AI Chat Examples

Things to ask the AI chat, grouped by what they show. Every prompt here is written for the demo vault — the one-click sample vault the welcome screen offers (see Your first vault) — so you can copy it into the message box (⌘⇧L) and get a real answer. AI has to be set up first.

Each prompt is tested on the two models DocGraph suggests by default — Ministral 3B and Gemma 4 E2B — before it is listed here. Bigger models answer them too, usually in more detail.

What your model needs

Most of these work with whichever model you picked. Each group below says what it needs, in one of four levels:

• No model — DocGraph does the work itself; the model isn’t asked. AI still has to be set up, because the chat box stays off until it is.
• Any model — every model DocGraph offers can do it, including Apple’s on-device model. Bigger models write better answers, and smaller ones may skip a table or a diagram you asked for.
• Any model + Topic summaries — the model plus summaries DocGraph writes in the background. On by default under Settings → AI → Chat & index; a new vault needs a few minutes before they’re ready.
• Agent on + tool calling — turn on Agent in the chat. Apple’s on-device model can’t do this. A model with tool calling acts reliably — a Tools chip under the chat’s header shows that yours can use them. Models without it fall back to a slower method that may get it wrong; the chat says so, and the Agent button shows ⚠.

Find a note

Needs: no model. DocGraph answers these itself, before any model runs.

• “Find the note about encryption” — a card of matching notes with the reason each matched; when one is clearly ahead, it opens. Follow up with “open the second” to pick another from the card.

Ask your notes

Needs: any model. Answers come from your pages, with sources you can click.

• “How do backlinks work?” — answered from the Backlinks and Linking Notes pages.
• “How do I lock just one line of a note?” — a how-to drawn from the Encryption page.
• “Which file types can DocGraph open?” — the File Types folder, summed up.

Tasks and people

Needs: any model. Todos are ordinary text, so the chat reads them like everything else.

• “What is @sam working on?” — every task and mention for one person.
• “What’s blocking the launch?” — the blocked items on Launch Checklist, with what each is waiting on.

Connections

Needs: any model. The chat follows typed links, not just words.

• “What depends on Linking Notes?” — Connections under the answer shows each link it followed.

Compare in a table

Needs: any model, though a small one may answer in plain text instead. Answers can hold tables, drawn right in the chat — and, with a larger model, diagrams and charts.

• “Compare Plain Files Are Enough and A Database Is Better in a table.” — the two Debate pages side by side; Insert table into note keeps the table.

Narrow it down

Needs: any model. DocGraph narrows the search itself; the model writes the answer. Name a tag or a person and the search narrows to match.

• “Which notes are tagged #privacy?” — only notes carrying that tag; a line above the answer says so.
• “What does @priya want?” — read from a sentence in Mentions and Dates, not from a task.

Do things

Needs: Agent on + tool calling — except /todo, which needs no model. Every change shows a card first and waits for Approve; ↩ Undo last AI change takes it back.

• /todo call sam tomorrow 6pm — DocGraph reads the date and the person itself and opens a task card.
• /create a note called Reading List with three books about note-taking — a new page, previewed before it’s written.

The whole vault

Needs: any model + Topic summaries. Until they’re ready, the chat says so and answers from matching notes instead.

• “What are the main themes of this vault?” — answered from topics, groups of linked notes summarized in the background.

About DocGraph

Needs: any model. Questions about the app are answered from this documentation, built into the app, marked DOCS under Sources.

• “How do I export a note to PDF?”
• “What does ⌘K do?”

The page you’re on

Needs: any model. Open a note first, then ask about “this page”.

• “Summarize this page” — try it with the Linking Notes page open.