Structure Review

Review and edit the AI's proposed chapter and section layout before writing begins

What is Structure Review?

Structure Review is the new step between submitting a creation form and the AI writing your scribe. After you click Create Scribe on AI Create or Full Scribe, you land on a dedicated review page (/book/[bookId]/structure-review) where the AI has proposed a chapter-and-section layout based on your title, length, and form context.

You don't have to accept it as-is. You can rename, add, and delete chapters and sections — then click Proceed to Writing when you're happy. Only then does the AI start drafting prose.

Why it exists

Before E67, AI Create / Full Scribe forms produced rigid N × M structures (e.g. always 10 chapters × 4 sections each, regardless of topic). The result: a "Quick Guide to the European Union" got a 40-section monster. There was also no way to edit the structure before generation, so users were stuck waiting for a layout they couldn't change.

Now the AI decides chapter count and variable sections-per-chapter from the full form context. Some chapters might have 2 sections; others 5 — whatever fits the topic. And you get to review and edit the result before any prose is written.

How it works

After you click Create Scribe

  1. Submit the slideshow form (or the Barista chat brief).
  2. The AI runs a structure-generation pass — it reads your title, target length, audience, style, tone, and any custom instructions, and proposes a chapter-and-section layout.
  3. You're redirected to /book/[bookId]/structure-review.
  4. While the AI is thinking, the page shows a spinner with the message "The AI is deciding chapters and sections from your title and topic. This usually takes 10–30 seconds."
  5. When the structure is ready, the page renders the editor.

Editing the structure

The editor shows every chapter as a card, with its sections nested below. You can:

  • Rename a chapter — double-click the chapter title to edit, press Enter to save (or Escape to cancel).
  • Rename a section — double-click any section title.
  • Add a section — click + Add Section at the bottom of any chapter.
  • Delete a section — hover the section row (or tap on mobile) and click the X. Minimum 2 sections per chapter.
  • Add a new chapter — click the + Add new chapter pill at the bottom of the chapter list.
  • Delete a chapter — hover the chapter header and click the X. Minimum 1 chapter required.
  • Regenerate — click Start Over / Regenerate to scrap the current structure and have the AI propose a new one.

Every edit saves to the database immediately, so the page is refresh-survivable — close the tab, come back later, and your edits are still there.

Proceed to Writing

When the structure looks good, click Proceed to Writing →. This:

  1. Logs structure_approved against your scribe.
  2. Kicks off the section-generation phase.
  3. Redirects you to /book/[bookId]/generating where you'll watch sections stream in.

If any chapter or section has an empty title or still says a placeholder like "Chapter 3" or "New Section", Proceed is blocked with a friendly error listing the offending titles. The AI can't write meaningfully against placeholder titles.

Variable section counts

A book about "A Quick Guide to the European Union" no longer comes back as a uniform 10×4. The AI may choose:

  • 8 chapters, with section counts varying (chapter 1 might have 2 sections, chapter 4 might have 5).
  • ≤ 24 chapters maximum for a Full Scribe.
  • A total word budget of ≈ 250 wpm × N min for a Quick Read (so a 20-min Quick Read aims for ~5,000 words across however many sections fit).

If you want a different shape, just edit it. The AI's proposal is a starting point — yours to override.

Quick Read vs Full Scribe

The structure-review screen looks the same for both, but the rules behind it differ:

  • Quick Read (10 / 20 / 30 / 60 min) — total word budget is fixed (250 wpm × duration). Variable section counts; the AI picks how many chapters and sections fit.
  • Full Scribe — no total word cap, but ≤ 24 chapters. Each section still gets a healthy 500–800-word floor.

You see the chosen length on Card 1 of the slideshow (and the Brew form). It's persisted to the new target_length column on the scribe.

When does Structure Review not show?

  • Empty Mug — there's nothing to review (single blank chapter, single blank section). You go straight to the Workspace.
  • Guided Creation — Guided already had its own structure-review screen on /create/guided/[bookId]. That continues to work; the new shared editor is the same component, with a built-in + Add Chapter button (new in E67).
  • Quick Read modal at /brew — the modal version of the editor still pops in-place there; same component, same affordances, just deferred persistence (your edits batch on Approve).

Imports (Scribe Conversion) have their own review screen

Scribes uploaded via the Upload your own flow (/create/import) use a dedicated review page at /create/import/[uploadId]/review — see Importing your own books. It looks similar but works differently: there's a tabbed picker (AI-proposed, Manual split, Use as-is), the AI proposal is built from the parsed source rather than a title/length brief, and an image-loss callout appears when the upload contains figures the parser dropped. Manual split is grayed out in v1 (drag-to-highlight section markers is coming in V2 — for now, edit chapters in the Workspace after conversion).

Tier availability

  • All tiers can use Structure Review on AI Create and Full Scribe.
  • All tiers: structure-gen runs on Sonar (Perplexity) — a research-grounded model with built-in web search. See the FAQ for why.
  • Free tier: the page surfaces a friendly "free tier — generation can take longer" note while structure-gen runs on slow days.

Cost

Structure generation is a single LLM call — typically a few thousand tokens. The exact cost is included in the scribe's overall token spend; you don't pay for it separately. After Proceed, section-generation runs on the locked CoffeeScribe Model (Free + Pro) or your selection in the Creator picker.

Tips

  • Edit before you Proceed — every edit you make is reflected in the AI's prose pass. Renaming "Chapter 3: The Common Currency" to "Chapter 3: How the Euro Works in Practice" gives the AI a much better target.
  • Don't leave placeholder titles — "New Section" and "Chapter 4" are blocked at the Proceed step. If you add a chapter, give it a real title.
  • Refresh is safe — your edits persist to the DB. You can close the tab and come back the next day; the page will load right back into the editor.
  • Regenerate is destructive — clicking Start Over deletes the existing structure and asks the AI for a new one. Your edits are lost. Use it when the proposed shape is fundamentally wrong, not for small tweaks.

See also