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After each recording is transcribed, Steno generates structured notes using a language model. By default this is a local model running via Ollama on your device; you can optionally configure a cloud model instead (see Summarization models). Notes are saved as Markdown files on your device either way.

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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
  • Key points — the notable takeaways drawn from the discussion
  • Action items — tasks or commitments identified in the transcript
The quality and detail of notes depends on the model you are using. The default summarizer is Gemma 4 E2B; 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 Regenerate notes in the toolbar
  3. Optionally switch to a different model in Settings → AI 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.
Yes. Report templates are editable directly in the UI. You can use the standard template or create custom ones, and generate multiple reports per meeting from different templates.
In ~/Library/Application Support/stenoai/output/ as .md files named after the recording.