Prompts

A prompt is a note: a reusable instruction for the AI, kept in your vault under prompts/ like anything else you write. You find it in the AI bar and after a / in the editor, and external AI clients (Claude Desktop, Claude Code…) can use the same prompts through MCP. Because it is a note, you can edit it, link to it, search it, put it under Git, and share it.

Writing one

Make a note in prompts/ (the AI bar's Prompts menu has New prompt, which makes one to start from). The properties at the top say what it is; the text is the instruction:

---
name: Make it formal
scope: selection
description: Rewrite in a formal tone
---
Rewrite the following text in a formal, professional tone. Keep its meaning and its
language. Return only the result.

{{selection}}

Property	What it does
name	What the menus call it. Without it, the file name.
scope	What it works on: selection (needs selected text), note (the whole note), any (the selection if there is one, else the note). Without it, any.
mode	What happens to the answer: replace (in place of the selection, read first: see Reviewing a rewrite), insert (at the caret), append (at the end of the note, under the prompt's name). Without it: replace when the prompt used a selection, otherwise insert.
description	A line shown under the name in the menus.

Variables

Write	It becomes
	The selected text (for scope: any without a selection: the note; for scope: note: nothing).
	The whole note as text.
	Today, as 2026-10-07.

A variable is filled in once: if the selected text itself contains , it stays as it is. To write one of the three names literally, put a backslash before it: \. Other are left alone. A prompt that does not use never replaces the selection, even if some text happens to be selected.

The text is sent as written, Markdown included, so lists and examples in a prompt work. In a vault that is still stored as HTML only the words of the instruction are kept.

Using one

• In the AI bar (turn it on with Settings → Editor → Show AI bar): the Prompts button lists every prompt. One that needs a selection waits for one.
• After / in the editor: your prompts follow the built-in commands, and what you type narrows the list by name (/formal). Only prompts that work without a selection are there, since a slash command has none.
• From an AI client, through MCP: see MCP server.

PII masking applies as to any request: a cloud model is sent masked text, and the answer is restored on your machine.

Limits

• A prompt note is read when it is used, so an edit applies at once. A note in prompts/ that holds no instruction (only properties) is not offered.
• Prompts are found in prompts/ at the top of the vault, at any depth below it.
• A prompt is one instruction with the three variables; there is no conditional or loop, and no way to chain prompts.