Writing Studio

For novelists: editor, AI Coach, version history, motivation system

First-time setup

• 01 First launch: sign in, consent, and landing on your bookshelf The first time you open Slima you see a start screen, not the editor. This covers the start screen, Google sign-in vs Start without account, consent, and where you land after signing in.
• 02 Pick your Studio: Writing / Script / AI Beta Reader Slima has three Studios: Writing, Script, and AI Beta Reader. This explains what each is for, how to switch any time from the top-left Slima logo, and what's shared vs Studio-specific.
• 03 Set up your writing habit: the 4-step wizard On the Writing Studio bookshelf, the motivation card's "Set Up My Writing Habit" button runs a 4-step wizard: pick a writer identity, commit to writing daily, set a habit cue, and plant your writing seed. Step by step.
• 04 Guided tours: auto-walkthroughs on first entry, replayable any time The first time you open each Slima screen, a step-by-step tour highlights its regions. Skip or replay any of them from the Tutorial Center at the bottom of Account → Preferences.

</ul>

Book list

• 01 Book list overview: My Works / Archive / Trash The My Works page breakdown: most-recent book bar / motivation widget / My Works · Archive · Trash tabs / book cards / card vs list view toggle.
• 02 Studio Switcher: hop between Writing / Script / Beta Reader Click the top-left Slima logo to open the Studio Switcher popup with 3 options. Switching is instant, books stay in their Studio, you can keep multiple Studios open in separate tabs.
• 03 Motivation card: the dashboard at the top-right of your shelf The compact widget shows totals / streak / slime; click to open Your Writing Tree detail (tree stage + encouragement + quote + today's words/streak + Getting Started 6-step progress).
• 04 Daily quest + Getting Started (from the bookshelf) Approach the two quest types from the bookshelf motivation widget: daily quest (1 task, hit daily word goal) + Getting Started (6-step onboarding). Deep dive lives in the motivation series.
• 05 The shelf trial banner + mobile auto-resume A single multi-state trial banner at the top of the shelf: start a trial, trial countdown, or upgrade prompt after the trial ends. Mobile auto-resumes to your last chapter.

</ul>

Books

• 01 Create a book: Use AI Coach vs Blank Workspace Click + Create New Work to open the modal with 4 starting paths: Use AI Coach (guided concept chat, the AI doesn't write for you) / Blank Workspace (an empty book right away) / Import Existing Content / Restore Backup.
• 02 Six book types and folder templates The book type you pick in Slima (Fiction / Biography / Business / Technical / Self-Help / General) seeds the starting folder skeleton. Books created with AI assistance also get a Writing Guidelines.md context file.
• 03 Edit Work: 5 fields + Complete / Restore (no editable phase field) The Edit Work modal has just 5 fields (Title / Genre / Description / Target Words / Target Date). No cover upload, no editable 4-stage phase field — completion is binary via the ⋯ menu.
• 04 Book lifecycle: Archive / Trash / Restore / Permanent delete (60 days) Four lifecycle states (My Works / Archive / Trash / Permanent). Archive keeps AI access but stops counting; Trash is recoverable within 60 days; export .slima before permanent delete.
• 05 Bulk-import multiple books from .slima backups Restore Backup is the 4th option in the + Create New Work dialog. Drop one .slima backup that holds multiple books to restore them all at once. Over-quota books land in Archive.
• 06 Sync status: connection dot by the title + book-card sync The connection icon by the book title has 3 states: connected (cloud+check) / offline (hollow circle) / local mode (filled circle) — no red error light. Book cards carry a synced / syncing / pending / error sync mark. With 4-layer storage, nothing is lost.

</ul>

Editor overview

• 01 Editor layout tour The editor's areas, left to right: activity bar, left panel (File explorer), centre editor, right panel (AI chat / Notes / etc.). Status info (today's words / chapter words / sync) is spread across corners.
• 02 The Activity Bar The editor's Activity Bar is a vertical list of feature icons: the Slima logo opens Studio Switcher, middle icons toggle the left panel (file explorer / AI chat / outline / comments / notes / related entities / Beta Reader), and the bottom holds focus mode / upgrade / dark mode.
• 03 Panels and the editor tab strip Three-column editor: left / right panels are resizable and hideable; the centre tab strip holds multiple open files. Hide both + F11 = Zen-like focus.
• 04 Editor status info: word counts & sync The Slima editor has no single status bar: today's total words and ⚙️ sit at the bottom of the left panel, the current chapter count is at the editor top-right, and the sync icon is next to the book title.
• 05 Mobile editor layout (vs desktop) Mobile Slima redesigns the editor: side panels become bottom sheets, the format toolbar floats above the keyboard, and a bottom 5-button nav (Edit / Files / AI / Search / More) replaces side icons.

