Your First Day with SoloEnt

This guide follows the order a new user actually works through. Budget about 15 minutes.

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Step 1: Download

Go to soloent.ai, click Download in the top-right corner, and pick the build for your machine. Windows users: check your chip architecture. Mac users: check whether you need the Apple Silicon or Intel build.

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Step 2: Install

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Windows

You may see a security warning during installation. This is because SoloEnt is not distributed through the Microsoft Store — the installer itself is safe. Choose Trust, Accept, Keep,or Run to continue.

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Mac

Double-click the installer and drag the app into your Applications folder.

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Step 3: Set your language

The first time you open SoloEnt, the welcome page has a language switcher in the top-right corner. Once you are in the app, the settings icon in the top-right of the Agent panel gives you two separate options:

• Preferred Language — the language the AI replies in
• Interface Language — the display language of the Agent panel itself

These two are independent, so an English interface with replies in another language is a valid combination.

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Step 4: Pick a color theme

If you write for long stretches, start with a theme that is easy on the eyes. In the theme picker, use the arrow keys to preview themes live and press Enter to confirm.

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Step 5: Open or create a project

In SoloEnt, one work equals one folder stored locally on your machine. The first thing to do after launching the app is open a folder.

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Open an existing project

Select the project folder and click Open.

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Create a new project

In the file picker, navigate to where you want the work to live, click New Folder in the bottom-left, then open it. Once it is open, the Agent will look for and create files in that folder as your writing requires — world, characters, outline, chapters, and so on.

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Step 6: Learn the interface

The interface has three panels, left to right. Every divider is draggable. The four icons in the top-right switch between layout presets.

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Step 7: Sign in

You need to be signed in to use the official models and your free credits.

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Step 8: Configure your API

This is where new users most often get stuck, but most people do not need to configure anything — sign in and the free official models are ready to use.

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Two ways in

• Quick — click the model name at the bottom of the Agent chat box to open the model settings directly
• Full — click the settings icon in the Agent panel and go to API Configuration

The configuration page has two columns: Official (no setup, just pick a model) and BYOK (bring your own API key or a local model).

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Option A: Use the official API (recommended for beginners)

No configuration needed. Sign in and go.

• Free models are provided, and every registered user gets US$0.5 in trial credit
• More free credit is available through platform activities
• The free model list and any discounts change with ongoing promotions
• Lite, Pro, and Max subscribers get every model in the VIP list, always the latest official releases. Membership switches you to the VIP list automatically
• Official API pricing matches each model vendor’s own pricing, with no surcharge

You can search the model list by name or vendor. Each model shows its context length and input/output pricing.

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Option B: Bring your own third-party API key (BYOK)

First, one thing to be clear about: an API key is not the same as a subscription on the model vendor’s website. Many people assume a US$20 monthly plan on a vendor’s site includes API access. It does not — the two are billed separately. An API key is:

• Your credential for calling the model
• The thing your usage is billed against
• A secret worth protecting. It looks like sk-abc123xyz456... — never share it, never commit it to a public repository

To configure: Buy only from official sources, and be careful with payment details.

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Option C: Reuse an existing Codex or Claude Code subscription

If you already pay for either one, you can spend that subscription inside SoloEnt and still get SoloEnt’s writing Skills. Codex — choose BYOK, set the provider to OpenAI Codex, click Sign in to OpenAI Codex, then pick a Codex model from the model list. Claude Code — install the Claude Code CLI locally and sign it into your subscription first. Then choose BYOK, set the provider to Claude Code, and pick the Claude model you want. No other setup is needed.

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Advanced: different models for Plan and Act

Official models can be assigned separately to planning and execution:

• Planning rewards structure and good clarifying questions — Sonnet and GLM do well here
• Execution rewards speed, concision, or lower cost — Gemini and Doubao do well here

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Step 9: Install your first plugin

Plugins are how SoloEnt’s writing capabilities are distributed. A plugin may contain a Rule, a Workflow, a Skill, or any combination, aimed at one specific writing scenario. You never have to create configuration files by hand — install it and follow its instructions. You can browse everything published at soloent.ai/en/plugins.

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Open a project first (this matters)

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Open the Marketplace

Click the Marketplace icon (the cube) at the top of the Agent panel. Two ways to browse:

• Type a keyword in the search bar
• Use the language filter in the top-right (English, 中文, 日本語, 한국어, Español)

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Read the detail page

Open a plugin to see its detail page. The things worth reading:

• Name and summary — one or two sentences on the problem it solves
• Install count — a rough signal of how well it works
• Usage — how to invoke or trigger it
• Contents — which of Rule / Workflow / Skill it includes
• Core rules — the logic behind it, at a glance
• Version — the currently available version

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Install and verify

Click Install on the detail page. Installed plugins appear under the Installed tab. Depending on what the plugin contains, verify the files landed: A combined plugin will show up in more than one place.

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Start using it

The three content types are triggered differently:

• Rule — active as soon as it is installed, nothing to call
• Workflow — triggered by its command
• Skill — triggered automatically when the situation calls for it

Every plugin’s detail page documents its trigger, its prerequisites (for example, having a chapter file open), and what it produces. Read that page fully before you start.

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After that: three things worth doing immediately

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1. Understand Plan mode vs Act mode

Switch between them in the bottom-left of the Agent chat box.

• Plan — produces a proposal without touching files. Use it when starting a book, when you are stuck, or when restructuring. It analyzes, breaks the work into steps, and asks for confirmation, ending with a plan you have approved.
• Act — does the work: creates files, edits text, runs commands. Day-to-day writing stays in Act.

A good rhythm: start a new project in Plan, switch to Act once the plan is agreed, and go back to Plan when you are stuck or making a large change.

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2. Initialize SOLOENT.md

Type /init in the chat and SoloEnt generates a SOLOENT.md for the current project. It is the project’s control panel and the AI’s long-term memory, covering eight sections: project DNA, world system, characters, plot and structure, style guide, constraints and taboos, live writing state, and roadmap. It exists to solve consistency over long works. Short projects and non-fiction do not need it. As you write, the Agent maintains the live writing state and roadmap sections on its own. The two you should edit by hand are the style guide and the constraints.

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3. Where to get help