Use the Wenlan Desktop App

The desktop app is optional. Install it for your platform and open your library to add material, read pages, and connect AI tools. Your library remains local; connected tools may send retrieved material to their provider.

To import existing material, open Settings > Sources. Choose a connected source, Paste or import, or a chat history import, and follow the prompts for the material you chose. You can also write a page yourself.

Importing adds material; it does not guarantee a page is created immediately. In On demand mode, use /wenlan steep in Claude Code or $wenlan steep in Codex to turn saved material into pages.

Use Search and enter a name or phrase; results can include pages, memories, and sources. Open a page result to read it. Use the page editor to make a change. Changes save automatically; if saving fails, use the retry control.

If the expected result is missing, check your search terms and the active Space.

Open a page and select a citation or its Sources view to inspect the material behind it. Compare the source with the claim, especially before using an important result. A page may have uncited or unverified content.

In Settings, choose Automatic or On demand steeping. When Ask me first on pages I wrote is enabled, proposed AI changes to pages you edit wait for review. Open Review changes, inspect the proposed revision, and accept it only if it reflects the source.

A connected AI tool can draw an HTML view for one of your pages: a layout that shows the page's own text, its links, and the other pages in its Space. Ask the tool to read the page with read_page_look and save the view with set_page_look. The page file does not change, and the view cannot load anything from the internet. On a page with a view, the pencil in the top bar shows the text for editing.

Home can have one too: ask the tool to do the same for @home. Home's view belongs to the theme in use. It is saved as home.html in that theme's folder, so choosing another theme changes home with it. Settings > Appearance shows this theme's home under the theme cards, where you can remove the view (with Undo) or copy a request for your AI tool.

In Settings > Connections, use Add a tool for a supported local AI client. To connect a web client, turn on experimental Web access, choose what to share, and approve only a pairing you started. Search and write permits the client to add, edit, and delete memories and pages in that scope; Search only permits searching. Your computer must be online to serve web requests.

The desktop app uses Wenlan's local daemon and library. Read the architecture guide for storage, search, and API details.

The desktop app and backend live in the Wenlan repository. The app source has its own license terms; check them before reusing its code.