</ul>

Writing tools

• 01 Markdown basics + Highlight + Preview mode + internal links Slima editor toolbar (Bold / Italic / Strike / H1-3 / lists / quote / table / highlight / image / undo redo), 6 highlight colours, Edit vs Preview mode, internal links via typed entity names (not wikilinks).
• 02 Split editor (side-by-side) + multi-tab Click the ⟨ ⟩ icon on the right of the tab strip to split the editor into two independent halves (own tabs / cursor / scroll). Multi-tab supports click-to-open, × to close, right-click for more.
• 03 Outline panel: heading-hierarchy navigation The Outline panel extracts H1-H3 headings from the current file into a clickable tree. Advanced features (drag-to-reorder / fold / cross-file) vary by version.
• 04 Quick Open (Cmd/Ctrl P): fuzzy file-jump Cmd/Ctrl P opens Quick Open's fuzzy search — type a few characters to jump to a file. Recents and exact-match rank first; CJK / Latin mixed input works.
• 05 Find and replace: scopes / regex / auto-version safety Cmd/Ctrl Shift F opens full-text search across all files in the current book; options: case / whole word / regex / replace. For one file, use your browser's native find (Cmd/Ctrl F). Replace All edits files directly — rely on the normal auto-version triggers.
• 06 Font size & theme Adjust font size in Account → Preferences → Display: a "Font size" slider that affects all text (including AI content). The 🌗 at the bottom of the activity bar toggles dark / light. No line-height / column-width / font-family options.
• 07 Autosave + dirty indicator + crash recovery Slima has no Save button — local IndexedDB saves continuously, then cloud sync, plus auto-versioning. Cmd/Ctrl S forces an immediate save (not a named version). Browser crashes don't lose content.

</ul>

Files & content

• 01 File tree: default folders + how to organize The left file tree shows every file in the current book. New books start with a Chapters folder plus genre-specific reference folders; add more. How to keep it organised.
• 02 Manuscript vs Reference: word count + AI reading Slima splits a book's files into Manuscript (primary, word-counted, AI reads as text) and Reference (notes, not counted, AI uses as context).
• 03 Writing Guidelines.md: persistent AI Coach context A file named Writing Guidelines.md gets auto-attached to every AI Coach conversation as context. Write rules there and the Coach honours them — e.g. "don't use 'she said', use 'she remarked'."
• 04 File tree operations The complete file tree manual: create, rename, delete, multi-select, cut & paste, drag to reorder.
• 05 Embedding images / PDFs / link previews Embed images, maps, character art, PDFs, external links. Slima supports drag-and-drop or Markdown syntax. How each media type renders.
• 06 Relationship Map: Draw Your Characters' Connections Common-in-fiction relationship maps: drop nodes for characters, draw edges, group families / factions by colour blocks. One glance, all relationships.
• 07 Entity tracking: auto-detect + detail panel Type a character or place name in your text and Slima auto-detects it with a dotted underline; Ctrl/Cmd-click jumps to its file. The Related Entities panel shows this file's mentions / back-references / aliases / relationships.

</ul>

Writing experience

• 01 Zen Mode complete guide Zen Mode hides all UI, leaving a single centred column: typewriter scrolling, paragraph focus, floating reference window, floating AI, go-to-chapter. No text-width switch inside Zen.
• 02 Mobile immersive writing: bottom nav regions / immersive mode Mobile Slima: tap the bottom 5-button nav (Editor / Files / Chat / Search / More) to switch regions, adjust font with a slider, immersive mode leaves just text.
• 03 Resume: back to where you left off Slima silently records book / file / cursor on every editor exit; Continue Writing on next sign-in jumps right back. Your book content syncs across devices, while each device remembers its own last cursor position locally.
• 04 Guided Tour on demand (replay) Slima's guided tours can be replayed any time from the Tutorial Center at the bottom of Account → Preferences, grouped by studio. Tour content updates with each release.

</ul>

AI Coach

• 01 What the AI Coach is The AI Coach differs from a generic chat tool mainly because it has read your whole book. The concept, the contrast with generic chat tools, and why this matters for long-form.
• 02 Start and manage chats The right Coach panel can hold multiple chats and let you switch between past conversations. Chats are scoped to each book.
• 03 Add context: @file, @folder, selection, paste The Coach has read the whole book, but you can spotlight specific files. Four ways to add context.
• 04 AI tools: read / edit / create / delete / search + diff + accept / reject The Coach can act on your draft — read, edit, create, delete, search, list files. Every change passes through a diff for per-passage approval.
• 05 Web search: the AI looks things up Need facts or references? The Coach looks things up on the web automatically and cites its sources in the reply. There's no toggle to flip.
• 06 Quick actions on a selection Select text in the editor and a SelectionMenu pops up with four common AI actions: rewrite, polish, expand, shorten. One click.
• 07 AI panel tab bar: switch between chat and chapter analysis A thin tab bar at the top of the right AI panel: an AI Chat tab, four chapter-analysis buttons, and AI Memory. It appears only when the AI panel is open and a file is active.
• 08 Advanced chat: streaming cancel, long-chat compression, AI memory Subtle behaviours: cancel streaming mid-flight, long chats auto-compress old turns, and account-level AI memory.
• 09 AI cost & quota AI Coach / analysis / Beta Readers all consume credits. How to estimate, where to see balance, what AiGateModal asks when you're at zero. Numbers live at /plans.

