Customize the meeting summary prompt

The AI summary of a recording (Pro) is written from a prompt you can edit. Change it to get a different structure, a shorter summary, or sections that fit your meetings. Open it at Settings › Summary Prompt.

Which AI writes the summary

Summaries use your default AI service: the one marked Default in Settings › AI Service. If none is marked, Apple Intelligence is used when available, otherwise the first service in the list. Choose the built-in Local LLM or Ollama to keep the transcript on your Mac. With a cloud provider, the transcript text is sent to that provider. See AI services.

Edit the prompt

1. Open Settings › Summary Prompt.
2. Edit the text in the box. Changes are saved as you type.
3. Regenerate a summary on a recording to try it (below).

Two placeholders are replaced when the summary is generated:

• {{transcription}}: the transcript text. If speakers have been diarized and given real names, each line starts with the speaker’s name, so the AI can attribute decisions and action items. Generic labels such as “Speaker 1” are left out.
• {{created_time}}: the time the summary is created, as yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.

If your prompt doesn’t contain {{transcription}}, the transcript is added at the end automatically. If you clear the box completely, the default prompt is used.

The default prompt

The default prompt asks for a decision-focused summary in Markdown, in the same language as the transcript, with these sections:

• SUMMARY: 4 to 8 sentences on the purpose, outcomes, decisions, open issues and direction.
• KEY DISCUSSION POINTS: up to 10 grouped bullet points.
• DECISIONS MADE: explicit decisions only.
• OPEN QUESTIONS / RISKS: unresolved issues and risks.
• ACTION ITEMS: in the form Action, Owner, Deadline, with owner and date only when they were said.

It also tells the AI not to add anything that isn’t in the transcript and to drop small talk. Click Reset to Default to restore it at any time.

Notes you wrote on the live page aren’t sent to the AI. They are added under OTHER NOTES when the summary is exported or emailed.

Generate or regenerate a summary

With Auto Generate AI Summary after transcription on, every recording gets a summary automatically. See meeting automation. To create or redo one yourself:

1. Open the recording and switch to the Summary tab.
2. Click Generate, or Re-generate if a summary already exists. It replaces the current summary. Cancel stops it.
3. Edit the result directly in the editor if you like, then click Export to save it as a Markdown file.

If Keep auto-exported files updated after edits is on, regenerating also updates the recording’s auto-exported files.

Example: a short summary

Summarize this meeting in 5 bullet points, then list action items
as "- [ ] task (owner)". Use the language of the transcript.

Meeting date: {{created_time}}

Transcript:
{{transcription}}