Grounded Brain
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Guide

How to use Grounded Brain

A step-by-step tour: from creating your first notebook to chatting with your sources and studying from them. It works the same whether or not you are signed in.

The flow at a glance

  1. Step 1Sign inUse your Google account. There is no password to remember.
  2. Step 2Create a notebookA notebook is one topic: its own sources, chats, study material and settings.
  3. Step 3Add your sourcesSources are what every answer is grounded in. Add them first, then wait for Ready.
  4. Step 4Chat with your sourcesAsk questions and get answers that point back to the exact passage.
  5. Step 5Learn and reviseTurn sources, or a conversation, into material you can study from.

On this page

  1. Sign in
  2. Create a notebook
  3. Add your sources
  4. Chat with your sources
  5. Learn and revise
  6. Memory
  7. Notebook settings
  8. When something goes wrong

Sign in

Use your Google account. There is no password to remember.

  1. 1

    Open the sign-in page

    Choose Sign in or Get started on the home page.

    Home → Get started

  2. 2

    Continue with Google

    Pick your Google account. You land on your dashboard when it finishes.

    Sign in → Continue with Google

Good to know

  • Your notebooks, sources and memories are private to your account.
  • If you open a page while signed out, you are sent to sign in first and brought back afterwards.

Create a notebook

A notebook is one topic: its own sources, chats, study material and settings.

  1. 1

    Start a new notebook

    Choose the Create notebook card at the top of your list.

    Dashboard → Create notebook

  2. 2

    Name it and pick an icon

    Give it a title, an optional description and an icon. You can also choose which chat model it uses by default.

  3. 3

    Open it

    After you create it you go straight into the notebook's Chat. Come back any time from All workspaces in the sidebar.

    Notebook sidebar → All workspaces

  4. 4

    Find and organise notebooks

    Search by title or description, and sort by Last updated, Newest first or Title. Each card shows how many sources and study guides it holds. Use the pencil to edit and the bin to delete.

    Dashboard → Search and Sort

Good to know

  • Keep one notebook per subject. Answers only draw on the sources inside the notebook you are in.

Add your sources

Sources are what every answer is grounded in. Add them first, then wait for Ready.

  1. 1

    Open the add-source dialog

    Use Add source in the top bar, or the plus beside Recent sources in the sidebar.

    Notebook → Add source

  2. 2

    Choose a type

    PDF (up to 10 MB), Website, YouTube (transcript), GitHub repository, pasted Text, or Markdown. Each type has its own tab with the fields it needs.

  3. 3

    Wait for Ready

    A new source is Pending, then Processing while it is read and indexed, then Ready. The page updates on its own. Only Ready sources are used in Chat and Learn.

  4. 4

    Manage your library

    Open the Sources page to search, filter by type or status, switch between list and grid, and select several rows to reprocess or delete them together. Long libraries load 25 at a time with a Load more button.

    Notebook → Sources

Good to know

  • If a source shows Failed, open its menu and choose Reprocess. Reprocess failed (top of the library) retries all of them at once.
  • Rows show useful detail such as author and page count, channel and length, or repository and file count once a source has been processed.
  • Reprocessing a Ready source briefly removes it from Chat until it is Ready again.

Chat with your sources

Ask questions and get answers that point back to the exact passage.

  1. 1

    Ask a question

    Type in the box at the bottom of Chat, or start from one of the suggested prompts.

    Notebook → Chat

  2. 2

    Check the citations

    Numbers like [1] in an answer are citations. Hover one for a preview, or click it to open the matching passage beside the chat, with its page, chapter or section and its position in the source.

  3. 3

    Go to the source

    From the passage panel, choose Open source to read it in full.

  4. 4

    Turn on web search when you need it

    The Web search toggle lets an answer include web results. Web citations are marked W and can be saved to your library.

  5. 5

    Manage conversations

    Switch between past conversations, start a New chat, export one as Markdown, or delete it.

    Chat → toolbar above the messages

  6. 6

    Pick a model

    Choose the chat model from the top bar. Your notebook's default is selected for you.

Good to know

  • Add the sources before you ask. With none that are Ready, there is nothing to ground the answer in.
  • Use Make it stick on the right of Chat to turn the conversation you are in into a flashcard deck.

Learn and revise

Turn sources, or a conversation, into material you can study from.

  1. 1

    Generate something

    Open Learn and choose Generate. Pick Summary, Key Takeaways, Flashcards, Quiz, Mind Map, AI Report, or Repo Wiki (needs a Ready GitHub source). It uses every Ready source in the notebook and keeps working in the background.

    Notebook → Learn → Generate

  2. 2

    Open it when it is ready

    New items show a New badge, and the Learn item in the sidebar gets a dot while something unopened is waiting. Opening it clears both.

  3. 3

    Study with it

    Flashcards flip and track what you have learned, quizzes explain each answer, summaries link their numbered notes to your sources, and mind maps can be explored visually.

  4. 4

    See where it came from

    Flashcards, quiz answers, report sections and summaries show the sources they are based on. Items made from a conversation do not.

  5. 5

    Export

    Download an item as Markdown to keep it outside the app.

Good to know

  • Flashcards: use the left and right arrow keys to move, and Space to flip.
  • The sources named on an item are the model's best match. Treat them as where to look, then check the passage yourself.

Memory

Grounded Brain can remember lasting facts about you across notebooks.

  1. 1

    Open Memory

    Choose Memory in the dashboard header.

    Dashboard → Memory

  2. 2

    Review what it learned

    Memories from your chats are marked Learned. Ones you write yourself are marked Manual.

  3. 3

    Add, edit or remove

    Add a memory such as 'Prefers concise explanations with examples', and edit or delete any entry whenever you like.

Good to know

  • Memory is powered by Mem0. A new memory can take a moment to appear in the list.

Notebook settings

Rename a notebook, change its default model, or remove it.

  1. 1

    Open settings

    Choose Settings in the notebook sidebar.

    Notebook → Settings

  2. 2

    Edit the details

    Change the title, description, icon and default chat model, then Save changes.

  3. 3

    Delete a notebook

    The Danger zone removes the notebook with all its sources, conversations and indexed data. This cannot be undone.

Good to know

  • Use the moon icon in any header to switch between the light and dark themes.

When something goes wrong

What the messages mean and what to do about them.

  1. 1

    Our server is under maintenance

    The service cannot be reached right now. Nothing you did caused it and your data is safe. Wait a few minutes and try again.

  2. 2

    Mem0 is under maintenance

    Only the memory service is unavailable. Chat, sources and Learn keep working, and Memory returns when it is back.

  3. 3

    A source says Failed

    Reprocess it from its menu. If it keeps failing, check the file or link and add it again.

  4. 4

    Too many requests

    Adding sources and generating study material are rate limited. Wait a minute and try again.

Ready when you are

Create your first notebook in under a minute

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