# Actions and styles > Built-in and your own actions, running them on a selection, a note or a chat, and styles for how Canto answers. Applies to Canto 1.0 beta 3 · Updated Oct 10, 2026 · https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/actions Taken from the app's source for Canto 1.0 beta 3: `src/main/database/schema/builtinCommands.ts`, `src/shared/actions/model.ts`. An **action** does one job on what you point at: selected text, the note, or a chat. A **style** changes how Canto answers. Both live in **Settings › Actions & styles**. They replace the commands, skills and personas of Canto 0.10. ## Run an action | Where | How | | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | On selected text | The selection bar shows your pinned actions; **⋯** lists every selection action. Right-click the selection for the same list. | | In a note | Type `/`: **AI · this note** lists the note's actions, most recently used first. **More AI actions…** opens the rest. | | Anywhere in a note | `⇧⌘K` opens the ⌘K bar with the actions for this note, your selection and the chat beside it. | | In Ask | Type `/` at the start of a message. `↩` runs the highlighted action; `⇥` puts it in the message so you can add words first. | An action runs in Ask, beside the note, on the chat's model. The chat shows the action as a chip, not its instructions. When an action changes the note, the change is reviewed like any other edit and one Undo takes it back; see [Let Ask edit](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/edits). ## Built-in actions | Works on | Action | What it does | Type it as | | ----------- | --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------- | | A selection | Rewrite | Says the selected text more clearly, in your voice | `/rewrite` | | | Shorten | Same meaning, fewer words | `/shorten` | | | Explain | Explains it in plain words | `/explain` | | | Find a source | Looks through your notes for what backs it up | `/source` | | | Fix spelling and grammar | Corrects mistakes, keeps your wording | `/grammar` | | | Expand | More detail and an example, in the same voice | `/expand` | | | Professional tone | Formal wording for work email | `/professional` | | | Translate to English | Keeps the meaning and the tone | `/en` | | | Translate to Korean | Keeps the meaning and the tone | `/ko` | | The note | Summary at the top | A short summary under the title | `/tldr` | | | Add headings | Section headings that follow the note's ideas | `/headings` | | | Outline | The note's structure and main points, under the title | `/outline` | | | Key points and to-dos | Takeaways and action items, added at the end | `/insights` | | | Format as email | Greeting, body and sign-off | `/email` | | | Weekly review | Done, open and next week, added at the end, in three steps | `/weekly` | | A chat | Summarize this chat | Decisions, open questions and next steps | `/summarize-thread` | | | Critique the last answer | Hidden assumptions, missing evidence, the best counterargument | `/critique` | | | Explain simply | Plain language, one analogy, no jargon | `/eli5` | | | Action items from this chat | A checklist of next steps | `/action-items` | | Research | Chapter study | A study guide for one chapter of an attached source | `/chapter-study` | | | Source critique | Argument, evidence and limits of one source | `/source-critique` | | | Literature follow-up | Continues a saved research question | `/literature-follow-up` | The selection bar starts with **Rewrite**, **Shorten**, **Explain** and **Find a source**. A few things that used to be actions are now ⌘K commands: **Open a random note**, **Surprise me** and **Send this note to future me…**. ## The Actions tab **Settings › Actions & styles** opens on **Actions**: every action, grouped by what it works on (**On a selection**, **On the note**, **In a chat**, **In Research**). Filter with **All**, **Selection**, **Note**, **Chat**, **Research**, **Yours** and **Off**, or search. Each row has its name, what it does and where its result goes, its "/" name, a pin when it's in the selection bar, and a switch to turn it off. Its **⋯** menu has **Edit**, **Duplicate**, **Pin**, **Export** and, for a built-in, **Reset to original**; for one of yours, **Delete**. You can change a built-in action in place: it's marked **Customized**, and **Reset to original** puts it back. Canto never deletes the actions you saved or imported. If an earlier version left copies of built-in actions, Canto asks once which to keep. ## Make an action **New action** opens one sheet: * **Name**, what it does, and an icon. * **Works on**: **Selected text**, **The note** or **A chat**. * **Instructions** in plain words. Values such as "Selected text" or "Note title" show as tokens; type `{` to add one. * **Result**: where the answer goes. On a selection: **Replace it**, **Insert below** or **Answer in Ask**. On the note: **Add at the top**, **Add at the end**, **Rewrite the note** or **Answer in Ask**. A chat action answers in Ask. * **Show it in**: **The "/" menus and ⌘K**, and for a selection action, **The selection bar** (up to five actions are pinned there). * **Try it** on one of your notes: it shows what Canto will send and gives a throwaway answer from your Mac. * **Advanced**: **Type it as** (its "/" name, made from the name until you change it), **Model** (**Same as chat**, or a model on your Mac), **Creativity** (**Same as chat**, **Precise**, **Balanced** or **Creative**), and steps: an action can run in several steps, and ask you before a step. Only the name is required. ## Styles A style is how Canto answers in a chat. The default, **Canto**, has no style of its own. Three come built in: | Style | How it answers | | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- | | Researcher | Methodical, cites every claim, says what is inference | | Critique | Finds assumptions and the strongest counter-argument first | | Companion | Warm and encouraging, for thinking out loud | Choose a chat's style from the model chip's menu, under **How it answers › Style**. The **Styles** tab in **Settings › Actions & styles** sets the **Default for new chats**. To make your own, choose **New style**, then either **Describe how Canto should answer** or **Paste a sample of your writing**. Under **Advanced** you can set its **Creativity** (instead of a temperature), what it reads, whether it uses the web or Think, and **Use only these instructions**. Uncheck **Show in the Style picker** to keep a style out of the menu. ## Share actions and styles **Import…** reads a file, a drop, or a bundle you paste with `⌘V`, and shows what each item will do before anything is saved. It never doubles what you have. **Export yours…** writes your own actions and styles to a file; built-ins as shipped stay out of it. Actions and styles sync between your Macs with iCloud sync; see [Sync between your Macs](https://lonelyduck.io/docs/canto/sync).