MeetingDebrief

Summarization and templates

Generating summaries with built-in and custom templates

How summarization works

MeetingDebrief generates summaries using a local language model. The model reads your transcript and produces a structured summary based on the selected template. All processing happens on your device.

Generating a summary

After a session has been transcribed, click the summarize button and select a template. If auto-summarize is enabled in Settings, a summary is generated automatically after transcription completes using your default template.

You can generate multiple summaries per session using different templates.

Built-in templates

MeetingDebrief includes several built-in templates:

  • General: a broad overview of the meeting covering key topics, decisions, and outcomes.
  • Minutes: formal meeting minutes with attendees, agenda items, and action items.
  • Action items: a focused list of tasks, owners, and deadlines discussed in the meeting.
  • Quick notes: a brief, high-level summary of the main points.

Custom templates

Create your own templates to match your workflow. Go to Settings and open the summary templates section. Click Add template to create a new one.

A template is a prompt that instructs the language model how to summarize the transcript. Use the {transcript} placeholder in your prompt to indicate where the transcript content should be inserted.

Example custom template:

Summarize the following meeting transcript into a list of key decisions and next steps. Focus on deadlines and assigned owners. {transcript}

Summary language

By default, MeetingDebrief generates summaries in the language detected from the transcript. You can override this by setting a specific Summary language in the models section of Settings. When set, all summaries and session titles are generated in the chosen language regardless of what language was spoken.

GPU-accelerated summarization

On Windows with an NVIDIA CUDA-compatible GPU, summarization can use GPU acceleration for faster results. This is enabled automatically when the CUDA worker is installed. See the transcription page for details on GPU setup.

Editing and deleting templates

In the summary templates section of Settings, click a template to edit its name or prompt. Click the delete button to remove a custom template. Built-in templates cannot be deleted.