Books have an AI generate button built into every level of the editor. Give it a prompt and some context, and it drafts content you can edit. It's not magic — it's a writing partner. The better your context, the less editing you'll do after.
Where the button is
Open any Part, Chapter, or Section editor. Next to the content field you'll see a Generate with AI control. Click it and a prompt dialog appears.
The two inputs
- AI Prompt — what you want the AI to write. "Write an introduction to why testing matters for junior engineers" is a prompt. "Write chapter" is not — too vague to produce anything useful.
- Context — supporting material the AI should lean on. Notes, outline points, key facts, a rough draft you want rewritten. Pasted alongside the prompt, not shown to readers.
AI Reference Data — the persistent context
Each level also has a standalone AIReferenceData field on the record itself. This field persists — the AI pulls from it automatically on every generate call at that level. Use it for context you want to reuse:
- Style guide notes ("target audience: non-technical, avoid jargon").
- Chapter-wide facts the AI should always remember.
- Terminology the book uses consistently.
- The overall outline of the book, dropped in at Book / Part level so every generation has the big picture.
AI Reference Data isn't displayed in the rendered book — it's a private drafting aid.
Good prompts, bad prompts
Good: "Draft 400 words introducing the concept of idempotency to an engineer who knows HTTP but has never written a retry loop. Use one concrete HTTP example. Keep the tone matter-of-fact."
Bad: "Write about idempotency."
The difference: length, audience, examples, tone. Specifying those four turns a generic paragraph into something you can use.
Workflow patterns
- Outline first, generate later. Build the full Part/Chapter/Section skeleton with just titles. Fill AI Reference Data at Book level with the outline and target reader. Then generate Section by Section — each has the whole book's context automatically.
- Draft then refine. Generate a rough cut, paste it into Content, edit directly. Regenerate a paragraph if a section isn't working.
- Expand from notes. Paste bullet-point notes into Context with a prompt like "expand these notes into a 500-word section." Faster than writing from blank.
What the AI won't do for you
- Guarantee correctness. Technical content especially needs human review — the AI will confidently write things that are almost right.
- Match your voice exactly. Expect to edit sentence-level rhythm and word choice, even on good drafts.
- Know facts that aren't in the prompt, the context, or the AI Reference Data.
Infographics
Some editors expose a Request Infographic button alongside the AI generate one. This asks the AI to produce an infographic-style visual summary of the content. Useful for Chapter intros and Section recaps. Treat the result as a starting image — you'll likely want to refine or replace it.