The Scriba guide
One page, every workflow. Skim the section that matches what you're trying to do — or read start-to-finish to see how the pieces connect.
Getting started
What Scriba is, how to sign in, and what you see first.
Scriba is a reading-and-briefing workspace for law students. You read cases in a plain, distraction-free panel, highlight passages, and Scriba drops them into a FIRAC brief with anchors back to the original text. Nothing you write is ever shared without your say-so.
Sign in with Google from /login. On first sign-in Scriba creates your profile, seeds a sample "1L Landmark Cases" course so you can see a finished brief, and drops you on the dashboard.
- · Sign in with Google — no separate password to remember.
- · Your dashboard shows courses, today's readings, and your streak.
- · Everything is desktop-first. Below 960px you'll see a hard block.
Dashboard
Your home base — courses, today's plan, and streak.
The dashboard shows this week's readings across all courses, your active brief count, and your study streak. Pick a course in the sidebar to scope everything to that class.
- Sidebar — courses, notes, and quick links to Import, Schedule, and Assistant.
- Main area — dashboard, a note you opened, or the split-view daily note.
- Footer — status, feedback, and the Help button.
- · Left sidebar lists your courses; the middle is either the dashboard, a note, or a daily-note split view.
- · Start today's reading by picking a course and clicking "Open today's note."
- · Use ⌘K anywhere to jump to a course, note, or setting.
Daily Note
Read on the left, write on the right — one note per day per course.
The daily note is a split workspace: the Reader panel on the left holds the case text you're studying today, and the Notes panel on the right is your working note for the day. Scriba creates one bundle (a parent note plus per-reading child notes) each day per course.
- From the dashboard, pick a course and click "Open today's note."
- In the Reader (left), open one of your saved readings — or use "Paste reading" to drop in text, or "Scan from image" for a casebook photo.
- On the right, write your working notes. The note autosaves.
- Highlight passages in the Reader and tag them F/I/R/A/H to feed the FIRAC brief.
- · Reader panel is on the LEFT, notes on the right.
- · Empty reader? Use the Paste reading tab, or Scan from image.
- · The note autosaves every few seconds — look for the save indicator.
Reading desk
Paste, scan, or open a PDF. Highlight, then tag F/I/R/A/H.
The Reader is deliberately plain — no chat sidebar, no ads. You paste or open the day's opinion, select passages, and tag them.
- F — Facts
- I — Issue
- R — Rule
- A — Analysis / Application
- H — Holding
Anchors are stable: edit the FIRAC section text later and the anchor still points to the exact span you highlighted.
- · Three input modes: Paste text, Scan from image, or Open PDF.
- · Select a passage → tag bar shows F / I / R / A / H.
- · Every tag drops the passage into the matching FIRAC section with an anchor back to the original.
FIRAC brief
Your brief writes itself as you tag. AI-assist only cites what you highlighted.
The FIRAC editor is the right side of the reading workspace. Every tag you place in the Reader appears in the matching FIRAC section, cited to the passage it came from. Edit freely — the anchors follow your edits.
The AI assistant is deliberately grounded. It only cites passages you've highlighted. Case names come with a red "verify" chip until you check them, so hallucinated citations don't slip through.
Export in Word, PDF, Markdown, or Anki. Every export ships with an AI-disclosure appendix listing which passages the assistant touched.
- · Each F/I/R/A/H tag populates the matching section automatically.
- · AI-assist is grounded — it can only cite passages you've highlighted.
- · Case-name suggestions carry a red 'verify' chip until you check them.
Syllabus import
Turn a PDF syllabus into a week-by-week reading plan.
- Drop a syllabus (PDF, DOCX, or plain text) into the upload panel.
- Scriba parses dates, readings, and assessments.
- Review each parsed row — edit or delete anything wrong.
- Accept, and Scriba writes a week-by-week reading plan onto your dashboard with flashcards and spaced-repetition rotation configured.
- · Accepts PDF, DOCX, or pasted plain text.
- · Parsing takes 20–40 seconds for a full semester.
- · Nothing is written to your course plan until you review and accept.
Outlines
Turn a semester of briefs into a topical exam outline.
Outlining without starting from scratch. Scriba pulls your briefs into a topical scaffold — Torts by element, Contracts by formation stage — and you edit from there.
Every topic node keeps anchors back to the original brief and case, so you never lose the source.
- · Pick a course; Scriba drafts a topic tree from your briefs.
- · Every topic has a Hypos block — paste in-class hypos or generate one from AI.
- · Anchors link outline entries back to the original case they came from.
Flashcards & spaced repetition
Cards generated from your own briefs, scheduled D1/D3/D7/D14/D30.
Scriba's cards are generated from rule statements and issue-spotters in your own briefs — not generic Barbri cards. Every card links back to the case it came from.
Open any brief and click "Make cards." Scriba proposes 3–8 cards; accept, edit, or reject each. Accepted cards enter the review rotation.
- · "Make cards" from a brief proposes 3–8 cards to accept, edit, or reject.
- · Reviews run on a D1/D3/D7/D14/D30 curve.
- · Miss a card and its interval resets to D1 — that's how spaced repetition actually works.
Keyboard shortcuts
The moves worth memorizing.
- ⌘K / Ctrl-K — command palette.
- ? — open Help drawer.
- Esc — close drawer or modal.
- ⌘S / Ctrl-S — force-save the active note.
- · ⌘K — command palette (jump to course, note, setting).
- · ? — this cheat sheet.
- · Esc — close any drawer or modal.
Data, privacy, and exports
What we store, what we send to AI, and what leaves your account.
See the full AI-disclosure at /ai-disclosure and privacy policy at /privacy. Nothing you write is used to train a public model.
- · Your notes and briefs stay in your account.
- · AI requests send only the highlighted passages the assistant needs.
- · Every export ships with an AI-disclosure appendix.
Troubleshooting
The six things most likely to go sideways, and how to fix them.
- Today's note won't open — refresh once. The bundle (parent + children) is created on the first open per day.
- Reader looks empty on the daily note — open a saved reading, or use the Paste reading tab / Scan from image.
- AI-assist refuses to cite a rule — it only cites highlighted passages. Highlight the relevant text first.
- Rate-limit (429) on chat — you've sent more than 20 messages in a minute. Wait one minute and try again.
- Viewport looks broken — resize to at least 1024px. Below 960px is a hard block.
- Syllabus parser missed items — add them manually in the reviewer before accepting.
Still stuck? Use the Feedback button in the footer. It goes straight to a human.
- · Today's note won't open → refresh once; the bundle is created on first open.
- · Reader shows "no saved readings" → paste text via the Paste reading tab.
- · AI-assist won't cite something → highlight the passage first.