References & Chips

A Reference is a pointer, inside a Card's text, to something else in Lino — another Card, a Link, an Image, a Sketch, a Table, a Spark, or a file on your computer. Write "see [Photosynthesis]" and the word is the Card: click it to open it, and Lino draws a Connection between the two Cards for you.

A Reference shows up in one of two forms:

	Reference chip	Reference block
Looks like	A small inline pill inside a sentence	A whole block that shows the object itself
Good for	Mentioning something in passing	Showing a Card's text, a picture, a Link preview right in the body
Works for	Card, Link, Image, Sketch, Table, Spark, local file	Card, Link, Image, Sketch, Spark (not Tables)

You can switch any Reference between the two forms at any time.

Insert a Reference with `@`

Double-click the Card to edit it, and put the cursor where the Reference should go.
Type @. A search panel opens.
Keep typing to search, use ↑ ↓ to move, and press ↵ (or click) to insert.

The panel searches your people, Concept Cards, Plain Cards, Links, Images, Sketches, Tables and Sparks. With nothing typed it lists what you changed most recently. Images and Sketches go in as blocks on their own line; everything else goes in as a chip.

Create something new from the panel

A new Concept Card — type a name that doesn't exist yet. The top row shows your text with Create new concept card under it. Pick it, and Lino creates the Concept Card next to the current one on the Canvas and inserts a chip to it.
A new Link — type or paste a web address. Pick Add new link: … and Lino creates the Link and inserts a chip.

Narrow the search with a filter

Type a filter word right after @ and then a space — e.g. @link — or click one of the filter pills shown under Try @ [Command] + Space → Quick Actions:.

Filter	Searches	Inserts
`@concept`	Concept Cards (or create one)	Chip
`@card`	All Cards	Chip
`@link`	Links, or a new web address	Chip
`@people`	People	Person chip
`@path`	Files in the folder bound to this Canvas (only shown when the Canvas has one)	File chip
`@wiki`	Wikipedia	Link chip to the article
`@wikimedia`	Wikimedia Commons pictures	Image block
`@emoji`	Emoji	The emoji as text

Plurals and synonyms work too: @cards, @links, @person, @file, @wikipedia, @commons.

Other ways to make a Reference

Paste a web address. Any http:// or https:// address typed or pasted into a Card becomes a Link chip, and its words change to the page title once Lino has fetched it.
Copy as a reference. Right-click any object on the Canvas or in the Artifacts Gallery and choose Copy as a reference ("Then paste into a Card or Table"). Paste it into a Card body.
Select text, then use the toolbar. With some words selected:
- Link chip turns the words into a Link chip and asks for its address.
- Link to (tooltip Link to existing concept) appears when the words match an existing Concept. It marks the words and opens the same picker as a recognized name.
- When no Concept matches, the button shows the selected words (tooltip Convert to new Concept Card). It creates a Concept Card with that name next to this Card and turns the words into a chip to it.
- For a long or multi-line selection, the button is Extract (tooltip Extract to new Card) instead — it moves the text into a new Card. See Editor.
Drag from the Files tab or the Browser. A passage dragged from a book in Files lands as a quote plus a file chip named "Book · Chapter"; clicking the chip opens the book at that spot. Text dragged from the Browser lands as a quote plus a Link chip to the page.

Link recognized Concept names

When a word in a Card matches a Concept or an Alias, Lino draws a dashed outline around it. This only happens while you are reading the Card, not while you are typing in it, and the outline is not saved — it is only a suggestion.

Click the outlined word. A small toolbar opens with the matching Concept Card, e.g. Apple (fruit).
If several Cards share the name (different Variables), use ‹ › or the N more… menu to pick the right one, or Add variable to create a new Card under a new Variable.
Click the cable button, Create & Link to. The word becomes a chip to that Card.

What you can do with a Reference

Click a chip — or, on a block, hover and click the More button (⋮) in its top-right corner — to open the Reference toolbar:

Button	What it does
Edit words	Change the text the chip shows. On a Concept Card chip this is a menu of the Concept and its Aliases — a Concept Card chip can only show one of its names.
Edit address / Edit path	Link and file chips only: change the web address or file path.
Remove	Delete the Reference.
Turn back into text	Keep the words, drop the link.
Add to Canvas / Show in Canvas	Place the object on the current Canvas, or jump to it if it's already there.
Turn into a block / Turn into a chip	Switch the form.
Open in Right Panel	Open the object in the Right Panel. A Canvas chip shows Open Canvas instead.

Some types add their own buttons: pictures get Align left / Align middle / Align right, Copy as PNG and Download; a Card block gets Copy as Markdown; a Spark gets Remix with AI and Modify with AI; a file chip's More menu has Copy path, Show in Finder, and Open with default app.

Blocks

A Card block shows the other Card's text, read-only. Drag the grip at its bottom (Resize height) to make it taller or shorter.
An Image or Sketch block is a picture with a caption (its words). Choose its width and alignment from the toolbar. A Chart Sketch stays interactive.
A Link or Spark block is a preview tile.

Editing around chips

A chip behaves like one character: the first ⌫ selects it, the second deletes it.
Typing at the edge of a Concept Card chip types outside it. Editing letters in the middle of one turns it back into plain text.

When the target is gone

If you delete the object a Reference points to — or a referenced file is missing on this computer — the chip turns grey and says (gone). Its toolbar offers only Remove ("Remove this reference").

References create Connections

Every Reference in a Card creates a Connection from that Card to the object, with the Relationship embeds (seen from the other side: embedded in). It is drawn as a dashed one-way line.

The first Reference to an object adds the Connection; removing the last one (deleting it or turning it back into text) removes it. Ten chips to the same Card still make one Connection.
The Card's text owns this Connection, so you can't rename, re-aim or disconnect it on the Canvas — edit the text instead.
References to local files, and a Card referring to itself, make no Connection.
You can still draw your own Connection between the same two objects; the two coexist.

To hide the "embeds" labels on these lines, open Canvas Settings and set Connection Labels to Hide Default. See Connection.

Dates and people in text

Dates and people are chips too, and they matter most inside to-do items.

Insert a date: type / and pick Date, Today, Tomorrow or Yesterday (under Date & Time). Date and Today both insert today's date.
Insert a person: type / and pick Person (under People), or type @people and choose. Today the people are you and Lino AI.
Change one: while editing, click the chip. The date picker has All-day, Clear (removes the chip) and No date; the person picker searches people, and removing the person removes the chip.

Dates show short — Sep 27, with the year only when it isn't this year. Inside a to-do item, the first date is the task's due date and a person chip is who it's for, and the task shows up in Schedule. See To-dos & Tasks.