Something Wrong With the App, Rather Than the Book? Start Here.
Write to [email protected], in English or French. The answers to the usual questions are further down: where your files are, backups, turning the AI off, what leaves your computer, and how to go if you want to.
How to Write to Us
Send your note to [email protected]. A useful one says whether you’re on Mac, Windows, Linux or the web app, whether the project is local or cloud, what you did, what happened instead, and the exact words of any error.
We don’t need your manuscript to fix a bug, and nobody should have to read your first draft on account of one. Don’t paste API keys either.
If you’ve found a bug and can say how to reproduce it, you can also open an issue on GitHub. Issues are public, so leave your book out of them.
If Words Have Gone Missing
Look before you retype anything. Shiro keeps more copies than you might think, and this is the order to check them in.
- The scene’s snapshots. Shiro takes one before a scene’s first change of the day, after each 30 minutes of active writing, before a save that cuts more than half a scene, and before merges and splits. Restoring keeps a snapshot of the current text first.
- Project history. It lists recent changes across the project, and you can undo a single entry without touching anything around it. It goes back as far as 300 entries or 90 days.
- The trash. A deleted scene goes to
.trash/inside the project and remembers where it came from. - Backups. You › Backups lists zip copies for each project. Restore opens one as a new project, so you can copy out what you need and close it.
- Cloud history, for a cloud project. It keeps one version per 10 minutes, for 7 days on a free account and 90 on a paid plan.
What you get back may read worse than the version you remember. It usually does, and that’s no fault of the backup.
Longer Answers Elsewhere
- Your files covers the folder layout, snapshots and merging.
- Import lists what comes across from each app, and moving out of Scrivener goes through it step by step.
- Writing without AI is for anyone who wants the AI gone and to stay gone.
- Pricing says what each plan includes.
The Questions People Ask
Where are my files?
A local project is a folder on your disk, in Documents/Shiro unless you chose somewhere else. Publish › Storage shows where a project lives. A cloud project lives on Shiro Cloud, with a copy kept on each device you use. Download as vault turns it into a folder.
How do I back up?
Shiro already zips each local project when you open it, when you close it and every few minutes while it changes. Those copies stay on the same computer until you choose an external drive or a synced folder in You › Backups, so do that. Restoring opens a copy as a new project and leaves the current one alone. You can also copy a project folder by hand, like any other folder. If you sign in, you can add an encrypted copy in Shiro Cloud, sealed with a passphrase. Write the passphrase down, because Shiro can’t reset it.
How do I turn the AI off?
You › Privacy › Turn AI off. No AI code runs and nothing is sent anywhere, in every project. For one project, use Publish › AI for this project. To keep a single scene away from models and agents, mark it hidden from Shiro, which sets ai: never in its front matter.
What does Shiro send, and to whom?
With a local project and a local model, or with the AI off, nothing leaves your computer. The desktop app contacts no Shiro server until you sign in, collects no usage data and sends no crash reports. With your own key, requests go to that provider. With hosted AI, they go through Shiro Cloud to OpenRouter for chat, fal for images and Replicate for clips. The server stores each call’s model, tokens and cost, and stores prompts only if you turn on Help improve Shiro, which is off by default. What Shiro sent shows every request. Shiro never trains models on your writing, though each provider has its own terms. Cloud projects aren’t encrypted end to end: the server reads them for history, webhooks and agents.
How much of my book does the AI see?
What a task needs, and you can check. A typical request holds the project card, skills, project memory, the scene’s details and beats, World entries that are mentioned or pinned, the end of the previous scene, and up to about 2,000 words before the caret and 300 after. Auto and Max can read further with tools. What Shiro sent shows the real request each time.
How do I leave?
A local project needs nothing from you: it’s a folder of Markdown files, and it stays when you uninstall the app. For another app, Publish exports Word, EPUB, PDF, Markdown, HTML and plain text. For a cloud project, Publish › Storage › Download as vault saves a Markdown folder and removes the cloud copy. Delete removes a cloud project for you and for every co-author. It waits 30 days in Recently deleted, at the foot of Home, where you can restore it, and is then erased for good, so download it first if you want to keep it. Cancel your plan if you have one. To close the account itself, write to [email protected].
My import came out wrong. What now?
The original isn’t changed, so you can try again. After each import, Shiro lists what it left out or changed, under Not carried over, or carried over differently: linked files, items in Scrivener’s trash, custom compile formats, pictures in the text and text boxes, among others. With Word, try another split: headings, page breaks or scene break lines. Word import reads .docx, so save an older .doc as .docx first. The Scrivener importer is written for Scrivener 3 projects. Ulysses, Atticus and Google Docs have no importer of their own, so export a Word .docx from them. If it still looks wrong, send us that list.
How do I cancel a plan?
You › Plan and usage › Manage billing opens the billing portal, where you can cancel. Local projects aren’t affected. Cloud projects can still be downloaded as folders, and cloud history goes from 90 days to the free account’s 7. Paid features such as review links, inviting co-authors and hosted AI stop. If you can’t get in, write to [email protected].
Do I need an account or a connection?
Not for the desktop app, which works offline with no account. Cloud projects, the web app and hosted AI need both. Your own API key needs a connection and no Shiro account.
I changed a file outside Shiro. Is that a problem?
No. Shiro merges the change. On a clash, your words win and the other version becomes a snapshot, so neither is lost.
How do I move to a new computer?
Copy the project folder across, then choose New, then Open project. A backup zip also works, with Restore from a zip file in You › Backups. Cloud projects appear when you sign in. On the old computer, wait until they’ve synced before signing out, because signing out erases that device’s copy.