Cold Brew (Guided Creation)

Step-by-step scribe creation with full creative control

Overview

Cold Brew (Guided Creation) is the most powerful scribe creation option on Coffeescribe. Available to all tiers, it walks you through each step of the process, giving you full control over structure and content direction. Free and Pro generate with the locked CoffeeScribe Model (our curated default); Creator users can pick from a model picker — see Choosing an AI Model for the picker structure.

How It Works

The Guided Creation form is now a 6-card slideshow — one focused step at a time, with a Review card at the end. You can skip cards you're unsure about and let AI fill the blanks on Review. After generation kicks off you'll still get the Cold Brew chapter-structure review pass before the AI writes sections.

Card 1 — Title & length

  • Enter a working title for your scribe.
  • Pick a target length tile: 10 min / 20 min / 30 min / 60 min (Quick Read) or Full scribe (full-length book). The chosen length calibrates everything AI Quick Fill picks for you on later cards — pick this before clicking Quick Fill.

Card 2 — Topic & Purpose

  • Tile controls for Content Type, Scribe Type, and Purpose. Click a tile to select; click Other… to type your own value.

Card 3 — Audience & Reader Level

  • Tile controls for Reader Level, Target Audience, Age Range, Style, and Tone. Multi-select is supported on Genre, Purpose, Style, Tone, and Age Range — combine multiple tiles for richer guidance.

Card 4 — Structure

  • Optional Chapter ideas textarea lets you seed the AI with chapter directions.
  • For Guided + Full Scribe, fine-grained Chapters and Sections tiles are visible (legacy override). Most users leave these blank — the AI now decides chapter count and variable section counts from the rest of the form, and you'll edit the result on the structure-review screen anyway.

Note (E67, May 2026): Target length moved to Card 1 (alongside the title) so AI Quick Fill can calibrate audience / style / tone to the chosen scope. See Card 1 above.

Card 5 — Description

  • Optional textareas: Description, Goals of the reader, Pain points, Unique angle, Reader outcome, and free-form Notes. Skippable — AI can fill any of these on Review.

Card 6 — Review

  • Every answer appears as a small, colour-tinted card. Tap any answer card to expand it, edit it, then tap Done to collapse it back into the grid. Click ✨ Let AI fill the rest to populate any fields you skipped — you can still edit or delete what AI suggests before generating.
  • Below the Review grid: an Advanced settings accordion (collapsed by default — see "Make Advanced settings stay open" below). Expand to access:
    • AI model selection — Creator unlocks the full picker (CoffeeScribe Model recommended at the top, ~12 curated alternatives, then a collapsed advanced disclosure for the full 350+ catalogue with an at-your-own-risk warning). Free and Pro are locked to the CoffeeScribe Model — our curated default, no picker shown. Each model in the Creator picker shows Writing / Research / Cost dot ratings (1-5). Tap the info icon for strengths, weaknesses, and citation behaviour.
    • Web search — on by default; toggle off if you want the AI to rely solely on its training data.
    • Generation Mode — Lightning, Lightning Medium, Pour Over, or Pour Over Slow Brew (fastest → finest).
    • Language, Custom focus prompt, and Custom instructions.
  • Click Create Scribe to begin generation.

Make Advanced settings stay open

If you reach for the Advanced settings every time, you can have the accordion open by default. Go to Settings → Preferences and turn on "Show advanced controls". The Review card will now expand the Advanced section automatically each time you reach it. Flip the preference off and it goes back to collapsed-by-default. The setting is saved to your account and follows you across browsers and devices.

After Generate (Cold Brew specifics)

  • For Full-scribe Guided Creation, you'll review the AI-suggested chapter structure on /create/guided/{bookId} — add, remove, reorder chapters, customise titles and descriptions, then generate sections.
  • The structure editor now includes a + Add new chapter button at the bottom of the chapter list (new in E67) — same affordance as Add Section, but at chapter level. Each new chapter gets a default Section 1 you can rename.
  • Track real-time progress as sections are completed. Content is generated with your chosen model; web search results are incorporated if enabled.

Variable section counts (E67, May 2026)

The AI now decides variable section counts per chapter from the full form context — some chapters might have 2 sections, others 5, depending on the topic. The legacy Chapters / Sections tiles on Card 4 still work as overrides if you want a uniform shape, but most users get better results leaving them blank and editing on the structure-review screen.

AI shortcuts on every card

  • Sticky FAB ("AI fill everything") — purple gradient button bottom-right that fills every blank field and jumps you to Review (enabled once you've entered a title).
  • Per-card Skip — leave a card blank; AI can fill it on Review.
  • Hint at the top of each card: "Skip anything you're not sure about — AI can fill the rest on Review."

Saved drafts

Progress saves automatically to your browser. If you close the tab and return to /create/guided you'll see a "Resume your scribe?" prompt with [Resume] / [Start fresh]. Drafts expire after 7 days.

Key Features

Model Selection (Creator only)

Cold Brew exposes the model picker for Creator users — Free and Pro generate with the locked CoffeeScribe Model (our curated default). On Creator, the picker has three tiers: CoffeeScribe Model recommended at the top, ~12 curated alternatives, then a collapsed advanced disclosure for the full 350+ OpenRouter catalogue (smaller models may produce lower-quality output — at your own risk). Each model shows Writing, Research, and Cost dot ratings (1-5) so you can compare at a glance. Web search is available to all tiers.

Structure Control

You decide exactly how your scribe is organized. The AI suggests a structure based on your topic, but you can modify it completely before generation begins.

Web Search Integration

When enabled, the AI can search the web for current information while writing. This is especially useful for:

  • Current events and recent developments
  • Technical topics with evolving best practices
  • Factual content requiring accurate data

Real-Time Progress

Watch your scribe come together section by section. The progress indicator shows which sections are complete and which are being generated.

After Generation

Scribes created with Cold Brew can be:

  • Opened in the Workspace for refinement
  • Exported in any format (PDF, Word, EPUB, Markdown, StoryBook)
  • Shared publicly or kept private
  • Used as the basis for Espresso (Quick Read) condensed summaries

Requirements

  • A Coffeescribe account (any tier)
  • Sufficient token credits for your chosen model and scribe length