AI notes
After each meeting Recordist turns the transcript into a summary, decisions, open questions and action items. By default this happens on your own computer with a local model; nothing leaves your computer. If you would rather use a cloud model, you can paste your own key, and the app tells you exactly what it sends.
Notes may be wrong. They are generated automatically from a transcript that may itself contain errors and mis-attributed speakers. Verify against the recording before acting on them, especially for legal, medical, financial, employment or safety decisions. The app shows this notice above every notes panel and at the top of every Markdown export.
Option A: local model (default)
Recordist ships with a built-in engine. On first use it downloads a small runtime (an app-managed copy of Ollama, MIT licence, about 160 MB) and an open-weight notes model into the app’s own data folder, starts it on a private loopback port (47324) and keeps it there. There is nothing to install, no account and no key.
The model is chosen for your computer’s memory:
| Installed memory | Default model | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | Qwen2.5 1.5B (fast) | 0.9 GB |
| 16 GB or more | Qwen3 4B (balanced) | 2.4 GB |
You can pick a different one under Settings → AI notes → Model at any time. Every download is listed in the Privacy Ledger with its purpose and size.
Already run Ollama? Choose Ollama I already run and Recordist uses your server and models instead (default http://127.0.0.1:11434).
| Machine | Model | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| 8 GB | Qwen2.5 1.5B (default) | About 35 seconds for a 5-minute clip; roughly 6–8 minutes for an hour |
| 8 GB, best quality | Qwen3 4B | About 12 minutes for a 40-minute meeting; the app shows the estimate first |
| 16 GB or more | Qwen3 4B (default) | Roughly three times faster than on 8 GB, with a larger context window |
The transcript goes to the engine on your own machine and the result is stored in your local database. Nothing leaves the computer. See Notes take too long on my Mac for the measurements.
Option B: Anthropic, with your own key
Choose Anthropic under Settings → AI notes → Provider and paste an API key. Recordist calls Anthropic directly from your computer with your key; there is no Recordist server in between. The key is stored in your operating system’s keychain, never in a settings file.
Only the transcript text of that meeting and the template prompt are sent. Audio never is. Each request is listed in the Privacy Ledger with the destination and the size. Anthropic’s own terms govern what it does with what you send.
Option C: OpenAI-compatible, with your own key
Choosing OpenAI-compatible under Settings → AI notes → Provider takes a key and, optionally, a base URL. This covers OpenAI itself and anything that speaks the same API, including a server on your own network. Leave the base URL empty for OpenAI. The same rule applies: transcript text and template only, directly from your computer, listed in the ledger.
Automatic or on demand
Auto notes (on by default) generates notes as soon as transcription finishes. Turn it off to generate manually with the Generate notes button. After the 14-day Pro trial, the Free plan includes 3 AI notes a month, so generating on demand lets you spend them on the meetings that matter.
Templates
A template decides the shape of the notes. Built-ins:
| Template | Sections |
|---|---|
| General | Summary, Decisions, Action items, Open questions |
| Sales call | Summary, Customer needs, Objections, Next steps, Follow-up email |
| 1:1 | Summary, Their topics, My topics, Commitments |
| Interview | Summary, Strengths, Concerns, Questions asked, Recommendation |
| Standup | Yesterday, Today, Blockers |
On Pro you can write your own under Settings → Templates and set a default template per meeting app, so sales calls in Zoom and 1:1s in Meet get different notes automatically.
Action items
Action items are listed separately with an owner and, when the model can tell, a due date. Tick them off in the app. Open items also feed your Prep Briefs and are available to your agents.
Regenerating
Click Regenerate on any note to run it again with a different template or provider. Each regeneration counts as one AI note on the Free plan. Old versions are kept until you delete them.
When no model is reachable
If the engine is still downloading, or the network is down for a keyed provider, Recordist produces a simple fallback note: the most informative sentences by topic and any lines that look like tasks. It is marked as such so you know to regenerate later.
Team policy
Team administrators can restrict which providers members may use (for example, local only) from the license dashboard. Restricted providers disappear from Settings → AI notes on every seat.
Qwen is released by Alibaba Cloud under Apache-2.0; Ollama is an open-source project under the MIT licence. “Powered by” statements are factual and imply no endorsement. Claude is a trademark of Anthropic, PBC; OpenAI is a trademark of OpenAI. They are named only to identify compatible providers.