Using Strandweave

Strandweave turns recordings and imported media into reviewed, reusable meeting memory. The workflow is deliberate: capture or import, transcribe locally, correct the record, approve any AI output, then export or reuse only the context you choose.

Capture or import a session

Record on your Mac

From Home, choose New Session, Quick Record or Record Meeting Session. Record Meeting Session lets you add the title, participants, agenda and other meeting details before you start. You can pause and resume, then stop when the session is complete.

Strandweave records from the audio input selected under Settings → Recording. To capture meeting or system audio, configure a virtual audio device first; see the system-audio guide.

Import audio or video

Choose Import Audio/Video or press Command-I. Strandweave accepts M4A, WAV, MP3, AAC, AIFF, CAF, MOV and MP4 files. For a video file, Strandweave extracts and transcribes its audio track; it does not edit or analyse the video itself.

Local Pro can import several files in one batch and monitor watched folders. Under Settings → Batch Automation, you can optionally transcribe imported files automatically. Podcast import is a separate opt-in setting in the same area. Once enabled, use Import Podcast / RSS / Web Audio to download the latest episode from an RSS feed or import a direct episode audio URL.

Transcribe locally

1. Open the session and select its Recording tab.
2. Choose Transcribe Offline.
3. Keep Strandweave open while the local queue processes the recording.
4. Open the Transcript tab when processing finishes.

Choose a model and language under Settings → Transcription. Auto-detect requires a multilingual model. The Model Library shows whether a model is downloaded and provides a guidance indicator when a larger model may be slow for the available memory on your Mac.

You can cancel an active transcription, retry a failed queue item, or re-transcribe a session after replacing its recording. Transcription is offline after the selected model has been downloaded; no audio is sent to a transcription service.

Correct the transcript and speakers

Use Reading view for continuous text or Segments view for timestamped speaker blocks. Transcript text and speaker labels save as you edit. Search can filter the transcript or highlight matches, and selecting a timestamp seeks the recording.

• Edit transcript text or rename a speaker directly.
• Split a speaker block when two speakers were combined.
• Reorder speakers or merge duplicate speaker labels.
• Add highlights, margin notes and formatted meeting notes.
• Use speaker separation to group voices, then review the result.
• Optionally enrol voices locally so Strandweave can suggest names later.

Voice profiles and speaker recognition are optional, consent-gated and stored on your Mac. Name suggestions are not accepted automatically.

Organise and review your library

The Sessions screen supports search, filters, grouping and multi-level sorting. Use projects, workstreams, related projects and tags to connect sessions without moving their files. Participants, sensitivity, consent and retention settings remain attached to each session.

Use the Review screen to work through Unreviewed, Needs Correction, Reviewed and Finalised sessions. Multi-select and bulk status changes help when several imported or recorded sessions need the same review step.

Archiving hides a session from the main list without deleting it. Moving a session to Trash keeps it available for restoration until you permanently delete it.

Generate and approve a summary

1. Make sure the session has a transcript.
2. Configure Claude, OpenAI or a local Ollama model under Settings.
3. Open the Summary tab and choose a detail level.
4. Select Generate Summary.
5. Review the draft, then approve, regenerate or discard it.

Summary options include Basic, Second Brain, Advanced, Meeting Minutes, Comprehensive and your own saved templates. Generation can continue while you move elsewhere in the app. An automatically generated summary is still a draft and cannot become approved without your review.

Cloud providers receive eligible transcript text and the meeting context needed for the request. Audio, voice profiles and local files are not sent. Use Ollama when you want summary generation to stay local. See AI provider setup for the privacy choices and blocking controls.

Track actions and decisions

Add an action or decision manually from a session's Summary tab, or ask the configured AI provider to suggest items from an approved summary. Review and edit suggestions before saving them. Owners, due dates, provenance, review state and status stay connected to the source session.

The Dashboards screen brings items together across sessions. Filter by date, owner or status; group by project, workstream or tag; switch to a board view; and export a CSV when you need to work elsewhere.

A status board moves cards through their action or decision lifecycle. A custom board uses buckets you name without changing item status. Saved boards retain their filters and order, can be linked to a project, and can be exported as Markdown. Cards created directly on a board remain available to dashboards, exports and permitted local-agent workflows.

Create cross-session synthesis notes

In Advanced Export, select sessions or filter to a project, choose your Obsidian vault, then select one or more synthesis notes:

• Project Hub combines approved summaries, participants, recent decisions and open actions.
• Decision Log collects project decisions with their source sessions.
• Action Dashboard groups project actions by status.
• Weekly Review combines the week's sessions, decisions, actions and key insights.

Synthesis notes use managed blocks so they can be refreshed without replacing notes you add elsewhere in the file. If an external edit conflicts with managed content, Strandweave asks how you want to resolve it.

Find related meeting memory

Exact search works without an additional model. Local Pro semantic search adds meaning-based matches using a small model stored on your Mac. After an approved summary is available, Related Meetings can surface other sessions with similar themes so you can revisit earlier decisions or avoid repeated work.

Download or remove the semantic-search model under Settings → Sessions → Semantic Search. Processing is local, and excluded or ineligible sessions are not added to related-memory results.

Export and reuse approved work

Quick Export

Right-click a session or use its Exports area and choose Quick Export. The first export uses the session's local exports folder. Quick Export to New Location lets you pick and remember another folder for later one-click exports.

Detailed and multi-session export

Open the Advanced controls for a single session when you need format and inclusion options. Use Advanced Export to select several sessions, one or more formats, and a local folder, Obsidian vault or the clipboard. Multi-session AI Context Packs include a source index.

Available outputs include Markdown, TXT, HTML, JSON, RTF, DOCX, PDF, AI Processing Input, AI Context Pack and Second Brain notes. Strandweave shows blocked or incomplete sessions before export rather than silently omitting them. Email sharing opens a draft for you to review and send; Strandweave never sends it automatically.

Build a supervised Second Brain

Connect an Obsidian vault under Settings → Obsidian Vault. Choose Off, Inbox, Suggest or Auto-file as the filing mode. Suggest asks you to confirm a proposed folder; Auto-file uses confidence checks and falls back to the inbox when it is unsure.

The Second Brain screen works from approved summaries. It can install an optional starter structure, show items ready for export and offer concept links based on your local alias bank and vault. Concept changes remain supervised, and managed-block updates preserve content you wrote outside Strandweave's own sections.

Manage retention, storage and backups

Under Settings → Privacy & Retention, use Maintenance Review to preserve, defer, archive, compress or delete a recording. These actions apply to the audio file; the transcript and metadata remain unless you move the whole session to Trash.

Retention Automation is optional. A daily or weekly check can identify sessions ready for review, but Strandweave presents a summary and waits for confirmation before applying anything. Storage Breakdown calculates the size of recordings, exports, transcripts and Trash on demand and lists the largest sessions.

Settings → Backup can create a complete library archive or a smaller archive without audio. Immediate and scheduled backups write to a folder you choose. Restoring replaces the active library, so create a current backup before restoring another one.

Customise your workspace

Use Home edit mode or Settings → Home to show, hide and arrange action tiles and content blocks. Appearance settings also control the Light, Dark or Strandweave theme, sidebar order and visibility, menu-bar shortcuts, transcript and summary reading preferences, and the information shown in session rows.