Research outputs

A research output is a piece of writing that Pangur keeps for you as a document: a summary of a work, a literature review, a saved answer from Ask, an outline or a note. Outputs are listed in Research. Each one has a kind, a status (draft or final) and a history of versions, and it can list the works it drew on. The drafts you write in Plan and Write are documents too, of the kind note; how the two relate is set out in Drafts, sections and versions.

Outputs come from three places. You save an answer or a summary from Ask. An assistant connected over MCP creates a document and adds versions to it. Or you write one by hand in Research itself.

The Research listCopy Anchor Link

Research in the main navigation lists your outputs in the current project. Search research… matches words in the title, and every word must appear, in any case. Filter by kind narrows the list to Summaries, Reviews, Answers, Outlines or Notes, where notes include your drafts.

Each row shows the title, whether the output is still a draft, the number of sources it lists, whether it was written by an assistant, and how long ago it was written. The list shows 25 at a time and says how many of the total are showing. Archived outputs are not listed. If the project has no outputs yet, the list suggests saving an answer from Ask or writing a note.

Writing an output by handCopy Anchor Link

1. In Research, choose Write one.
2. In New output, give a Title, or leave it blank to take the title from the first heading.
3. Choose the Kind. Summary is the default.
4. Write the text in Markdown. Preview shows it formatted, and Write returns to the text.
5. Choose Save.

If there is no title and no heading, Pangur uses the first 60 characters of the text, and failing that the kind's name. An output must have some text, and Pangur refuses to save an empty one.

An output's pageCopy Anchor Link

Opening an output shows its page. The labels at the top give its kind, whether it is still a draft, whether it was written by an assistant or written here, when, and with which model. The page offers Revise, to edit the Markdown and save it as the next version, Mark final and Back to draft to change the status, File a note in the library, Download as Word, Delete, a History of versions marking the one on screen, and Sources, which lists the works the output cites, each with its page reference and quotation.

The page's address ends with a short form of the title, but only the identifier before it matters, so the link keeps working if the title changes.

Revising and versionsCopy Anchor Link

Revise opens the text for editing, and saving your changes adds the next version. Pangur keeps every earlier version unchanged. To read an earlier one, choose it in History; the page then says which version of how many you are reading and offers Back to the current version.

A draft that has been opened in Plan or Write is the exception. Its text in Write is its sections, and a version added here with Revise is kept in its history but does not change what Write shows, so drafts should be edited in Write.

Marking an output finalCopy Anchor Link

Mark final records that the output is finished, and Back to draft reverses it. The status is shown on the output's page and in the Research list.

Filing an output in the libraryCopy Anchor Link

Filing puts a rendered copy of an output into your library as a note, so that it sits beside the works and can be found in library search. Choose File a note in the library, and the page confirms when it is filed.

The note is tagged zcp:document and with the output's identifier. It begins with a line saying that Pangur generated it, on what date, and that edits made to the note are not saved back, and it links to the output's page.

Outputs created from Ask or by an assistant are filed automatically. Drafts started in Plan or Write, and versions saved in Write, are not.

After an output has been filed, each new version updates the note. If someone edits the note by hand in the library, Pangur stops updating it, so that the edit is not overwritten, and the output's page says so. Replace the filed note overwrites it with the current version.

Filing is attempted alongside the save and never puts the output at risk: if filing fails, the output is still saved.

Downloading as WordCopy Anchor Link

Download as Word makes a .docx file of the output. For a draft that you write in sections, the file is made from the sections as they stand now rather than from the last saved version, and sections left out of the draft are skipped.

Pangur's server converts the Markdown with Pandoc, and some things change on the way. Footnotes become superscript numbers in brackets, such as [1], with their text in a "Notes" section at the end, rather than Word's own footnotes. Images are replaced by their alternative text. Citation links to your library become plain text, keeping their label, while links to web addresses stay links. Raw HTML is dropped, and figures are written out as code blocks.

If the conversion fails, Pangur says so and gives the reason. From the command line, pangur docs export ID writes the same Word file and --format md writes Markdown instead.

Deleting an outputCopy Anchor Link

Delete asks you to confirm and then removes every version. If the output was filed, the note in your library stays; otherwise nothing of the output remains, and the deletion cannot be undone. Deleting is available in the web app and the command line. Assistants cannot delete or edit an output.

Outputs from assistants and the command lineCopy Anchor Link

An assistant connected over MCP can list, read and create documents and add versions to them, with the tools list_documents, get_document, create_document and append_to_document. A document an assistant creates is a summary unless the assistant says otherwise, is labelled as written by an assistant, and is filed in the library. The assistant can list the works it drew on, each with a page reference and a short quotation, and it receives a link to the output's page, which opens for you once you are signed in. Assistants cannot change or delete an existing version, or touch a draft's sections. The tools are listed in MCP tools.

The command line has pangur docs list, show, new, append and export. pangur docs new TITLE --from FILE creates a note from a file, or from standard input with --from -. See the command-line reference.

Who can see an outputCopy Anchor Link

Outputs belong to the person who made them, in the project they were made in. Other members of a shared or organisation project do not see your outputs, even when they can see everything in the library. A filed note, however, is an ordinary library note, so anyone who can read the project's library can read it.