Snippets

A snippet is a reusable piece of text you trigger by name, so you stop retyping the same instruction or boilerplate every time. Where a memory is a note the agent can find on its own, a snippet is text you reach for deliberately: a standing instruction, a template, a chunk of context you paste often. If you find yourself typing the same thing into the bar again and again, it should be a snippet.

Using a snippet

Type a trigger symbol in the input bar and start typing a snippet’s name. Loca suggests matches as you go, so you do not have to remember the exact name; pick one to drop its text in.

A snippet is triggered by one of three symbols, #, @, or /, and each opens its own autocomplete list in the bar. The symbol is your choice when you create the snippet, but Loca recommends one based on what the snippet does: # for text inserted into your message, / for snippets that stand in as a command, and @ for ones that feed the system prompt. Memories share the @ list, so naming a snippet with @ puts it right alongside the notes the agent can find on its own.

It keeps your hands on the keyboard, which is the point: a snippet is only a shortcut if reaching for it is faster than retyping.

What a snippet can do

A snippet is not always just inserted text. Depending on how you define it, it can add its text to your message, replace the message entirely, or feed into the system prompt for the turn. That last form is powerful: a snippet can reshape how the agent behaves for one message without changing your standing system prompt.

Managing snippets

Create and edit snippets under Snippets in Settings. Unlike a memory, which lives on the Core, a snippet is kept by the Client, so your snippets travel with this app to whichever Core it pairs with. Each is stored as a file, which has a practical upside: sharing a snippet is as simple as copying its file to someone else, and your snippets are plain files you can back up or version like anything else.

How It Works

A snippet never reaches the Core as a snippet. Because it is the Client that owns the input bar, all of the work happens there: the Client keeps your snippets as files, matches names against what you type after a trigger symbol, and, when you pick one, substitutes its text into the message before anything is sent. The three forms are three places that text can land, the message body, a full replacement of it, or the system prompt for that one turn. By the time the Core sees the request, a snippet has already become ordinary text, which is exactly why snippets live with the Client and follow it from one Core to the next.

With your knowledge in place, the next chapter is making Loca your own: General.