Getting Started

Welcome to StudioBrain, a schema-driven content platform for creating, managing, and evolving structured creative projects. This guide walks you through the basics of the application.

What is StudioBrain?

StudioBrain is a creative workbench for writers, game designers, worldbuilders, and anyone who manages structured content. It lets you work with interconnected entities — characters, locations, factions, items, recipes, plants, and any custom type — through a visual editor backed by structured data (YAML frontmatter) and free-form narrative content (Markdown).

Key features include:

• An offline-first project system that stores all data as human-readable Markdown files in a regular folder on disk
• A template system that lets you define any entity type without writing code
• A visual entity editor with drag-and-drop layout customization
• An AI Workshop for generating, comparing, and refining content across multiple AI providers
• A relationship graph for visualizing connections between entities
• A plugin system (including WASM plugins) for extending the editor with custom panels

Opening a Project

StudioBrain always starts at the login screen, then takes you to the Project Selection screen. You never land directly in a project — you always choose which one to open.

A project is a folder on your disk containing Markdown files organized by entity type. The full directory structure is documented in the Template System Overview.

Here is a simplified example:

MyProject/
  .studiobrain/         # Hidden metadata (content.db, settings.json)
  _Templates/           # Entity type definitions
    Core/               # Built-in templates (read-only)
    Standard/           # Templates from packs and catalog
    Custom/             # Your project-specific overrides
  _Rules/               # AI generation rules
  _Skills/              # AI agent skills
  Characters/
    rex_marshall.md
    sara_chen.md
  Locations/
    neon_mile.md
    old_quarter.md
  Factions/
    syndicate.md
  Items/
    plasma_blade.md

Each entity is a Markdown file with YAML frontmatter fields (name, description, relationships, etc.) and an optional Markdown body for longer narrative content.

Navigating the Interface

Sidebar Navigation

The left sidebar provides access to all major sections of the application:

Entity List Pages

Clicking an entity type in the sidebar (e.g., Characters) opens the list page for that type. From here you can:

• Browse all entities with search and filtering
• Create a new entity with the “New” button
• Sort by name, date created, or other fields
• View entity cards with primary images and key metadata

Entity Detail Pages

Clicking on an individual entity opens its detail/edit page. The edit page is organized into tabs:

• Visual — A structured form editor with sections defined by the entity’s layout
• YAML — Raw YAML editor (Monaco Editor) for direct frontmatter editing
• Markdown — A rich Markdown editor for the entity’s body content
• Preview — Read-only preview of how the entity will look
• Assets — Image and media management for this entity
• Generation — AI content generation scoped to this entity

Editing an Entity

Visual Editor

The Visual Editor tab presents form fields organized into collapsible sections. The layout of these sections is defined by layout JSON files and can be customized through the Layout Designer.

Each section can contain:

• Form fields — Text inputs, dropdowns, date pickers, array editors, etc.
• Component blocks — Rich UI widgets like the asset browser, timeline, chat panel, or relationship viewer

YAML Editor

The YAML tab provides a full Monaco code editor for directly editing the entity’s frontmatter. Changes are validated in real-time, and you can switch back to the Visual tab to see your edits reflected in the form.

Saving Changes

Changes are saved by clicking the Save button in the editor toolbar. The application validates the entity data before saving, and the Validation Panel will display any errors or warnings.

Settings

Access Settings from the sidebar to configure:

• AI providers — API keys and model preferences for OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Grok, and local models (Qwen)
• Theme — Toggle between light and dark mode
• Template layouts — Customize the Layout Designer for each entity type
• RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) — Configure the vector database for AI context enrichment

Next Steps

• Managing Entities — Deep dive into creating, editing, and validating entities
• AI Workshop — Learn how to use AI features for content generation
• Layout System Architecture — Technical details of the layout system