Welcome to Cicero
| Article Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Category | Start Here |
| Difficulty | Beginner |
| Target OS | Windows · macOS (coming soon) |
| Summary | What Cicero is, who it’s for, and how the Project Hub and your projects fit together. |
Cicero is a desktop app for writing long-form stories and building the world they happen in. Your manuscript and your lore bible live in one project, on your own computer.
It’s built for writers on their first or second book. It works for novels, short stories, novellas, scripts, and D&D campaigns. Though not the main focus, Cicero can also work well for standard writing projects, such as articles, school papers, note taking, knowledge bases, and so on.
The Project Hub and your projects
Section titled “The Project Hub and your projects”Cicero opens on the Project Hub: your list of every project. Here you create, open, edit, back up, and delete projects. Click a project’s card to open it.
Inside a project: three views
Section titled “Inside a project: three views”Each project has three views of its own. Move between them with the nav rail, the column of icons on the left edge of the window.
| View | What it’s for | How to get there |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | This project at a glance: details, word count goal, writing streak, quick links, and recent work. | A project opens here. Or click the Dashboard icon on the nav rail. |
| Workspace | Where you write. Organize your sheets, draft your manuscript, and leave comments. | Click the feather icon on the nav rail, or Open Workspace on the Dashboard. |
| Lorebook | Your story bible: Characters, Locations, Objects, and Concepts, all linked to each other. | Click the books icon on the nav rail. |
To leave a project and go back to the Project Hub, click the C logo at the top of the nav rail.
Sheets
Section titled “Sheets”Everything you write in a project lives on a sheet. There are two kinds:
- Workspace sheets hold your writing: a chapter, a scene, an outline, a research note.
- Lorebook sheets hold your worldbuilding: a character, a city, a cursed ring, a magic system. Each one is a lore element, with tabs and fields for its type.
Your work stays yours
Section titled “Your work stays yours”- Everything is local. Each project is a folder on your computer. Nothing is uploaded anywhere.
- No account. There’s nothing to sign in to.
- No AI. Cicero never reads, drafts, or edits your writing for you.
- Autosave. Cicero saves as you type. There’s no Save button for your writing.