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Keep a running summary with a desk agent

Wire your notes into a Desk agent with the Summarise job, and it keeps a short, current summary in a note beside them as the notes change.

All plansUpdated

This recipe sets up a Desk agent that keeps a short summary of your notes up to date. Each time you change one of the notes, the agent reads them all again and rewrites the summary in a note of its own. The summary leads with the three most important points.

It suits anything that grows over time: meeting notes, research jottings, a project log or the notes from a run of interviews.

Before you start

  • This works on every plan.
  • AI must be set up. When you are signed in, the agent runs on your PlexiDesk credits. You can also use your own Anthropic key. See AI credits and where your AI runs.
  • Have the notes you want summarised on one desk. Sticky, Note, Markdown and Page widgets all work. To include notes from another desk, add a Portal widget for that desk and wire the Portal in instead.

Set it up

1. Add the agent

  1. Open the desk with your notes.
  2. Click Add widget in the centre of the header, and in the Build & automate column click Desk agent.

Or, to save a step, hold Shift and click the title bar of each note, then right-click one of their title bars and choose Organise > Automate 3 with an agent (the number matches your selection). The agent appears beside them with the notes already wired in. Skip to step 3.

2. Wire in the notes

For each note:

  1. Point at the note and click the link button in its title bar.
  2. Click the agent.
  3. In How should this connect?, choose Feed in as context.

The line under the agent's instruction box counts the notes and names the first three, for example 2 inputs: Monday notes, Tuesday notes.

3. Choose the Summarise job

Under Quick jobs, click Summarise. This sets up the agent in one click:

  • The instruction: Keep a running summary of everything wired into me. Update it whenever the wired content changes. Lead with the three most important points.
  • The role: Copywriter, for clear, plain writing.
  • When it runs: On change.

You can edit the instruction afterwards. For example, add Keep it under 150 words or End with a list of open questions.

4. Give the summary a home

  1. Open the Write to list and choose Add a Note…. A new note appears to the right of the agent, named after it, such as Desk agent output.
  2. Click the append button beside the list so it says replace. Each run then swaps in the new summary, instead of adding it below the old one.
  3. Tick Write without asking me first, if you want each summary written straight in. Leave it unticked to review each one as a card first.

5. Run it once

Click Run. The widget shows Thinking…, then the summary. It is written into the note, or waits as a card under Proposed changes if you left Write without asking me first unticked. Click the card to write it in.

What happens next

Edit any of the wired notes. A moment after you stop typing, the agent runs again and the summary is rewritten. A burst of edits makes one run, not many.

  • Active must stay ticked for the agent to run on its own. Untick it to pause the summary. Run still works whenever you click it.
  • The footer shows when the agent last ran, such as ran 5m ago.
  • The agent and its runs are also listed in the Automations panel. See See what runs on its own on a desk.

Variations

  • Keep a log instead of one summary. Leave the destination on append, and each run adds a new summary below the last, so you can see how things changed.
  • Summarise into a Page. Choose Add a Page to this desk… in Write to. A Page shows the summary with real headings and bullet lists.
  • Summarise on a timer. Choose Interval instead of On change and set the number of seconds beside Active. The shortest interval is 30 seconds.

Tips

  • Each note is read up to its first 2,000 characters. For a long document, wire in the part that matters, or split it into several notes.
  • Wire in only what belongs in the summary. Everything wired in is read on every run.
  • Name the notes clearly. The agent sees each note's name, which helps it keep the points apart.

Common questions

The summary does not update when I edit a note. Check that Active is ticked, that On change is chosen, and that the inputs line names the note you edited.

A card appears each time instead of the note changing. Write without asking me first is unticked. Tick it to write each summary straight into the note.

The summary keeps getting longer. The destination is set to append. Click it so it says replace.

The agent says it described its work instead of writing it. Nothing was saved. Change the instruction to ask for the summary itself, for example Write the summary, and run it again.

Still need help? Contact support at [email protected].