Features
Everything Moss can do
Overview
Moss is a local-first markdown editor designed for the AI era. This page is the product overview: use it to understand what Moss can do.
Using Moss with Agents
There are two ways to use Moss with agents:
- Moss Agent: the built-in Moss Agent for working across notes in the editor.
- Coding agents: Read and write Moss notes with any coding agent outside of Moss, such as Codex, Gemini, and more.
Built-in Moss Agent
Every note comes with its own AI agent, powered by Claude Code. Use it when you want to draft, research, reorganize, review, or leave comments without leaving the editor.
To use the Moss Agent, you need the Claude Code CLI installed and signed in on your computer. For the step-by-step setup flow, see Set Up Moss Agent. For details on how Moss handles Claude Code credentials, see the security overview. If the agent is not working as expected, see Troubleshoot Claude Code.
- Press ⌘K to open Actions, describe what you want, and press ⌘Enter to submit.
- Select text before pressing ⌘K to include your selected text as context for the Moss Agent.
- Type
@in Actions to reference other notes and folders either inside or outside of Moss. - Upload images as context for the agent in Actions.
- Press the layout icon to get the Moss Agent to generate embedded HTML.
Action timeline
Every interaction with the Moss Agent stays attached to the note. Open the Actions panel to see your full history of agent interactions.
Moss & Coding Agents
Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other coding agents can create and edit Moss notes just like any other file on your computer. Click the Share with Agent button in the top nav to hand off your current note and tell your agent how to edit it.
Moss ships skills that document how to read and write Moss notes and comments with the right structure. Moss deploys these skills to ~/Moss/.moss/skills/ and sends them to agents when you use the Share with Agent button.
To install Moss Skills permanently so they are automatically loaded into context when working with coding agents, install them from the public Moss Skills repository.
$ codex "Address all of my comments and apply them to this spec ~/Moss/Notes/Product/Checkout Settings Spec.md"
› opening spec
› loading Moss skills from ~/Moss/.moss/skills
› found 6 comments across acceptance criteria, prototype behavior, and open questions
✓ updated criteria to match the embedded HTML prototype
✓ folded comment decisions into the spec body
Comments
Comments turn exact passages into review threads and agent instructions. Use them when feedback needs to stay attached to the sentence, table row, prototype, or section it refers to.
Select text and press ⌘⇧A or click the comment button in the floating toolbar. Comments show up as highlights. Open one to edit it, delete it, or send that exact instruction to the Moss Agent.
The experiment yielded a statistically significant result across all test groups, suggesting the new approach outperforms the baseline by a meaningful margin.
Can we add the p-value here?
Today · 2:30 PM
Review together
Leave comments for yourself or collaborators when you want the discussion to stay tied to a specific part of the note.
Hand off to agents
Ask the Moss Agent or a coding agent to “address all my comments.” The agent can work through the marked spots instead of guessing what needs attention.
Interactive Content
Moss has all of the basic editing you would expect from a rich text editor.
This text is bold, this is italic, and this is strikethrough. You can also underline or mark something as inline code.
Highlight important passages with a single shortcut.
Use interactive content when a note needs more than prose: live calculations, color references, diagrams, prototypes, charts, images, or videos that should stay next to the thinking they support.
Formulas and Variables
Formulas and variables let values in a note stay connected. Use formulas for live calculations, name important values with variables, and reference variables from other variables so one change updates the system around it. Type /formula or /variable to start.
1. Inline formulas
Type = followed by a math expression. Press Space or Enter to evaluate. Moss displays the result inline.
2. Named variables
Give a value a name by typing name=expression. The name must start with a letter and can contain letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores. The variable name appears in the tooltip, and named variables can be referenced elsewhere, including inside other variables.
3. Symbolic variables
Variables can also be symbolic — labels that aren't math. Type something like timeline=6 weeks and Moss keeps the value you typed instead of trying to evaluate it. Useful for status, durations, owners, or any short label that belongs next to the rest of your numbers.
4. References
Inside any formula, type the name of another named variable to reference its value. A typeahead menu appears after operators (+, -, *, /, () showing available names with their current values. Use arrow keys and Enter to select. Executable and symbolic variables both surface in the typeahead, and references work across notes.
