Interactive citations

Interactive citations are Lunar's signature feature: they let you dig into any term or passage without breaking the flow of the explanation — and without opening a second tab.

Two ways to cite

1. Click a highlighted term. While Lunar explains something, key terms appear highlighted inline in the response. Click one and a side panel opens with a contextual definition of that concept in your current conversation — not a generic dictionary entry.

2. Select any text. Select a passage of any response and a menu appears with three options:

• Ask in a microchat — opens a focused side conversation anchored to that quote.
• Ask in this chat — asks about the passage in the main conversation, keeping the thread in one place.
• Create citation — turns the passage into a highlighted citation in the message and saves it so you can come back to it later.

The quote travels with your question

With either "Ask in a microchat" or "Ask in this chat", your quote goes with the question automatically:

• A compact "Selected text" chip appears on the input — hover it to see the full quoted passage.
• When you send, the quote stays attached to your message, so both you and Lunar can see exactly which fragment you are referring to.

You never have to re-paste, re-quote or re-explain what you were asking about. In a microchat, the quoted fragment also anchors the very first question as its starting context.

The citation side panel

The panel is not just for reading. Inside it you can:

• Read the contextual definition of the term in this conversation.
• Ask follow-up questions right there — dig into the concept for several turns.
• Return to the original explanation exactly where you left it.

Citations appear selectively (roughly one or two per paragraph), so a highlighted term is usually worth your attention.

[!TIP] If a highlighted term is still unclear after the panel opens, ask a follow-up inside the panel — that is exactly what it is for.

Why it matters

Citations are the bridge between the conversation layer and the study layer. Instead of interrupting a good explanation to look a term up elsewhere, you resolve the doubt in one click and keep momentum. And when a citation grows into something worth exploring at length, it can become a microchat — a dedicated side conversation with its own context (see Microchats).

[!IMPORTANT] Citations resolve on demand, so they need a connection. If a citation does not load, check your network and reopen the term.