Shelf

Shelf is a place to keep things you find and want to remember. You save something, and Shelf reads it, writes a short summary, and files it into a category on its own. You do not have to sort anything yourself.

Saving something

Tap the blue + button at the bottom right. Four choices appear:

• Photo or PDF — a screenshot, a photo of a menu, a receipt, a document. You can pick more than one at a time.
• Link — paste a web address. To save several at once, put each one on its own line.
• Text — paste a message, a recipe, or type a note. Use Save & add another to keep adding without closing.
• Place — an address, the name of a shop or restaurant, or a Google Maps link. It goes onto your map.

Quicker ways: copy anything, then open Shelf and press paste (⌘V or long-press → Paste). You can also drag a file onto the page.

Instagram and Facebook: these usually hide their posts from apps like Shelf. If a link comes back empty, take a screenshot of the post and save that instead — Shelf reads screenshots very well.

Getting around

• The ☰ menu button at the top left opens a list of every category, with a count beside each one.
• Along the bottom are four buttons: Library (everything you saved), Travel (your map), Quick Save (the same as the +), and Settings.

Finding things again

• The coloured buttons near the top are categories. Tap one to see only those items. Tap All to see everything again. If there are more than fit, tap ⋯ to see the full list.
• Tap the magnifying glass at the top to search. It looks inside titles, summaries, your own notes, and place names.
• The ⇅ button sorts: newest first, oldest first, A–Z, or by category.
• Beside it, two small icons switch between a list and a grid of pictures. The one lit up is the one you are using.
• Scrolled too far? A ↑ button appears to jump back to the top. Tapping Library at the bottom does the same thing.

Places and the map

• An item that has saved places shows a small pin badge with a number on its card. Tap it to jump to the map with those places shown.
• On the map, the round coloured buttons filter the pins by category. Tap the same one again to show everything.
• Under each place in the Travel list is a link back to the item it came from, so you can always find the original post.

Opening and changing an item

Tap any item to open it. Inside you can:

• Edit title or Change category if Shelf guessed wrong. Your choice sticks and will not be changed again.
• Add note — your own words. Shelf never overwrites these.
• Add photo or PDF — attach more files to the same item.
• Read it — if there is a link, this pulls in the details and may refile the item.
• Places — add an address so it appears on the map, or tap Route here to plan a trip to it.

Deleting

• To delete one item: open it, scroll down, tap Remove from shelf.
• To delete several: tap Select, tick the ones you want, then tap Delete.

Shelf always asks before deleting anything. Deleting cannot be undone, and it removes the item from all your devices.

The Travel tab

Any place Shelf finds appears here on a map. To plan a trip: tick the places you want, choose where to start (From) and end (To), then tap Plan route. Open in Google Maps hands the whole route to Google Maps for directions.

If a place is not on the map, tap Locate to try again, or Pin to set its position yourself. Small food stalls often are not in the map database, so pinning them by hand is normal.

Using Shelf on more than one device

Open ⚙ Settings and tap New code. Write that code down. On your other phone or computer, open Settings there, tap Enter code, and type the same code. Both now share the same shelf.

Important: keep the code somewhere safe. Nobody can recover it for you, and anyone who has it can see your shelf.

Keeping a backup

In ⚙ Settings, tap Export everything to save a copy to your device. Import from JSON puts it back. Doing this now and then is worth the ten seconds.

When an item will not read

Your own AI key has a free daily allowance. If you use it up, items are still saved but left unread — nothing is lost. A note appears above the list with a Retry all button; tap it later and Shelf reads them one at a time.

Saving several things at once is fine. Shelf reads them one after another on purpose, because asking too quickly is what uses the allowance up.

No key yet? Items will say so and wait. Add one in ⚙ Settings, then tap Retry all.

Your AI key — set this up first

Shelf reads and files your saves using Google’s Gemini AI, and everyone brings their own free key. That way nobody’s busy day slows anyone else down. The first time you open Shelf it asks you to do this:

• Go to aistudio.google.com/apikey and sign in with any Google account.
• Tap Create API key. It is free and does not ask for a card.
• Copy it, paste it into Shelf, and tap Save and start. Shelf checks the key works before keeping it.

You can also do this later in ⚙ Settings → Your own AI key, and Test key there will tell you whether it is working.

The key stays on that one device. It is never synced, never included in a backup, and never sent to whoever set Shelf up. If you use Shelf on a phone and a computer, add the key on each one.

Without a key, saving still works — your items are kept, they just wait unread until you add one. Then tap Retry all and Shelf reads everything that was waiting.

Replacing your AI key

If your key stops working, or you want to use a different Google account, you can swap it at any time:

• Open ⚙ Settings and find Your own AI key.
• Paste the new key over the old one — saving replaces it.
• Tap Test key to check it works.
• Remove key clears it from this device. Saving still works afterwards; items just wait unread.

Deleting a key in Google AI Studio does not remove it from Shelf. If you delete it there, paste a new one here too, or reading will stop.

The AI model

Google adds and retires models over time. Shelf asks your key which ones it can use and picks the newest lightweight one by itself, so a retirement usually fixes itself without you noticing.

⚙ Settings → AI model shows which one is in use. Check again forces a fresh look, which is worth trying if reading suddenly stops. You can type a model name to pin it, but leaving it blank is better for most people — a pinned model will eventually be retired and stop working.

Changing how the map looks

⚙ Settings → Map style offers three looks. If the map ever shows an error instead of streets, switch to a different one — they come from different providers, so one working when another does not is normal.

If something looks wrong

• "Behind a login" — the page will not show itself to Shelf. Screenshot it and save the picture instead. Instagram and Facebook usually need this.
• "The free daily quota is used up" — your key’s allowance for today is gone. Nothing is lost: wait, then tap Retry all.
• "Add your own AI key in Settings" — Shelf has no key on this device yet. See Your AI key above.
• "That key was rejected" — the key was mistyped or has been deleted in Google AI Studio. Create a new one and paste it in.
• Reading stopped working after a while — Google sometimes retires an AI model. Shelf normally switches by itself; if it does not, open ⚙ Settings → AI model and tap Check again.
• "The AI service was busy" — just try again in a moment.
• The map shows an error — change Map style in Settings.
• Nothing seems to update — close Shelf completely and open it again. Refreshing alone is sometimes not enough.
• Your other device is missing things — check both devices have the same sync code in Settings, then tap Sync now.