Hover a formula or variable to see its details
TOTAL
$141,700
= q1 + q2 + q3
TIMELINE
6 weeks
$52,727
= total / 3 * 1.115
Formats are inferred automatically: $ prefix for currency, % suffix for percent, decimals for division. Click any formula or variable to edit it. Press Backspace to convert it back to text.
Formulas work anywhere, including table cells
| Token | Size | Line height | Relationship |
|---|---|---|---|
| H1 | 28 | 36 | Anchor values |
| H2 | 22 | 28 | h2_size=h1_size-6 |
| H3 | 18 | 26 | h3_size=h2_size-4 |
| Body | 15 | 23 | body_line_height=body_size+8 |
The H1 row sets anchor variables like h1_size=28. Later variables reference earlier variables, such as h2_size=h1_size-6 and h3_size=h2_size-4, so changing the anchor updates the rest of the system.
Color Picker & Color Previews
Open the picker from the slash menu with /color, or start typing a supported color value: # for HEX, rgb( / rgba(, or hsl( / hsla(. Moss opens the picker as you type, inserts the color as a compact preview pill, and lets you click the pill later to adjust the value.
Canvas
Canvas is for rough thinking on the page: wireframes, flows, diagrams, and annotations that belong next to the writing they support.
Type /canvas to drop in a canvas. Keep it loose, keep it in the doc, and keep moving. It works well for rough UI layouts when you want the canvas and the spec to stay in the same place.
Embedded HTML
When markdown alone isn't enough, you can embed HTML for live dashboards, interactive UI prototypes, or data visualizations. Use /html to insert an HTML code block, press the layout icon in Actions to ask the Moss Agent to generate embedded HTML, or ask your coding agent to add embedded HTML where the document needs interactive examples once it has read Moss Skills.
Moss shows a preview of the rendered HTML in the editor. Click it to activate the preview inline, or expand it into a full-size view.
Charts
Turn numbers into visuals that sit beside the analysis they support: trends, comparisons, and breakdowns stay close to the reasoning.
Insert a chart by typing /chart, then edit the data inline. Alternatively, ask an agent to generate charts for you. Supported chart types: bar, line, area, and stacked bar.
Images and Video
Add visual context where the writing needs it: screenshots next to product notes, diagrams beside specs, GIFs for UI motion, recordings for bug reports, or a YouTube reference in research.
Insert media with /media, choose a file or URL, paste from the clipboard, or drag from Finder. Moss supports PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP, SVG, local MP4/WebM/MOV files, HTTPS image URLs, and YouTube links.
Workspace
Use these features to connect Moss to the files, folders, links, and navigation patterns that make a workspace useful over time.
Connected Folders
A lot of what you write about lives outside your notes: codebases, research archives, project files. Connected folders let the agent read from those sources when you need it to, so your notes can reference real material without you having to copy anything in.
From Settings, you can grant the Moss agent read access to any folder on your computer: a codebase, research archive, or project directory. After granting access, type @ in Actions to mention Connected Folders, and the agent reads them on demand.
Access model
Moss does not continuously scan connected folders, and agent access is read-only. Moss keeps folder listings available so you can browse and @ mention files, then the agent reads only the files you point it to. It cannot modify anything in connected folders.
Codebases and project directories
Link a repo and the agent can browse its files when you mention them. Ask it to explain how something works, find patterns across your code, review Claude Code plans, or draft documentation grounded in what's already there.
External Folders
If you already have markdown files somewhere (an Obsidian vault, a directory of project docs, a research collection), just open that folder in Moss. You get the full editor on files that stay exactly where they are. Nothing gets imported, copied, or converted. Edits save back to the original.
Full editor support
Open any markdown file from an external folder and edit it with the full Moss editor, including charts, formulas, canvas, and comments. Changes write back to the original file on your computer.
Obsidian vaults
Open your Obsidian vault in Moss and work with your notes in a rich editor. Your vault stays exactly as it is.
Wiki Links
Link any note to any other note to build a map of how your ideas connect. When you hover over a link, you see a preview of the note so you can decide whether to jump there without losing your place.
Type [[ to search and link to any note, or use /link. You can also copy a note link from the top nav and paste it into another note; Moss inserts it as a wiki link. Add # to jump to a specific heading within a note.
