Extraction

Extraction, or atomify, is Atomus's optional AI path. You write plain text, ask Atomus to atomify a line, and it writes atoms for that line into your note.

It's the opposite of ==. With ==, you decide the structure. With atomify, AI proposes it and you edit or delete what you don't want.

Atomify needs an AI provider: OpenAI or Anthropic with your own key, or Ollama running locally. Without one, everything else in Atomus works the same.

When to use it

Most short facts don't need AI. A definition or a quick fact is faster to write as front == back yourself.

Atomify pays off when:

• A line holds several ideas that could become separate atoms
• You're learning vocabulary and want example sentences or cloze gaps
• You pasted a chunk of an article and want atoms from it

How it works

1. Put the cursor on a line of text in the editor.
2. Press ⌥ A, or click the atomify button next to the line.
3. Atomus sends that line, plus nearby headings and a few existing atoms for context, to your AI provider.
4. The new atoms appear indented under the line, as plain Markdown.

The atoms are ordinary text in your note. Edit one and the change sticks. Delete one and it leaves the review queue. You can change the shortcut in Settings → Shortcuts → Atomify line.

What works best

Atomify works best on dense, factual text: claims, definitions, cause and effect, relationships between named things. It struggles with opinions or fragments that only make sense with surrounding context.

If you keep editing the same kind of suggestion, write the atom directly with ==. The AI is a shortcut, not a requirement.