Tana at a glance

Node

A node is the core unit of information in Tana. It can represent anything - an idea, task, note, or person - and can be linked, referenced, and nested within other nodes to form outlines.

Nodes give you the freedom to organize information in a flexible, non-linear way. Instead of being locked into folders or rigid hierarchies, you can build living knowledge systems that grow and adapt with your thinking.

References

A reference is a way to link to another node from anywhere in Tana. It mirrors the original node’s content and editing the node automatically updates the node in all locations.

References let users reuse information without duplication. This is powerful for connecting projects, ideas, or recurring tasks across contexts - ensuring consistency and saving time.

Supertags

A supertag adds structure and meaning to a node. It can include predefined fields and layouts, turning a plain note into a richly structured item like a meeting, task, or person. Supertags should be applied to categorize a note based on what is is, e.g. "Jane Jones (is a) #person". The #person supertag can then have fields for phone number, email, and other things you want to track on people you meet.

Supertags help users standardize and organize complex workflows. They enable powerful filtering, sorting, and automation - especially useful for project tracking, CRM, or managing content pipelines.

Fields

A field in Tana is a piece of structured data attached to a node. Fields can store text, dates, people, links, and more. Fields can be added anywhere using ">" or as part of a supertag's content template.

Fields turn your notes into mini databases. They make it easy to track status, assign responsibilities, or connect related data across your workspace in a way that’s both searchable and customizable.

Read more about nodes, supertags and fields.

Search nodes

A search node is one of Tana’s most unique features. It displays dynamic, live search results based on criteria you set and updates in real time as matching nodes are created or changed. You can also add nodes directly into a search node, and they will be created with the search criteria applied.

Search nodes let users build dashboards, smart views, and automated lists without manual sorting. This is ideal for surfacing tasks due today, open meeting notes, or all content related to a specific project. It also enables you to tag notes anywhere (e.g. a task inside meeting notes) and have them re-surface in your dashboard.

Views

A view in Tana is a way to visually arrange and display nodes within a search node or outline. Common views include tables, cards, and calendars. Navigation views, like tabs, allow you to build custom navigation for your workspace. You can simply switch views for any node in an instant.

Views help users see their data in the format that best fits the task. They can have custom filters, sorting, grouping and display options applied. Whether you need a grouped cards view for a workflow, a calendar for project planning, or a simple sorted list, views make your content actionable and digestible.

Today / Daily notes

Tana lets you start each day with a clean notepad, where you can plan your day, see meetings and organize tasks. These Daily notes are automatically generated nodes for each day, and actually live in a hierarchy of calendar nodes structured in weeks, months and years.

Calendar nodes provide a lightweight journal and timeline for notes, letting users capture notes, tasks, and links tied to a specific date. It’s a powerful way to track what happened when, reflect on your days, or manage date-based tasks.

Calendar integration

Tana can connect to your calendar to automatically sync events to your workspace. All events can then be displayed in an agenda on your Daily note, and can double as a place to block time for tasks. You can click into a meeting, like all nodes in Tana, to easily take notes on it or use the AI meeting notetaker to assist you.

Bringing your calendar into Tana lets you link events to notes, prep agendas, and capture meeting outcomes effortlessly - all in one place. It bridges planning and documentation in one connected space.

Tana meeting notetaker

Tana’s AI meeting notetaker lets you transcribe the conversation with one click (no bot in the call), and brings structured notes into your workspace.

It saves time and mental effort during meetings, helping you focus on the conversation while Tana captures the details. Follow-ups, decisions, and tasks are all easier to find and act on later. You can still take your own notes along with the automatic transcription and summary.

Mobile voice memos

Voice memos in the Tana Mobile apps let you capture thoughts or information using only your voice and get it structured in line with any of your Supertags. Tana transcribes and structures the memo automatically so you can think clearly and avoid the manual organization.

This is a fast, frictionless way to capture ideas on the go. Whether you're walking between meetings or processing thoughts during a commute, voice memos turn fleeting ideas into structured, searchable notes.

Live transcription (desktop)

Tana offers real-time live transcription that can be started anywhere to dictate instead of typing. Type / and select "Start live transcription" from the menu, and you'll see the transcription typed out in real-time. You can also make supertags and fields audio-enabled, which will give you mic button to easily start transcription on tagged items or in fields with one click. Live transcription of your microphone audio works both on web and the Tana Desktop app. On desktop, you can capture both your microphone and system audio (including audio from others e.g. in a call).

