How to Use Core

Creating an Account & Signing In

An account is required to use Core's AI features. Launch the app and click the "Sign In" button to register with your email address or Google account. On your first sign-in, you'll be prompted to choose a subscription plan (the Pro plan includes a 14-day free trial).

Creating a New Project

Go to File > New to create a new project. Core projects are saved as .core package bundles. In Finder they appear as a single file, but internally they contain your manuscript, notes, and research materials all in one place.

Interface Layout

The interface is divided into three areas.

• Left Panel — File tree. Manage your manuscript, notes, and research materials in a folder hierarchy.
• Center Editor — The main writing area. Switch between multiple files using tabs.
• Right Panel — Contains three tabs: AI Chat, Research, and File Info.

Core offers three workspace modes that you can switch between depending on your stage of writing.

Writing Mode

The default mode. Write your text in a rich text editor. Apply formatting such as bold, italic, ruby text, and emphasis dots from the toolbar.

Outline Mode

Displays your manuscript's file structure as a hierarchical list. You can edit the title and synopsis of each item, and reorder them with drag and drop. Ideal for planning the overall structure of your work.

Corkboard Mode

Shows each file as a card in a grid layout. Titles and synopses are visible at a glance, making it easy to rearrange scenes and review the overall flow of your work.

Vertical & Horizontal Writing

Switch the text direction between vertical and horizontal writing. This setting changes only the display orientation and is not stored per project or per file.

Focus Mode

An immersive writing mode that hides everything except the text you're working on. Activate it from the mode switcher tabs to the right of the editor, or from the View menu.

Typewriter Mode

Automatically scrolls the text so that the cursor always stays at the center of the screen as you type. Can be used together with Focus Mode. Toggle it on or off from the Settings or the View menu.

Footnotes

Insert footnotes into your text. Footnotes are displayed in a panel at the bottom of the document.

Find & Replace

Press ⌘F to search within the current document, or ⌘⇧F to search across the entire project. Replace is also supported.

Chat

Chat with the AI from the "Chat" tab in the right panel. You can brainstorm ideas, discuss plot development, refine your prose, and consult on any aspect of your writing. The AI can read files within your project, so it can offer advice informed by the full context of your work.

In Chat, you can:

• Stop the AI's response mid-generation
• Regenerate a response (to get a different answer)
• Edit and resend a previously sent message
• Copy or delete messages
• Bookmark important messages

Quote to Chat

Select text in the editor and click "Quote to Chat" on the floating toolbar that appears. This sends the selected text as a quote to the chat. Useful when you want to ask the AI about a specific passage.

Conversation History

Conversation history is saved per project. You can browse past conversations from the timeline at the top of the chat panel.

Research

Use the "Research" tab in the right panel for AI-powered reference searches. Enter what you'd like to look up, and the AI will search library databases and online sources, displaying relevant results as cards ranked by relevance.

• Choose your search scope — National Diet Library (all materials / online / academic), Library of Congress, Global (Open Library + Internet Archive), or a custom combination
• Results display title, author, publication year, and a recommendation reason, with direct links to catalog pages and web resources
• Add notes to results or hide irrelevant ones
• Ask follow-up questions to refine your search based on previous results
• Save found materials as research notes in your project

Extended Thinking Mode

"Extended Thinking" in the Research tab is a mode where the AI spends more time conducting deeper research. This is a Max plan exclusive feature, useful for discovering materials that standard searches might miss.

Supported Databases

The Research feature searches across the following databases.

• National Diet Library Search (NDL Search) — Comprehensive search for Japanese-language materials
• Library of Congress — English-language materials
• Open Library — Open-access book database
• Internet Archive — Digital archive

If there's a database you'd like us to support, please let us know.

About the AI

Core uses Claude by Anthropic. Among the various AI models available, we chose Claude for its exceptional ability with the Japanese language and its outstanding quality in literary expression.

We currently use the latest version of Sonnet, which offers the best balance of cost and performance. We are considering adding support for Opus, which offers deeper reasoning capabilities, as well as other AI models in the future.

• Anthropic Official Website
• Anthropic Status Page — AI service status and incident reports
• Claude AI on X (formerly Twitter) — Latest updates and incident notifications

Usage Limits

AI feature usage is limited based on your subscription plan. You can check your remaining usage via the ring indicator in the chat panel. See Pricing for details.

File Tree

Manage your project's files in the left panel. Right-click to create, rename, or delete files and folders.

Categories

Files within a project can be organized into three categories. These are provided for convenience, so there's no need to strictly distinguish between Notes and Research.