Click a wiki link to navigate. Right-click one to open the linked note in a new Moss window or split view.
See Project Overview for background, or jump to Meeting Notes › Action Items.
Hover a link to preview the note
Project Overview
Split View & Windows
Open two notes side by side when you need context while you write: compare research with a spec, keep meeting notes next to action items, or follow a Wiki Linkwithout leaving the current note. Right-click a note in the sidebar, or any Wiki Link in the editor, and choose “Open in Split Tab.”
Each side keeps its own history, so you can follow links, go back, and compare notes without losing your place in the other pane. When you need more space, choose File → New Window or press ⌘⇧N to open another Moss window.
Auto Properties
Note Intelligence is an optional setting that lets Moss analyze note content to suggest tags and links. Turn it on or off from Settings → Note Intelligence. When enabled, Moss automatically adds tags to your notes so they start organized without a separate cleanup pass. You can still edit or remove any tag by hand.
Tags also make the workspace easier to navigate. Click a tag like a person, tool, framework, or project to pull up related notes.
The same tags that help organize a note also become handles for moving around the rest of the workspace.
Suggested Links
Suggested Links is a lightweight nudge toward notes that probably belong together. Moss scores nearby notes using folder context, title overlap, and tags from the current note when they point to similar topics in other note titles.
Suggestions only show notes you haven't already linked, and external system notes stay out of the list.
Sidebar & Navigation
Use the left panel to keep important notes close, control how the note list is sorted, and check quick details without opening another view.
Pinned Notes
Pin your most important notes to the top of the sidebar so they're always one click away. Pinned notes from nested folders show a breadcrumb so you know where they live.
In the left panel, either right-click a note, or click the pin icon when hovering a note, to pin or unpin. Pinned notes appear in a collapsible section at the top of the notes list, sorted by when they were pinned.
Sort & organize
Sort notes by Recent or A–Z, then reverse the direction from the same sort control. Folders use the selected sort mode independently from notes.
Note stats
Open the note menu to check word count, character count, reading time, image count, and last edited date without leaving the note.
Structured Content
Use structured content when a note needs shape: slash commands to add blocks, headings and lists to organize, tables to compare, callouts to flag what matters, and code blocks to preserve technical details.
Slash Commands
Type / to open the Slash Command menu. All of the editing features in this section are available there, along with quick inserts like /date, /day, /month, and /emoji.
/Headings
Four levels. Type #, ##, ###, or #### at the start of a line, or use the heading menu in the toolbar.
Project Overview
Research Phase
Key Findings
Lists
Bullet lists, numbered lists, and checklists. Use markdown list syntax, toggle a checklist with ⌘⇧C, and indent with Tab.
Bullet list
- Research methodology
- Data collection
- Primary sources
- Secondary sources
- Analysis
Numbered list
- Define hypothesis
- Gather data
- Analyze results
- Write conclusion
Checklist
Dividers
Type --- on its own line to insert a horizontal rule.
Quotes
Use quotes for notes, pull quotes, and commentary that should stand apart from the rest of the text.
Quote
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
— Steve Jobs
Callouts
Type /callout to insert an attention block. Moss supports info, warning, and priority callouts for notes that should stand out from the rest of the page. Use the menu in the callout header to change the type, and if you choose Priority, you can also set the level.
Tabs
Tabs keep related material together without making the page hard to scan. Type /tabs to create a group. Each tab gets its own editor, so you can separate sections like research, decisions, examples, and implementation notes.
Rename tabs from the tab menu or by double-clicking the label. You can also keep only the active tab or delete it when the group has served its purpose.
Code Blocks
Code blocks preserve syntax highlighting, language labels, themes, and line numbers inside the editor. Type /code to insert one, then choose the language and theme.
Tables
Type /table to insert a grid with a header row. Tab moves between cells. Add or remove rows and columns from the toolbar that appears when a cell is selected.
| Feature | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rich text editing | Shipped | Bold, italic, highlights, links |
| Inline formulas | Shipped | Named references, cross-note |
| Charts | Shipped | Bar, line, area, stacked bar |
| Comments | Shipped | Inline feedback, agent handoff |