Using ReticulOS

AI Mode

Ret is the AI built into the widget. Ask it about one collection or all of them, in plain language, and it answers from what you've saved, with a number on each source that opens the note it came from. It can also make changes for you, once you approve each one.

Opening Ret

Press Ctrl+Shift+Space anywhere to switch the widget to Ret, and again to switch back. The Clip / Ret switch in the widget's header does the same, and the AI button in Reticulum opens Ret too. The conversation stays where you left it while you switch back to your notes or hide the widget.

The picker at the top chooses what Ret answers from: one collection, or All collections. In Ret, the ⚙ button opens AI settings.

Setting up: no API key

Answers come from Ret AI, which is included with a free ReticulOS account. Sign in once from Reticulum: open Account in the sidebar and choose Sign in with Google. There is no key to paste.

• Each question you ask counts once, however many steps Ret takes to answer it.
• AI settings shows how many you've used this month and the date they reset.
• Behind the count there is a fair-use limit for unusually heavy use. If you reach it, write to support@reticulos.com.

Already pay for ChatGPT? With Pro, in AI settings, under ChatGPT plan, choose Continue with ChatGPT and sign in in your browser, then set Chat provider to ChatGPT plan. Answers then use your ChatGPT plan's own usage instead of Ret AI answers. Disconnect signs it out.

How Ret searches your notes

Finding the right notes happens on your computer. ReticulOS reads each note into a search index with an on-device model, EmbeddingGemma 2, and searches it by meaning and by keyword together. The model downloads once, the first time it's needed: 175 MB for the default size, plus 32 MB of files every size shares. After that, search works offline.

• Index this collection. If a collection isn't fully indexed, a bar in Ret says how many of its notes are covered, with an Index now button. You can keep asking while it works.
• New and edited notes are picked up automatically, and unchanged notes are skipped.
• Notes that fail to index are set aside; the status line in Ret offers Try again.
• Sizes and speed. AI settings → On-device models lists larger, more precise sizes (up to 1.1 GB) to download, and Embedding runs on chooses CPU or GPU. If the GPU can't be used, it falls back to the CPU; Test connection shows which one is running. Changing the model re-reads every note, on your computer.

Pictures, PDFs, recordings and videos are searched by what's in them, not just their titles: PDFs page by page, videos by their frames, and sound in 30-second stretches. The first picture or recording downloads an extra part of the model. When an answer draws on a picture, a PDF page or a moment in a video, Ret looks at it while answering. It can't hear sound: it tells you where in a recording the match is instead. Pictures work on every plan; adding PDFs, audio and video is part of Pro.

Your Schedules are covered too: each day-book entry is indexed with its date and tags, so you can ask "what did I work on last Tuesday?", and each day has a Summarise button.

Asking

• Answers appear as they're written, with the same formatting your notes use. Stop ends one early.
• Citations like [#2] open the exact note in Reticulum and highlight it. The notes Ret used are listed under the answer.
• Save as cell keeps an answer as a normal, editable note, with its sources listed.
• Questions about ReticulOS itself get a direct answer, and anything else is answered from general knowledge and labelled as such.

Letting Ret make changes

Ret can work with your notes, not only read them. Looking things up happens straight away: searching, listing collections and notes, reading a note or a day. Anything that changes your notes waits for you: creating or editing a note, adding a collection, adding to the day book, or moving a note to the trash. Ret shows what it wants to do, with the before and after, and nothing happens until you choose Approve.

• Every change is listed in AI settings under Recent AI activity, with Undo.
• Nothing is deleted outright. A note Ret moves to the trash stays for 30 days, and Undo brings it back.
• Ret never touches the password vault.
• With your ChatGPT plan, Ret can also search the web. The pages it used are listed under the answer, and it's told not to put private details from your notes into its searches.

Connecting other AI apps

Claude, Cursor and other apps that support MCP can search your notes through ReticulOS. It's off until you turn it on in AI settings → Connect AI apps (MCP). The connection stays on your computer and needs the token shown there; New token disconnects every app using the old one. Copy-ready setups are listed for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and other apps. Connected apps use the same tools as Ret: when one wants to change something, ReticulOS asks you first, naming the app, and says no for you after two minutes. Their changes appear in Recent AI activity, with Undo. Step by step: connect Claude or Cursor.

What leaves your computer

Indexing never leaves your computer; the only download is the model itself, once. When you ask Ret AI something, your question, the conversation so far and the notes it found go through ReticulOS's service to Google's Gemini API to write the answer. The service keeps counts of your use, not what was in it. With your ChatGPT plan, they go to OpenAI under your plan instead. An app you connect over MCP sees what it searches for and handles it under its own terms. The password vault is never indexed or given to any AI. Details are in the privacy policy.

Troubleshooting