Question 1

Zotero: how do I let ScholarThread write back to my library?

Accepted Answer

By default the Zotero connection is **read-only** — ScholarThread can
list your collections and import papers, but cannot create, update, or
delete anything in your Zotero library.

To enable write-back (needed for annotation sync, collection edits,
adding papers back to Zotero from ScholarThread):

1. Go to **Settings → Connection → Zotero**.
2. Click **Connect to Zotero**.
3. Login to Zotero with your account
4. On the Zotero authorisation page, click on **"Edit permissions"** before approving.
5. Tick **"Allow notes access"** and **"Allow write access"**; then click on **"Save Key"**
6. You'll be redirected back to ScholarThread; the connection badge
   should now show **Read + Write**.

Zotero's OAuth flow does not let apps request write access implicitly:
the user must tick the box. This is a Zotero policy, not a
ScholarThread limitation.

Question 2

OpenAlex: how do I set my API key (polite pool)?

Accepted Answer

ScholarThread uses [OpenAlex](https://openalex.org/) to enrich paper
metadata (abstracts, authors, citation counts). OpenAlex is free, but 
providing them your email address, allows you to have a personal key that puts you in
the **polite pool**, which has higher rate limits and better
reliability during peak hours.

To set your OpenAlex identifier:

1. Go to https://openalex.org/settings/api-key to create an account and copy the key.
2. Go to Setting -> Connections -> OpenAlex and paste your key
3. Click **Save key**.

To retrieve or change the value later, revisit the same screen. To
remove it and drop back to the anonymous pool, clear the field and
save.

Question 3

Pro: how do I cancel my subscription?

Accepted Answer

You can cancel a Pro subscription at any time from your account
settings — no email, no cancellation form, no retention call.

1. Go to **Settings → Billing**.
2. Click **Manage subscription**. You'll be taken to the Stripe-hosted
   billing portal in a new tab.
3. Click **Cancel plan** and confirm.

Cancellation takes effect at the **end of your current billing
period**. You keep Pro features (ad-free experience, higher usage
caps) until then; after that date your account rolls back to the
Free tier and ads reappear on the marketing and reader surfaces.
Your library, notes, and connections stay intact — the tier change
only affects features, not data.

**Refunds**: we don't provide partial refunds for unused time in the
current billing period, except where consumer-protection law
requires it. UK/EU consumers have a statutory 14-day right to cancel
distance contracts for a full refund, but that right is lost once
you actively use Pro-only features — by upgrading and starting to
use Pro you consent to that loss of right (see the [Terms of
Service](/terms) §8 for the full text).

**Changed your mind after cancelling?** You can re-subscribe at any
time before the current period ends — the cancellation is dropped
and Pro simply continues. After the period ends, resubscribing
starts a fresh billing cycle at whatever price applies then.

Question 4

Obsidian: how do I export my notes as a markdown vault?

Accepted Answer

ScholarThread notes round-trip cleanly with [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/): every note becomes one `.md` file with a YAML frontmatter block, and Note-to-Note links are rendered as `[[wikilinks]]` that Obsidian resolves automatically. Three ways to export: 1. **Single note** — open the note, click the **Download** icon in the header, and the browser saves `-.md` to your default downloads folder. 2. **Whole vault** — from the notes tree (left pane), click **Export vault**. The file that lands is a ZIP with one folder per ScholarThread folder + `Unfiled/` for un-foldered notes + a `README.md` at the root explaining the format. 3. **One folder subtree** — hover a folder row in the tree, click the "⋯" menu, choose **Export as ZIP**. Same layout as the whole-vault export but scoped to that folder. Every file is UTF-8 markdown. Drop the ZIP (or the unzipped folder) into your Obsidian vault directory and you have a working knowledge-base — wikilinks between notes stay clickable inside Obsidian. **Paper / passage links are not part of the export** (those aren't markdown files in your vault). The ScholarThread graph keeps them; they just don't round-trip through Obsidian.

Question 5

Obsidian: how do I import a markdown vault into ScholarThread?

Accepted Answer

Any `.md` or `.zip` file that follows the ScholarThread export
format (or plain Obsidian markdown with `[[wikilinks]]`) imports
back through the same **Import** button in the notes tree.

1. In the notes tree, click **Import**.
2. Pick a `.md` (single note) or a `.zip` (a whole vault or a
   folder subtree).
3. When the upload finishes, a summary appears under the tree:
   *"Imported N notes (X created, Y updated, Z skipped)."*
4. The tree refreshes automatically; new notes land under the
   folder named in each file's frontmatter, or under **Unfiled**
   when the frontmatter is missing / omitted.

