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nectar Documentation

Documentation / Create a Scroll

Create a Scroll

Turn a source you care about into a Scroll: write its ideas with an AI assistant or by hand, check them, and import the file.

1. Choose a source

Any content with ideas worth keeping works: an article or blog post, a talk, a podcast episode, a video, a course, your own notes or a book. Use a source you have the right to use, such as your own work, a text whose license allows it, or one in the public domain.

The assistant needs text. For a podcast or video, start from its transcript: many platforms show captions you can copy, and transcription tools can make one from audio.

2. Write the file with an AI assistant

Copy the prompt below into an AI assistant, fill in the parts in square brackets, and paste the source text or transcript at the end.

Turn the source below into a JSON file for a Nectar Scroll.

Title: [TITLE]
Creators: [AUTHORS, HOSTS OR SPEAKERS]
Language code of the Scroll, such as en or pt-BR: [LANGUAGE]
Also translate into: [LANGUAGE CODES, or none]

Use only the source. Do not add facts, claims or examples it does not support.
Choose chapters and ideas to fit the source, with no set number. Keep the
source's own sections when they make good chapters; otherwise group related
ideas. Give each chapter a descriptive title without a number.

Write each idea as a complete thought that makes sense on its own card, in
your own words, at most 400 characters. State the idea directly:
no "the author says", "in this episode" or disclaimers. Do not split one point
into several near-identical ideas. Add an example only where it makes an idea
clearer: short, concrete and hypothetical, at most 400 characters.

Give each idea a tier: "important" for the source's defining ideas (no more
than about a quarter of them), "good" for strong supporting ideas, "common"
for the rest.

Write a description of two or three sentences about what a reader will learn,
at most 600 characters, and 3 to 5 short, lowercase topic tags.

If translations are requested, add a "translations" object with one complete
version per language code: the same chapters, ideas and examples in the same
order, each with its own title, authors, description and tags.

Answer with only valid JSON, no other text, in this shape:
{"language": "...", "title": "...", "authors": ["..."], "description": "...",
 "tags": ["..."], "summaries": [{"title": "Chapter title", "ideas": [
 {"text": "One idea.", "tier": "good", "examples": ["An example."]}]}]}
Every idea has an "examples" list, empty when it has none.

Source:
[SOURCE TEXT OR TRANSCRIPT]

Save the answer as a file ending in .json. Prefer to write by hand? Start from the example file and the file reference.

Long sources. If the source is too long for your assistant, work in parts: ask for the chapters of one part at a time, then put all the chapters into one summaries list in a single file.

3. Check the result

AI assistants make mistakes. Before importing, read a few ideas on their own and check that:

  • each idea makes sense without the ones around it, and says what the source says;
  • nothing is repeated, padded or invented;
  • important is kept for the ideas that matter most;
  • the description is about what the reader learns, not about the source's format or edition;
  • every translation has the same chapters, ideas and examples, in the same order.

4. Import it

Sign in and open Import a Scroll.

  1. Import ideas. Choose the .json file, up to 8 MB. Nothing is saved yet. If the file has a problem, the message names what to fix, such as the chapter and idea that is too long.
  2. Review details. Check what the file filled in and add what it lacks:
    • Title, Authors (one per line) and Description;
    • tags, which help readers find the Scroll on Discover;
    • Original URL, Original year (a negative number for BCE) or, if the year is unknown, a Period;
    • the Cover: the generated artwork, or an image of your own;
    • the Languages in this Scroll, when the file has translations;
    • Visibility: Private (only you), Friends-only or Public.
  3. Save Scroll. Sharing with friends or the public asks you to confirm you have the rights to the content.

5. After saving

Saving opens the Scroll's page, where you can start reading straight away. It is also on Saved, under Scrolls. A private Scroll is yours alone. A public one can be read by anyone with its link at once, but it appears on Discover and in search only after an administrator approves it; you get an email when that happens. You can own up to 200 Scrolls.

To change the details, the cover or who can see it, or to replace its ideas with a new file, see Edit, replace and share.