Getting started
thinking-ape uses passwordless sign-in, a one-time 6-digit code sent to your email. There's nothing to remember.
Create an account
- On the landing page, open the Sign in / Sign up box and choose Sign Up.
- Enter your full name, email, and a username.
- We email you a 6-digit code, enter it to verify.
- You're in. Your session stays signed in on this device.
⚠️ Your full name and username are permanent and can't be changed later, so choose carefully.
Sign in
- Open the Sign in / Sign up box.
- Enter the email you signed up with.
- We send a fresh 6-digit code to that email.
- Enter the code to sign in.
For your privacy, the code screen looks the same whether or not an account exists for that email.
How to document
Everything here is built around one unit: a source, and the notes you wrote from it.
Add a new source
A source is the thing you're learning from: a book, a video, or a paper. Every note you write lives under one. Click Add Source and pick a type. Every type needs a title, at least one author, a year, one or more subject tags, and a publishing cadence.
📖 Book
- Choose Book.
- Search the book by title. Results come from Open Library, with covers.
- Select a book to auto-fill its title, authors, year and cover. Can't find it? Choose the manual option and enter the details by hand.
- Confirm or fill the required fields and add subject tags.
- Pick a publishing cadence and create it.
You don't upload a table of contents. After the book is created, you add each chapter/section manually as you write (see Writing & publishing).
🎥 Video
- Choose Video.
- Paste the video link and click Extract. The title, authors, year and keywords are pulled in automatically. No result? Enter them by hand.
- Confirm the required fields and add subject tags.
- Upload a source thumbnail.
- Pick a publishing cadence and create it.
📄 Paper
- Choose Paper.
- Paste the paper link or DOI and click Extract. The title, authors, year, abstract and keywords are pulled in automatically. No result? Enter them by hand.
- Confirm the required fields and add subject tags.
- Upload a source thumbnail.
- Pick a publishing cadence and create it.
Publishing cadence & schedule
When you add a source, you choose how often you intend to publish notes on it. thinking-ape tracks a next-post-due date, the way a publication tracks its next issue.
Staying on schedule
- Each source shows its next post due date.
- We send you a reminder before a due date.
- Publish a note and the schedule rolls forward to the next date.
- Publishing early is encouraged. The due date is the latest you should publish, not a target to wait for.
If you miss a date
- The source is flagged as missed and you get a heads-up email.
- A note published after its due date is marked late, and late notes can't be upvoted.
- Need a break? You can pause a source until a date you choose.
Writing & publishing
Open a source and add a note for whatever you just finished, a chapter, a timestamp, a section.
There's no summarizer and no autocomplete. What goes in is what you wrote.
Publish a note
- Open your source, or click Publish and pick the source.
- Give the note a title, e.g. “Chapter 3”, “Timestamp 12:40”, or a section name.
- Put your notes into the editor (rich text).
- Optionally pick a reading format/theme.
- Publish, and it's added to the source and pushed to your subscribers' libraries.
Note formats
✅ When you've published everything you meant to, hit Finish on the source to mark it complete (100%).
Subscribing & your Library
Follow a source
- Subscribe to any source to read the notes as they're published.
- New notes from your subscriptions collect in your Library.
- Unsubscribe anytime.
Discover
- Use search to find people, sources and topics.
- Browse a user's profile to see every source they're documenting.
Finding things with search
thinking-ape has no feed built to keep you scrolling. Nothing is pushed at you and there's no endless timeline to fall into. You find what you want, when you want it, strictly by searching.
👤 People
Find someone by name or username, then browse their profile to see every source they're documenting.
🏷️ Topics
Search a subject or tag to surface the sources and notes written around it.
📚 Sources
Look up a specific book, video or paper by title to jump straight to the notes written on it.
🔎 The only things that arrive on their own are notes from sources you chose to subscribe to. Everything else, you go and find.
Upvotes, bookmarks & notifications
Upvote
Show appreciation for a note you found sharp. (Notes published late can't be upvoted.)
Bookmark
Save any note to your bookmarks to come back to it later.
Notifications
Get notified about new notes from your subscriptions, new subscribers, upvotes and bookmarks, in real time.
Your profile & account
Your profile
- Your public profile shows your sources and notes.
- You can edit your profile picture, bio and location.
- Edit or delete your own notes and sources anytime.
The permanent bits
- Your username and full name are set once at sign-up and cannot be changed.
- Sign-in is by email code, so keep access to your email.
Good to know
Do I have to finish a source?
No. Publish at the cadence you chose, at your own pace. When you're done, hit Finish to mark it complete, or just stop.
Does thinking-ape summarize or write anything for me?
No, and it won't. Metadata for books, videos and papers is retrieved automatically. The notes are entirely yours.
Can I publish from my phone?
You can read and browse everywhere. Publishing a note is best on a larger screen, and the editor prompts you to switch to desktop on mobile.
What if the extractor can't read my video or paper link?
Just choose the manual option and type the title, authors and year yourself.
What happens if I miss a due date?
The source is flagged, you get an email, and any note you publish afterward is marked late (and can't be upvoted). Pause the source if you need a real break.