Refine with context

Sometimes the words on screen aren’t the whole story. Context is reference text you store once — a message you’re replying to, notes, a project brief — that Refiner-AI keeps in mind while it refines, so the result fits your situation, not just the sentence you selected.

The scenario

Say you’ve received a message and want to write a reply that reflects points you’ve already jotted down. On its own, refining only sees the reply you typed. With context, it also sees the background you stored.

1. Prepare a reply card

Since this is our first time replying, we’ll start by making a Refiner card built for the job — for example one titled “Write a reply” with an instruction like “Turn my notes into a polished reply to the message I’m responding to.” Create it just like any other Refiner card.

Creating a Refiner card for writing replies

This is a one-time setup — once the card exists you can reuse it for every future reply, so you’ll only create it this once.

2. Where context lives

Stored contexts appear in a small panel pinned to the top-right of your screen, just below the menu bar. It shows up automatically once you have at least one context, and each card previews its text.

The context panel

3. Capture your background as context

Here’s the material you want the AI to keep in mind — for example, the key points for your reply.

The notes you want to use as context

Select that text, press your shortcut (⌘O), and choose Store as New Context from the floating menu. (There’s also Store Context, which appends the selection to the context that’s already active.)

Storing the selection as a new context

It’s now saved as a context card in the panel.

The stored context in the context panel

4. Trim or edit it (optional)

Double-tap a context card to open the editor, where you can tidy the text down to just what matters, then Save.

Editing the stored context

Make sure the context is active — a single tap toggles it, and the active card gets a colored border. Only the active context is sent with your next refine.

5. Refine your reply with the card

Now write your reply and select it.

Your draft reply, selected

Press ⌘O and pick your reply card. Because a context is active, the result is written with your background in mind — consistent with what you stored, not just the words you typed. And since the card is saved, next time you just select, trigger, and pick it again.

The reply refined with context applied

Have more than one thing to keep on hand? See Use multiple contexts.