• Manuscript — Files that make up the body of your work. These are included in exports.
• Notes — Planning notes, character profiles, and other reference notes
• Research — Images, PDFs, and other reference materials

Drag & Drop

Drag and drop within the file tree to reorder files or move them between folders.

Trash & Restore

Deleted files are moved to the Trash. Right-click a file in the Trash and select "Put Back" to restore it to its original category.

Supported Formats

• TXT — Plain text files with no formatting
• Markdown (.md) — A lightweight format using symbols for headings, bold, etc.
• RTF / RTFD — macOS standard rich text format. Import only
• DOCX — Microsoft Word file format. Preserves rich formatting
• PDF — A format that maintains consistent appearance across environments. Export only
• EPUB — Standard e-book format. Export only
• Scrivener (.scriv) — Scrivener project files. Import only

Import

Import from TXT, Markdown, RTF, RTFD, DOCX, and Scrivener projects.

Compatibility

Format	TXT	MD	RTF	Scriv	DOCX
Bold / Italic / Strikethrough	-	◯	◯	◯	◯
Underline	-	-	◯	◯	◯
Superscript / Subscript	-	◯	◯	◯	◯
Font / Color	-	-	◯	◯	◯
Ruby Text	-	-	-	-	◯
Emphasis Dots	-	-	-	-	◯
Footnotes	-	◯	-	◯	◯
Comments	-	-	-	◯	◯
Links	-	◯	◯	◯	◯
Headings	-	◯	-	◯	◯
Lists	-	◯	◯	◯	◯
Block Quotes	-	◯	-	◯	◯
Tables	-	×	×	×	×
Images	-	×	◯	◯	◯
File Structure	-	-	-	◯	-

• ◯ = Supported, × = Not supported, - = Not applicable to format

Export

Export to TXT, PDF, DOCX, and EPUB. When exporting, you can choose to include the entire project, selected files only, or whether to include notes.

Compatibility

Format	TXT	PDF	EPUB	DOCX
Bold / Italic / Underline	-	◯	◯	◯
Superscript / Subscript	-	◯	◯	◯
Font / Color	-	◯	◯ *	◯
Ruby Text	-	◯	◯	◯
Emphasis Dots	-	◯	◯	◯
Footnotes	-	◯	◯	◯
Comments	-	-	-	◯
Links	-	◯	◯	◯
Headings	-	◯	◯	◯
Lists	-	◯	◯	◯
Horizontal Rules	-	◯	◯	◯
Tables	-	×	×	×
Images	-	◯	◯	◯
Vertical Layout	-	◯	◯	◯

• ◯ = Supported, × = Not supported, - = Not applicable to format
• * Some e-book readers such as Apple Books and Kindle may override EPUB font settings with their own display preferences.

Dashboard

A screen where you can track your daily writing output and progress toward goals. Open it from View > Writing Progress (⌃⌘P), or by clicking the progress bar at the top of the application.

Writing output counts only characters actually typed on the keyboard, excluding changes from copy and paste or other operations.

Manuscript Page Count

The number shown as "pages" in the toolbar represents the equivalent count based on 400-character Japanese manuscript paper (genko yoshi). This serves as a standard reference in the Japanese publishing industry. You can toggle this on or off in Settings.

Settings

Go to ⌘, (Settings) to customize the application's behavior.

• General — Display language (Japanese / English), UI font (sans-serif / serif), notifications, automatic updates
• Editor — Default font, font size, text direction (horizontal / vertical), typewriter mode, ruby text and emphasis dots menu visibility
• Account — Sign-in status, plan info, usage

Chat & Research in a Separate Window

You can detach the Chat or Research panel into a separate window (⌃⌘⇧4 / ⌃⌘⇧5). This is handy when you want to maximize editor space while keeping AI accessible.

Character Count vs. Word Count

In the Editor tab of Settings, you can switch the counting method between character count (for Japanese) and word count (for English). In Auto mode, the appropriate method is selected based on the language.

Offline Behavior

Writing, editing, and file management all work normally without an internet connection. Only AI features (Chat, Research, and automatic metadata generation) require connectivity.

Sample Project

Go to Help > Open Sample Project from the menu to open a sample project that lets you try out all the features.

Keyboard Shortcuts

All keyboard shortcuts and menu commands are organized by category on the Shortcuts & Menus page.

Pricing & Subscription

Data & Files

AI Features

Export & Compatibility

Usage & Troubleshooting

If you have any questions or requests, feel free to reach out through any of the following channels.

• Email — contact@corewrite.app
• X (Twitter) — @noform_
• Bluesky — @noform.corewrite.app