Folder briefs

A brief brings the current state, important milestones, and next steps into your timeline. Generate one for a folder, or use All Folders for a separate overview across your workspace.

Generate a brief

1. Open a folder or All Folders.
2. Clear any timeline filters so the brief controls are visible.
3. Click Generate brief beside Today.

Banter prepares the brief in the background. You can keep working or leave the folder while it runs. Once ready, the brief appears in the timeline, dated by its latest update. An existing brief stays visible while Regenerate brief prepares a new version. Generation needs an internet connection. A newly created folder must finish saving first; if generation fails, use Retry.

Read the brief

Depending on the source material, the brief includes:

• Where we are — the current state, with links back to its sources.
• Milestones — significant events, their dates, and whether they are planned, in progress, completed, or suggested.
• To consider — problems and suggested actions that still need your decision.
• Next steps — commitments and accepted work to follow through on.

Click an item to see its actions, or expand its details to inspect the reasoning and source links. A folder’s brief belongs to that folder; All Folders has its own brief rather than collecting the individual briefs. Filtering notes hides the brief until you clear the filters.

Decide what happens next

For an issue with a proposed fix or a suggested action, choose Add to next steps to accept it, or Dismiss to set it aside. Accepting a fix records planned work; it does not carry out the work or mark the problem resolved. Banter remembers accepted and dismissed items when updating the brief.

For a next step, choose Mark complete or Skip, or click its date to change it. These actions can also update the matching tasks in your notes, so check the result rather than assuming only the brief changed. Completing a parent with unfinished subtasks offers a choice: keep them as separate next steps, or skip them. Something else… lets you explain a correction or request in your own words.

Help me plan starts an assistant conversation with the item and its brief as context. It asks for a plan and leaves the item unchanged until you ask for an edit or action. Brief actions that require changes to notes respect your review settings; follow See changes if the result needs approval. The affected step can stay unresolved until those note edits are accepted. The brief itself is updated directly rather than staged as a note suggestion.

For a milestone, its menu offers actions appropriate to its state, such as Include in plan, Mark complete, Change date…, and Won’t happen. A milestone is an event; changing it does not automatically finish the tasks preparing for it.

Brief actions need an internet connection. Updating or Adding… means the result is still being processed or synced. Use See what Banter did to inspect a completed run, or Retry / See details if an update fails. A cached brief remains readable offline.

Keep it current

A brief starts as a snapshot. Click Regenerate brief when you want another pass, or turn on Auto-update in the brief header to update it after workspace activity settles. Auto-update is off by default and also requires Background suggestions in Settings → Preferences → Suggestions. Turning it on does not mean every keystroke triggers a rewrite.

The Next steps shortcut beside Today jumps to the brief’s work. The task category links below the brief still filter the checkboxes in your notes — see Tasks and todos.

Share context or remove a brief

Open the brief’s ⋯ menu to Add to chat, Copy link, or Regenerate brief. Delete brief permanently removes that brief and turns off its auto-update setting. It leaves your notes in place, and you can generate a new brief later.