Keeping track of what you are researching

1. The name as written. Record the exact name used in the study or search result, including any variant. One name can point to different things in different papers, and a saved name is what later searches can match.
2. The question that drew you to it. One short line on what you wanted to know. This stops a list from becoming a pile of names.
3. Who or what was studied. Note whether the evidence came from cells, animals, or people, and how many participants there were if the study says. This is the first filter for how much weight a finding can carry.
4. What was given, and how. Note the amount, the route (how it was given, such as by injection or by mouth), and the timing the study reported. This describes the study. It is not a plan for anyone.
5. What the study found. One line in your own words. If the study measured something other than what you care about, say so in the same line.
6. Where it came from. The journal or database entry, the year, and a link. This lets you go back to the original claim later.

A long chat mixes questions, answers, corrections, and detours. A separate record stays clean enough to search, and it keeps finished reading from cluttering new questions. Before you settle on a tool, ask three things:

• Does it keep each compound as its own entry?
• Can it set an entry aside without erasing its history?
• Will later answers actually read the saved list?

A tool that passes all three can serve as a research log. A notes app passes the first two. Only a tool that answers questions can pass the third.

ChatPEP keeps a list for this called My Stack: the compounds and blends you are researching, saved to your account ¹. Only the name is required to add an item ¹. Items sit under Running, Planned, Paused, or Stopped, and Stop keeps an item under Stopped as history rather than deleting it ¹. To add one, select My Stack in the sidebar on the web, or open the menu on iPhone and tap My Stack, then select the plus at the top ¹.

My Stack holds the list, not the six facts in full. Keep the longer notes in whatever document you already use, and let My Stack hold the names ChatPEP reads.

When you tell ChatPEP in a chat that you have started or stopped a compound, it can add it to My Stack or move it to Stopped ². The change shows as a checked step above the answer, with an Undo button at its end ². Items the chat adds carry a From chat label ¹. A question about a compound, or a hypothetical, changes nothing ².

Answers use the items under Running, Planned, and Paused ¹. ChatPEP treats them as background, to judge what is relevant and how to pitch an answer, rather than something to repeat back ³. Items under Stopped are kept for your reference only ¹. Interaction warnings check a compound you ask about against what is in My Stack, and against the medications and conditions in your profile ⁴. A warning describes what is known about a pair. It is not a judgment about you ⁴.

• People who want a recommendation rather than a record. An item in My Stack is not a recommendation to use it ¹.
• People who keep every question in a temporary chat. Answers in a temporary chat do not use or change My Stack ¹.
• People who want notes no system reads. My Stack is private to your account and left out of shared links, but ChatPEP reads it to shape answers and warnings ¹.
• People who want the record kept after they leave. My Stack is deleted 365 days after you delete your account ¹.
• People who want the record to stand in for medical judgment. Talk to a doctor or a pharmacist before combining anything with a medication you take ⁴.