The StoryCAD API Course

This is a hands-on course in building story outlines with the StoryCAD API. You’ll start with the simplest possible program (create an outline and save it) and add one layer at a time until you’ve used the whole API.

Every step is small. Work through them in order, type the code yourself, and run it. By the end you’ll have built a complete outline for a short heist story, The Vault, and you’ll know how to drive every part of the library.

Before you start

You’ll need the library installed and a project to run code in. The Installation page covers that for both C# and Python. If you’ve already done the Quick Start, you’re ready: this course picks up where it leaves off and goes deeper.

Every example comes in two languages. Use the C# / Python tabs on each code block to follow along in whichever you prefer:

var api = Ioc.Default.GetRequiredService<StoryCADApi>();

sc = StoryCAD(headless=True)

What you’ll build

One outline, grown across the lessons:

The Vault: Mara Vance, a retired thief, is pulled back for one last job by her old mentor Eli. Standing in her way is the man who set her up years ago: the Broker.

You’ll add the cast, place the scenes, wire up relationships, give the story a structured problem and a beat sheet, then search, tidy, and save it.

The lessons

  1. Your First Outline: create an outline, save it, open it again.
  2. Adding Story Elements: characters, settings, and scenes; the element tree.
  3. Reading and Editing Elements: set properties and inspect what you’ve stored.

More lessons are on the way, following this path:

  1. Organizing the Outline: folders, sections, and moving elements
  2. Cast and Relationships: who’s in each scene, and how they’re connected
  3. Problems and Conflict: give the story a spine using the conflict catalog
  4. Structure with Beat Sheets: apply and edit a story-structure template
  5. The Writing Tools: master plots, stock scenes, and key questions
  6. Searching Your Outline: find elements and clean up references
  7. Deleting, Trash, and Recovery: remove elements safely
  8. Putting It Together: the full script, end to end

How this fits with the rest of the docs

This course teaches the API by building something. When you want a quick lookup instead of a walkthrough, the API Reference lists every method, and Operations covers individual topics in isolation. The Samples are complete programs you can read and run.

Ready? Start with Your First Outline.

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