> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.peernotes.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Thoughts: quickly capture private ideas in PeerNotes

> Thoughts are quick, private captures — ideas, observations, and reactions recorded the moment they happen, automatically organized into topics.

A **Thought** is the smallest unit of thinking in PeerNotes: an idea, observation, or reaction captured the moment it happens. Thoughts are quick by design — no title, no formatting decisions, no filing. You write down what's on your mind and get back to what you were doing.

Every insight starts as a fragment. Thoughts are how you record those fragments before they slip away — and PeerNotes organizes them into topics for you, so capturing stays effortless.

## Capture a thought

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Thoughts feed">
    Select **Thoughts** in the sidebar. The capture box sits at the top of your feed, ready to type into — just click **What's on your mind?**
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write what you're thinking">
    A thought can be a single line or a few paragraphs. Don't polish it — the point is to get the idea down while it's fresh.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Attach a source (optional)">
    If your thought is a reaction to something you read or saw, attach the source. Type in the capture box or use the attach button to link an existing source or upload a new file. See [Sources](/core-concepts/sources).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a topic (optional)">
    You can tag a thought with a topic as you capture it — or leave it alone and let the PeerNotes agent cluster it into the right topic automatically.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Capture first, organize never. The agent continuously groups your thoughts into [Topics](/core-concepts/topics) as you go, so you never have to stop and file anything.
</Tip>

## Your thoughts timeline

Thoughts appear in a timeline, grouped by the day you captured them, with the most recent at the top. From the timeline you can:

* **Filter by topic** — open the **Topics** panel to see your thoughts clustered by theme, or filter the feed down to one or more topics.
* **Search** — find any thought by its content.
* **View attached sources** — click a source chip on a thought to open the original document or link in the viewer.
* **Edit or delete** — every thought stays editable after capture.

## Thoughts are private

Your thoughts are yours alone. Teammates in your workspace never see them — they only see the [Notes](/core-concepts/notes) and [Articles](/core-concepts/articles) you choose to develop and share. This makes thoughts a safe space for half-formed ideas, hot takes, and honest reactions.

## Turn thoughts into a note

When a few thoughts start pointing at the same idea, compile them into a note:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Select the thoughts">
    In the Thoughts feed, select each thought you want to include. A floating bar appears at the bottom of the screen showing how many you've picked.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Convert to Note">
    Select **Convert to Note** in the floating bar. PeerNotes opens a new note pre-populated with your selected thoughts — ready to structure, expand, and refine.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Card title="Next: Notes" icon="file-lines" href="/core-concepts/notes">
  Notes are where raw thoughts become structured ideas. Learn how to develop and collaborate on them.
</Card>