Instead of using separate tools for transcription, Tana offers an integrated way to rapidly capture ideas immediately when they arise, and allows you to use AI directly to transform the content into more polished, structured or shareable content.

Tana AI chat

Tana AI chat is a fast way to use different AI models inside Tana to help you brainstorm, summarize, rewrite, or query your content in natural language. Press space below any node to start an AI chat with that note as context. Type @ and pull in other nodes to include them in the context. Tana lets you select which model to use from OpenAI/ChatGPT, Anthropic/Claude and Google/Gemini.

Instead of switching tools or tabs, you can interact with your notes using AI right where your knowledge lives. It speeds up thinking, helps distill complexity, and turns scattered notes into clear next steps.

AI chat agents

Tana lets you build AI chat agents tailored to certain use cases or trained on specific content, to give you more relevant results in AI chat. Agents in Tana are built on AI command nodes, but can also be explored by downloading a Tana Template.

An example of an agent that can be built in Tana would be a "User research interview agent" that is trained on best practices for how to process interviews, and will analyze a transcript from a user interview and extract suggested action items for the product team.

Commands in command line

Tana’s command line is a quick-launch interface (opened with Cmd/Ctrl+K) that lets you perform nearly any action in Tana on a node or selecting of nodes. From creating search nodes with plain text and adding any of your supertags to running your custom commands. You can set your own keyboard shortcuts to speed up the actions you use the most.

It gives power users a fast and keyboard-friendly way to perform actions, stay in flow, and avoid repetitive clicks - perfect for those who like to work at speed.

Command nodes

Unique to Tana, a command node is a node that executes a predefined action or sequence of actions when triggered, often via the command line or a command button. Command nodes have customizable parameters and can be mixed and match flexibly together with filters and events that decide when the commands will run.

Command nodes let users automate repetitive tasks like creating project templates or structuring meeting notes. They can turn best practices into one-click workflows.

AI command nodes

AI command nodes combine the power of automation with Tana’s built-in AI. They can be configured to perform structured actions and can also generate or reformat content using AI, with custom prompts. Tana also offers advanced functionality to build AI commands that reference specific parts of your content as context for AI queries. There are several different AI commands, like autofill, Ask AI and text processing agent, each with parameters you can customize.

AI command nodes are like smart macros with AI built in. They’re perfect for drafting content, generating summaries, or filling in data, saving users time and cognitive load.

Workspaces

A workspace is your private or shared Tana environment, containing all your nodes, structures, and data. Supertags and Fields are tied to a workspace, but can be set up to work across workspaces, so you can draft something in your personal workspace before transferring it to a shared workspace. Tana always gives you a personal workspace as the foundation, and this cannot be shared.

Workspaces let you organize knowledge by context - personal, team, or project-based. They’re isolated, secure, and tailored to each user or group’s needs.

Input API

The Tana input API lets external tools or scripts send data into your Tana workspace programmatically. The Input API can be used to build powerful workflows together with tools like Make and Zapier.

It opens the door for powerful automations - from syncing data across systems to logging messages or metrics in real time. Developers and power users can integrate Tana into their workflows at scale.

Readwise integration

The Tana-Readwise integration pulls your highlights and notes from Readwise into Tana, turning them into structured, searchable nodes. This integration uses the Input API, which is part of the Tana Pro plan.

It turns passive reading into actionable knowledge. You can connect ideas from articles, books, and podcasts directly to your workflows, projects, or writing, or set up ways to resurface them on your daily page.

Tana templates

Tana offers an in-app template store that lets you install templates to any workspace. A template is a set of pre-configured supertags, fields and commands, so you can test a particular use case without having to learn how to build all of it yourself. When you install a templates you'll get an overview of the supertags included in the template and how to use them. Templates are free and can be installed into multiple workspaces allowing you to install and test in a sandbox workspace to experiment and learn.

Whether you’re starting a meeting note, new project, or weekly review, templates give you a ready-made structure so you can focus on the content. Tana offers templates that includes AI chat agents, supertags optimized for mobile voice memos, for use cases like investor meetings, hiring interviews, weekly reflection, OKRs, decisions and more.