Help & Documentation

No account or download is required. Open the app and you can start building your family tree immediately. Your work is automatically saved in your browser after every change.

1. 1Open the app at tree.storylegend.app.
2. 2Click Add Character (bottom-right or left panel) to place your first character on the canvas.
3. 3Click a character to open its details and fill in a name, title, and description.
4. 4Draw connections between characters to create parent-child relationships.
5. 5Use the left panel tools to customize appearance, export, and more.

Each character is a card on the canvas. You can give them a name, title, description, avatar, and relationship notes.

To add a character: Click the Add Character button in the bottom-right corner or the left panel. A new card appears on the canvas.

To edit a character: Click the edit (pencil) icon on a character card, or double-click the card. The edit panel opens with these fields:

Quick Name Edit: Enable Quick Name Edit in the Options > Edit panel to rename characters directly on the canvas without opening the editor — just tap the name on any card, type the new name, then press Enter to save or Escape to cancel.

• Name — the character's display name shown on the card.
• Title — optional subtitle shown beneath the name (e.g. "Queen", "Lord").
• Description — a free-text biography or notes field.
• Avatar — upload a photo or build a custom avatar with the built-in avatar builder.
• Parents / Children / Spouses — manage relationships directly from the edit panel using the dropdowns.
• Relationship Notes — an optional text field to describe this character's connections in prose. You can auto-generate a summary from the current relationship data.

To delete a character: Open the edit panel and click the delete (trash) icon, or hover the card and click the trash icon directly.

There are two types of connections: parent-child and spouse/partner.

Quick-add from a card

The fastest way to grow your tree: tap or click any character card to reveal the quick action menu, then tap Add and choose Parent, Spouse, or Child. A new character is placed on the canvas connected to the source card and the view pans to it automatically.

Parent-child relationships

These appear as lines with arrows from parent to child.

• Drag from a parent card handle to any child card to draw a connection. In Vertical trees the handles are top and bottom; in Horizontal trees they are left and right.
• Or open the edit panel for a character and use the Parents or Children dropdowns to select existing characters.
• Remove the connection by opening the edit panel and clicking the × next to the parent or child name.

Spouse / partner relationships

• Open a character's edit panel and use the Spouse dropdown to pick a partner.
• Spouse connections appear as a shared card or a colored line between the two characters depending on your Spouse Connection Style setting.
• You can remove the spouse connection by clicking × next to the spouse name in the edit panel.

Relationship labels

Each parent-child edge can have a custom relationship type label (e.g. "Adopted", "Step"). Click directly on the connection line to set a label.

Unified parent trees

When two parents are connected as spouses or partners and both are linked to the same child, the app can draw the child branch from the midpoint of the couple line. Toggle this from Canvas → Unified Parent Trees.

The canvas is an infinite drag-and-drop workspace. You can pan, zoom, and arrange characters freely.

• Pan — click and drag on an empty area of the canvas to move around.
• Zoom — scroll the mouse wheel, or use the + / − buttons in the bottom-left corner of the canvas.
• Fit to view — click the fit icon in the canvas controls to center and fit all characters in view.
• Move a character — click and drag a character card to reposition it anywhere on the canvas.
• Select mode — switch from Drag to Select mode to select multiple characters, move or delete them as a group.
• Build direction — use Canvas → Vertical or Canvas → Horizontal to choose whether new relatives build vertically or horizontally. Existing relationship lines reroute to the selected direction.
• Unified parent trees — use Canvas → Unified Parent Trees to make shared children connect from the middle of a spouse/couple line. Turn it off to show separate parent branches.
• Search — use the search icon (left panel) to find and jump to a character by name.
• Focus mode — hides all panels so only the canvas is visible. Toggle it from the top bar. Press Escape or click Exit Focus to return.

Select mode details

• Click or tap a character card to select or deselect it. Selected cards keep a visible checkbox; unselected checkboxes appear when you hover a card.
• Use the select panel at the bottom of the screen for Select All/Deselect All, Delete, Duplicate, and Close button to switch back to Drag Mode.
• The Duplicate button duplicates all selected characters at once — handy for quickly adding family members who share similar details and tree structure.
• On desktop, click and drag over an empty area of the canvas to select multiple characters.

Customize how characters and connections look using the Style and Canvas menus in the left panel.

Character card styles

• Classic — a simple compact card with name and optional title.
• Portrait — emphasizes the avatar image above the name.
• Portrait V2 — a larger portrait layout with more detail visible (default).
• Landscape — a horizontal card layout with the avatar on the left.
• Spotlight — a glowing accent style with a customizable color highlight.

Connection line styles

• Smooth — softly curved lines (default).
• Curvy — pronounced bezier curves.
• Straight — direct lines between cards.
• Branch — smooth orthogonal routes with 90-degree bends, like an org chart or family branch diagram.

