Selection Tools

When you're reading source material in the outliner, you'll often encounter unfamiliar vocabulary, phrases in another language, or passages you want to explore further. The Selection Toolbar puts four research tools at your fingertips — just highlight any text.

How it works

Open any node's body panel by clicking its title in the tree. Then select (highlight) any text in the body. A floating toolbar appears near your selection with up to four buttons:

• Define — look up the meaning of a word or phrase
• Translate — translate between English and Spanish
• Scripture — look up a verse reference (only appears when the selected text contains a reference like "Romans 12:11")
• Ask AI — ask any question about the selected text

Each result is saved as an artifact on the node — a persistent result card that appears in the Results section below the body text. Artifacts stay with the node, so you can review them anytime.

Define

Select a word or phrase and click Define. The AI provides a clear definition along with the Spanish translation (or English translation if the text is in Spanish). This is especially useful for:

• Unfamiliar vocabulary in source material
• Technical terms you want to explain in your own words
• Bilingual study — quickly see how a concept translates

While the definition is loading, you'll see a toast message ("Looking up definition...") and a spinning indicator in the Results section.

Translate

Select text in any language and click Translate. The AI detects the language and translates to the other — Spanish text becomes English, English text becomes Spanish. The result includes a brief note on nuance or context when relevant.

This is different from the node-level AI Translate action (which translates the entire body). Selection Translate works on just the highlighted portion, giving you targeted translations without leaving your reading flow.

Scripture

The Scripture button only appears when your selected text looks like a verse reference — text that contains both letters and numbers, such as "Romans 12:11" or "Genesis 1:1". Click it to look up the full text of the passage along with a brief context note.

If you select plain text without numbers (like "active listening"), the Scripture button won't appear — only Define, Translate, and Ask AI will be available.

Ask AI

Click Ask AI and the toolbar expands into a text input where you can type any question about the selected text. The AI uses the selected text plus the surrounding body content as context to give you a relevant answer.

Example questions:

• "What does this phrase mean in context?"
• "How can I apply this principle?"
• "Summarize the main point of this paragraph"
• "Give me an example I could use in a comment"

Press Enter to submit your question, or Escape to cancel and return to the regular toolbar buttons. For multi-line questions, use Shift+Enter to add a new line.

Where results appear

Every toolbar action creates an artifact — a result card stored on the node. Artifacts appear in the collapsible Results section below the body text. Each artifact shows:

• The tool icon and name (Define, Translate, Scripture, or Ask AI)
• The text you selected (quoted in italics)
• The AI response
• A timestamp

You can run multiple lookups on the same node — each creates a separate artifact. Use the refresh button to re-run a lookup, or the delete button to remove an artifact you no longer need.

Automatic vocabulary tracking

Every time you use Define or Translate, the word or phrase is automatically added to your personal vocabulary. You don't need to do anything extra — just research naturally and your vocabulary builds itself.

After a lookup, you'll see a badge on the artifact:

• "✨ Added to your vocabulary · NEW" — first time looking up this word
• "📚 In your vocabulary · LEARNING" — you've used this word in a comment
• "🔄 Back to LEARNING" — you looked up a word you previously knew (totally normal — refreshing is healthy)

How words advance

Your vocabulary has three states, and words move between them based on what you do — not what you click:

• New — you looked it up but haven't used it yet
• Learning — you used it in a finalized comment (the strongest signal of learning)
• Known — you've used it in 3 or more comments across multiple subjects

This means your vocabulary grows as a side effect of the work you're already doing. Look up a word while reading, use it in your comment, get coached — and the vocabulary tracks your progress automatically.

Honest demotion

If you look up a word that was marked Known, it moves back to Learning. This isn't a penalty — it's honesty. Forgetting is a normal part of learning, and your vocabulary count reflects reality rather than inflated numbers.

Artifacts vs. vocabulary

Your artifacts (the result cards on each node) are your research notes — you can delete them anytime to keep things tidy. Your vocabulary is your learning record — it persists even if you delete the artifact that created it. Cleaning up research doesn't erase your progress.

Your vocabulary dashboard

Visit your Vocabulary Dashboard to see all the words you're tracking. You'll find:

• A breakdown of New, Learning, and Known words
• A Focus Word to practice in your next comment
• A Quick Review mode to test yourself with flashcards
• Filters to search, sort, and manage your word list
• Milestones to celebrate your progress

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