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After each recording is transcribed, Steno generates structured notes using a local language model running via Ollama. Notes are saved as Markdown files on your device.

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What Steno generates

Each note includes:
  • Summary — a short paragraph covering the main points of the meeting
  • Key topics — a bulleted list of the subjects discussed
  • Action items — tasks or commitments identified in the transcript
The quality and detail of notes depends on the model you are using. Larger models produce more accurate and detailed output. See Summarization models.

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In-recording notes

You can type notes during a recording using the notes panel. These notes are folded into the AI summary when summarization runs — Steno treats them as additional context alongside the transcript.

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Output format

Summaries are saved as Markdown files in ~/Library/Application Support/stenoai/output/. They are plain text and work with any Markdown editor, note-taking app, or sync service.

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Regenerating a summary

You can regenerate the summary for any existing recording:
  1. Open the recording
  2. Click the options menu
  3. Select Re-summarize
  4. Optionally switch to a different model before running

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Asking questions about a note

Use the ask bar at the bottom of any note to query the meeting content in plain English.
Not yet via the UI. The prompt used for summarization is configurable in the source code for users who build from source.
In ~/Library/Application Support/stenoai/output/ as .md files named after the recording.