Line colors

Set separate colors for parent lines, child lines, and spouse lines using the color pickers in Style → Line Style.

Canvas background

Choose from Dots, Lines, Cross, or None in Canvas → Background. You can also set a custom image as the canvas background.

Theme

Switch between light and dark mode using the theme toggle at the bottom of the left panel.

Start from a pre-built template instead of a blank canvas to save time.

1. 1Click Add Template in the left panel Edit menu (or from the quick-start prompt on an empty canvas).
2. 2Browse the template gallery and click a template to preview it.
3. 3Click Use Template to load it. Characters and connections are placed on the canvas automatically.
4. 4Edit any character or relationship as normal after loading.

Every action is tracked so you can step back through your changes.

• Undo — press Ctrl+Z (or ⌘Z on Mac).
• Redo — press Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z.
• History panel — open from the left panel to see a full timeline of actions. Click any entry to jump to that state.
• History limit — defaults to 50 steps. Adjust in the history panel settings.

Saved versions

Saved versions are full snapshots of your tree that you can browse and restore at any time. They are separate from the undo history — restoring a version replaces your entire tree state, including the tree name, with the saved copy.

• Manual save — click the Save button in the Saved Versions panel to create a snapshot at any moment. Free accounts have limited time save options; Pro accounts can save at any time with no limit. Saved versions are stored upto the last 90 days. Older versions are deleted automatically after the timeframe has passed.
• Automatic snapshots (Pro) — Pro trees create snapshots automatically in the background as you work, so you always have recent recovery points even without clicking Save.
• Rename a version — click any version name to edit it inline. Press Enter or click away to save the new name.
• Restore — click Restore next to any version to revert your tree to that exact state, including the tree name it had at that time. Restoring is logged in your history so you always know what changed and when.
• Version numbers — each saved version is numbered (v1, v2…) and shows the character count at the time it was saved, so you can quickly identify the right point to restore to.
• Version history access — free accounts can view versions saved within the last 7 days (up to the 5 most recent). Pro accounts have unlimited access to their full version history.

Undo is disabled on shared collaborative trees to avoid reverting other people's edits — use saved versions to roll back to an earlier state instead.

Exporting

Access export options from the left panel menu or the Export button.

• JSON — exports the complete tree data as a file, including all appearance and layout settings (card style, edge style, colors, and more). Use this as a backup or to share an exact copy of your tree with someone else.
• Copy as Markdown — copies the tree as structured Markdown text. Great for pasting into AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini.
• Copy as JSON — copies structured JSON to clipboard for AI or developer use.
• Copy as plain text — a simple readable summary of your characters and relationships.
• JPG — exports a full visual image with a solid background. Great for sharing and printing.
• PNG — choose between Solid Background or Transparent Background from the dropdown. Transparent PNG is ideal for layering your tree over other designs.
• SVG — choose between Solid Background or Transparent Background. SVG stays sharp at any size and is perfect for embedding in documents or design tools.
• PDF — exports a print-ready document. Character avatars (uploaded photos and built avatars) are included in all image exports when Show Avatars is enabled.
• Export assets ZIP — downloads all uploaded avatars and canvas background images as a zip file.

Importing

• Click Load from File in the left panel to import a previously exported JSON file.
• If you have existing data on the canvas, you will be asked whether to replace it or merge it with the incoming data.
• Appearance and layout settings saved in the JSON file (card style, edge style, colors, etc.) are automatically restored when you import. If a setting is not present in the file, your current preference is kept.

Without an account: Every change is auto-saved to your browser's local storage. Your tree will still be there the next time you open the app on the same device and browser. Clearing your browser data will erase it, so export a JSON backup if you want a permanent copy.

With an account (free or Pro): Your trees sync to the cloud automatically a few seconds after each change. You can access them from any device and they are protected from browser data clearing.

A sync status indicator in the top bar shows whether your latest changes have been saved to the cloud.

Version backups

In addition to the continuous auto-save, you can create named version snapshots from the History panel. Free accounts can create a manual backup once every few minutes and can view versions from the last 7 days. Pro accounts also get automatic background snapshots and can create manual backups at any time with no waiting period. See History & Undo for details.

Signed-in users can share any tree with others using a link.

1. 1Open the tree you want to share.
2. 2Click Share in the left panel or the top bar.
3. 3Choose a sharing level: View only, Comment, or Edit.
4. 4Copy the share link and send it to anyone.

Access levels

• View only — recipients can pan, zoom, and click characters to read their details, but cannot make changes.
• Comment — recipients can also add comments on individual character cards.
• Edit — recipients can make full edits to the tree (available for invited collaborators).

Trees can be set to public (anyone with the link can view) or private (only people you explicitly invite). New trees are set as private.

See the full breakdown of what's included in each plan on the pricing page.

See the full list of recent updates, new features, and improvements on the Changelog page. No technical jargon, just a clear rundown of what you can do now that you couldn't before.