes with numbered citations you can click to land on the line in your note.

Answers other than Find need an AI route: Apple Intelligence, a cloud key or Ollama. Setting up AI covers the options. Whichever model answers, check what matters; the citations are there so you can.

Opening Ask Header

From the keyboard, a note, a selection, or another view

Ask Header opens as the Ask tab of the Assistant dock on the right of the window, next to Review and Refactor. Ways to open it:

FromHowWhat it starts with
Anywhere in HeaderWindow → Ask Your Vault ⇧⌘AYour selection, else the open note, else the whole vault
Any appThe global shortcut ⌃⌥A (change it in Settings → Shortcuts)The same as above
An open noteThe Show Assistant button in the title bar, then the Ask tab; or the note's ⋯ menu → Ask About This NoteThat note
Selected textThe selection assistant → Ask about this, Explain or SummarizeThe selection, with Explain and Summarize filling in the question
TodayPress ⇧⌘A while Today is showingToday's captures
A LensAsk This LensThe rows of that lens
A saved web clipAsk about this after Save a LinkThe clipped page
ResearchA source's menu → Ask Header about thisYour notes about that source

Atlas, Explore and Graph have their own Ask entry points too. Press Esc to close the panel.

Scopes: what Ask reads

Context & routing → Context

Under the question box, click Context & routing to see the current scope and change it from the Context menu. Once an answer is showing, the row stays hidden until you click into the question box.

  • Selection: the text you've selected. Offered only when something is selected.
  • Current Note: the open note, plus up to eight notes it links to (one hop). After you ask, Context & routing lists them under Linked notes read, so you can see exactly what was read. If the note embeds screenshots or scanned pages, Header recognises the text in them on this Mac and adds it, labelled as image text.
  • Review: your captures from the period the Review panel is set to.
  • Vault: searches your whole vault for the question and reads the best-matching notes.
  • Web: looks beyond your notes, with the open note as extra context. It needs Allow Ask Header to use web search turned on in Settings → AI and an OpenAI or Anthropic key with cloud AI on.

When you start from a Lens, from Today, or from a research source, that context appears as its own scope: Current Lens, Today or Sources / Bibliography.

Include Atlas pages, off by default, also draws on Atlas's AI-written wiki pages, labelled as secondary context next to your own notes.

Locked notes aren't sent to AI. If the open note is locked, Header asks you to unlock it before you can ask about it.

Routing: what kind of help you want

Context & routing → Routing

Leave Routing on Auto and Header works out what you're asking. Or pick a mode:

ModeWhat you get
FindExact passages from your notes that match, with the note title. No AI and no web search, so it works with no provider set up.
AnswerA direct, short answer first, then only the evidence and next steps needed to support it.
CompareA balanced comparison of the notes: differences, common ground, and where the evidence conflicts. Good for "Compare the two flats I viewed".
CreateA draft or document made from your notes, for you to review. Nothing is saved until you choose to.
ChangeA proposed change to the open note. Click Stage as EditPlan to review it as an edit before anything is applied.

Ask a counting question about the open note, such as "how many tasks are in this note?", and Header counts it itself without calling a model.

Reading an answer Receipts

Citations, checked figures and the evidence drawer

Answers stream in as they're written; the stop button in the question box cancels one. The badge in the Assistant header shows which AI is available: Apple Intelligence, Cloud AI Ready or Cloud AI Off. The provider and model that actually answered appear as chips under Evidence & receipt. A finished answer card has these parts:

  • Inline citations. Numbered markers in the answer. Click one to open the note and jump to the cited line.
  • Computed by Header. When the answer involves numbers from a table in your note, Header does the arithmetic itself and shows the result, the formula, and any rows it skipped because they weren't numbers. Each figure is marked "computed".
  • Check the math. Appears only when Header rechecks the arithmetic in the model's own answer and finds an inconsistency. Those figures are the model's, so verify them.
  • The trust line. "3 supported · 0 unverified" counts citations whose quoted text Header found in your notes, and those it couldn't find. It reads "No citations" when there are none.
Japan Trip Assistant Apple Intelligence Review Refactor Ask When is our ryokan booked in Kyoto? ↑ Context & routing · Vault When is our ryokan booked in Kyoto Save The Kyoto ryokan is booked for April 14 to 17. 1 Check-in is from 3 pm and dinner is included. 2 2 supported · 0 unverified Evidence & receipt · 2 checked “ Cited from your notes 1 “Kyoto ryokan booked Apr 14–17” Hotels ↗ 2 “Check-in 3 pm, dinner included” Japan Trip ↗ Sources checked Hotels “Kyoto ryokan booked Apr 14–17” ↗ Japan Trip “Check-in 3 pm, dinner included” ↗ Apple Intelligence Web not needed 2 checked
The Ask tab after a question asked with the scope set to Vault. Each numbered marker in the answer matches an entry under Cited from your notes, and Sources checked lists the notes that were read.

Small icons at the end of the trust line say what was checked. Hover over one to read it:

Hover textMeaning
Computed exactly by HeaderHeader calculated this figure; the AI model didn't estimate it
Counted exactly by HeaderHeader counted this from the note text
Cited excerpts were found verbatim in your notesThe quotes match your notes word for word
Header could not verify this calculationThe figure is the model's own estimate
Header found an arithmetic inconsistencySee the Check the math card
The model reported insufficient evidenceThe model said it couldn't find this in your notes. That's the model's claim, not something Header checked

Evidence & receipt

Open Evidence & receipt under the answer for the full record: Cited from your notes (each quote with its note; click to jump), any Unverified quotes, Sources checked, and chips for the provider and model, whether the web was used (for example "Web not needed" or "Web used"), and how many sources were checked.

If an answer misses, the flag button logs it as Wrong source, Missed context, Too vague, Not enough citations or Bad formatting. The report is saved on this Mac, not sent.

Try this Make a note called "Kitchen budget" with a small table of costs. With it open, press ⇧⌘A and ask "What's the total, and which item costs most?" Look for the Computed by Header card, then click a citation number to see the line it came from.

Follow-ups, saving and earlier answers

What to do with an answer

Under each answer is a suggested next step, with more under More. They depend on the answer: Ask a follow-up after a Find, Draft email or Add to Today's Note after a drafted message, Stage as EditPlan after a Change. A follow-up button puts a starting question in the box for you to finish and send.

Click Save on the answer to open a preview of the Markdown before Header writes anything. Pick a destination: Append to current note, Save as Ask Header Answer, Save to Today's Note or Create Synthesis Note. Then Save, or Copy Markdown instead.

When you ask again, the earlier answer moves to Previous answers below; click one to bring it back. Header keeps the last eight while the app is open.

Before your first question, Try asking offers a few suggestions based on what's open. Click one to ask it.

Generated HTML pages

Dashboards and pages from a Create request

Ask for something visual, such as "build a dashboard of my reading list by status", and the answer may include an HTML page. It appears as Rendered HTML in a sandboxed preview: scripts can run so charts and toggles work, but the preview has no network access and no connection to the rest of Header. Use Expand for a larger window, Export PDF to save it, or View source and then Copy HTML to take the code.

Get Your First Cited Answer

A three-step tour

New to Ask? Help → Get Your First Cited Answer shows a short checklist that ticks itself off as you go:

  1. Ask a question about your notes, and get an answer with numbered citations.
  2. Open a cited source by clicking a numbered note under the answer.
  3. Decide one AI change: run AI Review from the editor toolbar, then accept or reject a suggestion.

You can hide the checklist at any time; the Help menu item brings it back.