Behaviour details:

- **Idempotent.** If a file's `id:` frontmatter matches an existing
  note in your tenant, that note is **updated in place** — no
  duplicates. Importing the same ZIP twice is a no-op.
- **Wikilinks are reconstructed.** A `## Related` section in the
  markdown body is parsed after every note in the batch is upserted;
  wikilinks pointing to files also in the batch become `:LINKS_TO`
  edges in ScholarThread. Wikilinks pointing outside the batch are
  silently dropped (Obsidian's own "unresolved link" behaviour).
- **Foreign-tenant safety.** If you import a ZIP that was exported
  from a *different* ScholarThread account, ids are re-minted so
  you never accidentally overwrite someone else's data.
- **Size cap.** 50 MB per upload. Larger vaults should use the
  Git sync path (below).

Question 6

Git sync: how do I connect a private GitHub / GitLab repository?

Accepted Answer

The Git sync integration keeps your ScholarThread notes and a
private git repository in step — think of it as a persistent
Obsidian vault backed by your own hosting.

1. Create a **fine-grained personal access token (PAT)** on your
   git host. Scope it to the target repository with **contents:
   read+write** (or read-only if you only want the *import* half).
   - GitHub: [Settings → Developer settings → Personal access
     tokens → Fine-grained tokens](https://github.com/settings/tokens?type=beta).
   - GitLab: [Preferences → Access
     tokens](https://gitlab.com/-/user_settings/personal_access_tokens),
     `read_repository` / `write_repository` scope.
2. Go to **Settings → Git sync** in ScholarThread.
3. Paste the HTTPS clone URL (e.g.
   `https://github.com/you/notes-vault.git`), leave **Branch** as
   `main` unless yours differs, paste the PAT into the token
   field, and pick a **direction**:
   - **Export only** — one-way push: ScholarThread → git.
   - **Import only** — one-way pull: git → ScholarThread.
   - **Bidirectional** — both directions, conflicts resolved by
     last-updated timestamp (LWW).
4. Optionally toggle **Auto-sync** and pick an interval (1/6/12/24
   hours). With auto-sync off, the sync runs only when you click
   **Sync now**.
5. Click **Connect**. The PAT is envelope-encrypted with AWS KMS
   before storage; ScholarThread never returns it to your browser
   after the initial submit — the connected view shows only a
   masked placeholder.

**Direct GitHub / GitLab OAuth** is on the roadmap; the PAT path
works with every HTTPS git host (GitHub, GitLab, Gitea,
self-hosted, Codeberg …).

Question 7

Git sync: what happens on conflict?

Accepted Answer

The MVP conflict policy is **last-writer-wins on `updated_at`**.
For every file in the repository:

- If your ScholarThread note is newer than the file, ScholarThread
  wins on that note. The file is rewritten to match.
- If the file is newer than your ScholarThread note (someone edited
  it in Obsidian and pushed), the note is rewritten to match.

No manual conflict resolution UI yet. If both sides edit the same
note between syncs, the more recent edit wins whole-file. Your
edits are never deleted — they may be overwritten by a newer edit
from the other side, but you can recover from the repository's
git history.

If a push is rejected because someone else pushed between
ScholarThread's clone and its own push (bidirectional only),
ScholarThread retries once — re-clones the head, replays the pull,
re-exports, re-pushes. After five consecutive sync failures
auto-sync flips itself off; you fix the underlying issue (usually
an expired PAT) and re-enable it from the Settings page.

Question 8

Am I too young to use ScholarThread?

Accepted Answer

**ScholarThread is intended for users aged 16 and over.** If you're
younger than 16, please don't create an account.

Several parts of the product make it unsuitable for younger users:

- The anonymous and Free tiers show advertising via Google AdSense.
  Google's advertising policies restrict personalised advertising to
  users under 13 (COPPA) and require parental consent for users
  under 16 in most EU member states.
- Analytics (Google Analytics 4) and ads rely on user consent under
  GDPR. Under **GDPR Article 8**, children below the digital-consent
  age (16 in most EU jurisdictions, 13-16 depending on member state)
  cannot give valid consent without parental authorisation — and we
  don't have a mechanism to collect that authorisation.
- Paying for the Pro tier is a legal contract that a minor cannot
  validly enter into without a parent or guardian.
- Single-sign-on providers (Clerk, Google, Microsoft, Apple) each
  impose their own minimum-age requirements.
- Future AI-assisted features (grounded Q&A, viva coaching)
  transmit your notes and passages to third-party language-model
  providers. That's not a data flow we consider appropriate for
  children's material.

If you're a parent or teacher and you'd like a version of
ScholarThread that's designed for younger researchers, drop us a
line at [support](/support) — it's not on the current roadmap, but
we'd like to hear what a school-safe variant would look like.

The full legal treatment lives in our [Privacy Policy](/privacy)
§9 and [Terms of Service](/terms) §4.

Frequently asked questions

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