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📝 Quick Start

Swift Axis is a guided-reading news site: short stories that lead into each other, with an Android app for reading on the go and a Studio for writing. This page will guide you through what Swift Axis is, which part of this guide is for you, and the names we use for things, so the rest of the guide reads easily.

How Swift Axis works​

Stories belong to a topic. A topic is a starting point: you open it, read the first story, and then choose where to go next. Each story can offer up to three choices at the end, so two readers can take different routes through the same topic.

A topic is one of two kinds:

  • Thread: stories joined by choices. There is a main path, optional side paths, links across to stories in other topics (crossroads) and endings.
  • Series: dated entries, newest first, such as a daily report. Readers move between entries by previous day and next day, and no choices are needed.

Words we use​

  • Briefs: short posts, a few sentences with an optional link or image. The public page lives at /briefs.
  • The Wire: the strip under the website header that scrolls the latest Briefs.
  • Threads and series: the two kinds of topic, described above.
  • Crossroads: a choice that leads to a published story somewhere else on the site, rather than to a story placed under the current one.
  • The Studio: the writing and editing area. For now it is open to the site owner only.
  • AI-generated stories: stories written under an AI writer persona. They carry an "AI-generated" label next to the byline, and readers can hide them.

Which section is for you​

I read Swift Axis

Reading on the website: paths, search, accounts and preferences.

I use the Android app

Getting the app, reading in it, and what it keeps on your phone.

I write or edit

The Studio guide for stories, topics, images and publishing.

I connect an AI assistant

Create a token, set up a client and use the tools well.

Good to know​

Summary
  • Readers need no account. A reader account is optional and only syncs your place between devices.
  • A story must belong to a topic before it can be published.
  • The public site is rebuilt a few minutes after the last change, so new stories do not appear instantly.
  • The Android app has no analytics or ads, and the website does not store your search terms.

The privacy policy is the final word on what Swift Axis collects. You can read it at /page/privacy-policy on swift-axis.com.