</ul>

AI chapter analysis

• 01 AI Insight overview: four kinds Slima AI Insight runs four chapter-level analyses: pacing, dialogue, repetition, consistency. When to use which + pre-op estimate + result panel.
• 02 Pacing Insight Chapter-internal pacing scan: AI flags passages that drag or rush and suggests rewrites.
• 03 Dialogue Insight Dialogue Insight: checks the balance and rhythm between dialogue and narration in a chapter, flagging passages that need more dialogue or have excessive dialogue.
• 04 Repetition Insight Scans the current chapter for repeated words, sentence patterns, rhetorical devices. Common issues: 'as if' five times per page, identical sentence structures.
• 05 Consistency Insight: people / places / time / logic Scan the open chapter for setup conflicts: a character's eye color is blue in one passage and green in another; a place is 30 min away in one scene and an hour in another.

</ul>

Version history

• 01 Why versions matter: the 4 layers of protection Slima protects your draft in four independent layers: local IndexedDB, version history, cloud sync, export. The work is never lost.
• 02 Create a Manual Version and Name It Name a version at every revision pass — one click to come back to that exact point.
• 03 Auto-version rules Slima doesn't use a dumb timer — it ties versions to key moments: after you've been idle a while, before the AI writes, before syncing to cloud, before you leave the page.
• 04 Browse version history & diff Select any version in the panel, diff it against the previous one, plus a hide-auto-snapshots filter and single-file history to recover any past draft.
• 05 Restore the whole book or a single file Three levels of granularity — whole book, single file, single passage. Slima auto-backs up your current state before every restore, so it's always reversible.
• 06 Change Review: review AI edits Between 'AI rewrites a chapter' and your draft is one layer — Change Review. Diff per passage; keep original / accept suggestion. Slima auto-versions before the AI touches anything.

</ul>

Goals & motivation

• 01 Set writing goals: per-book target words and date Goals attach to each book — set Target Words and Target Date in the Edit Work dialog. The bookshelf card shows a progress bar once saved; the Writing Stats page aggregates.
• 02 Word counts: manuscript / reference / total Slima tracks three word-count dimensions: Manuscript (counts toward goal), Reference (doesn't), Total. Today's count nets deletions and resets at local midnight.
• 03 Streak + Slime companion Streak counts consecutive writing days; the slime is a cosmetic companion. The writing tree is the real 8-stage visualization. Click the bookshelf widget to open Your Writing Tree.
• 04 Writing tree + Rest Protection The writing tree has 8 stages (seed/sprout/sapling/tree/bloom/ancient/fruiting/rest), driven by your streak. Hibernates but doesn't die. Rest Protection auto-preserves your streak.
• 05 Writing Stats: charts, milestones, forecast Writing Stats page covers: 16-week heatmap, Writing Rhythm, 30-day trend, This Week vs Last Week, Writing Milestones (5K-80K+), Book Progress Ranking, Estimated Completion forecast.
• 06 Daily quest + Getting Started exploration Slima offers two lightweight quest types: daily quest (hit your daily word goal) + Getting Started (one-shot 6-step exploration). Pure nudges — no penalty for missing.

</ul>

Toolbars & menus

• 01 AI Floating Toolbar + Selection Menu (toolbar overview) Slima has two AI action surfaces: the AI panel tab bar (a thin row of tabs atop the right AI panel) and the selection menu (appears on text selection). This is a toolbar-perspective overview; ai-coach series has details.
• 02 Activity Bar + StatusBar (toolbar overview) Toolbar-perspective overview of Activity Bar + StatusBar; per-icon and per-region details link to the editor series.
• 03 Context menus (observed list) Slima context menus across surfaces (book cards / files / text selection / tabs / version panel) — exact items vary by version; this lists commonly-observed options.
• 04 Desktop (Electron) native menus Desktop Slima adds an OS-level native menu bar (File / Edit / View / Navigate / Window / Help, plus an app menu on macOS). Exact items / shortcuts vary by platform + version — read displayed keys from the menu itself.

</ul>

Keyboard shortcuts

• 01 Full keyboard shortcuts list Every keyboard shortcut in Writing Studio. Mac vs Win/Linux mapping.
• 02 Mobile gestures How mobile works in Slima: tap the bottom nav bar to open panels as bottom sheets, and long-press a file in the file tree for its menu.

</ul>

Sharing & comments

• 01 Public read-only share link Build / scope / expiry / revoke: full sharing flow. Recipients don't need a Slima account.
• 02 Reader View for recipients What recipients of a share link see: pure reading view, no Slima UI, dark / light toggle.
• 03 Inline comments Add inline comments in the Slima editor: select text, right-click, Add Comment. Each comment has an open / resolved / rejected status. Not plan-gated.

</ul>

Import & export

• 01 Drag-import into an existing book Got a book already, want to add chapters: drag files / folders onto the file tree. Supports md / txt / docx / pdf / epub / fountain, plus whole folders.
• 02 Create + import in one step Pick "Import Existing Content" in the new-book dialog to bring an outside manuscript straight into a fresh book. See also the create-a-book import path.
• 03 Comprehensive export guide Slima exports 6 formats: md / txt / zip / slima / docx / epub. Choose whole book, chapters or a folder.

</ul>