The add / edit form is split into five tabs (the tabs are described below). Whichever tab a field sits on, fields fall into two groups: catalog fields (come from the server, updated by sync) and personal fields (yours alone, never sent to the server).
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If you edit these fields manually, the next sync will overwrite them (the server has the last word).
Three things belong to neither group: the chain name, relations and the chronology markers you added yourself. They do not come from the server, but they are not personal either — they are this installation's curation data; sync leaves them alone and they go into the JSON backup. Details: Relations.
+/- buttons in the listThe server never touches these. Write and edit them as much as you like.
The form has five tabs. The tabs only divide the layout: it is still one form and saving saves all of it at once. If a required field was left empty on another tab, the form switches to that tab and shows the field. The tab you last had open is remembered for the browser session.
On the online site every member sees the add form; the edit form (and with it the Relations panel) is for moderators and above. On your own installation both are yours.
You have two different personal text fields. Their differences:
| Field | Purpose | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Notes | Short reminders | "Watch together with a friend", "Speed up after the first 3 episodes" |
| Personal Synopsis | Longer commentary, your own summary | Your own translation, your own commentary, your own summary |
Initially there is only one "Synopsis" field. Whatever you wrote or the server provided lives there. If new content arrives from the catalog and you had your own writing in that field, the first sync does the following:
A synopsis can carry a clickable link to another anime — so that the name in "this film is a re-imagining of Death Note" leads to that anime's page. You do it with a small code in the text: [[anime:2994|Death Note]]. The number is the anime's MAL id, what follows the vertical bar is the visible label; with no label ([[anime:2994]]) the target's own title is printed. On the detail page the code becomes a link; in short teasers such as the recommendation card only the label shows.
Why a code and not a plain link? The synopsis text travels with the catalog to every installation, and record numbers differ from one installation to the next; a MAL id is the same everywhere, and each installation resolves it to its own record. If the target anime is not in that installation's catalog, the link quietly falls back to plain text and the sentence still reads. Raw HTML is refused for the same reason: the text reaches every member, so no outside address or script may ride inside it.
You do not have to remember the number. On the add / edit form, under every synopsis box on the "Synopsis & Genres" tab, there is an "Add anime link" button. It opens a search box; as you type it searches this catalog (not MAL — an anime missing from the catalog does not appear). Picking a result writes the code at the cursor position by itself; the label follows your Title Language preference. If you pick a part of a shared source record the code carries the part too ([[anime:2994/2|...]]; the list shows a "MAL 2994 · 2/3" badge — see Shared Record). The same button and the same code work in your personal synopsis.
[, ] or | in the label — the picker strips them by itself; typed by hand they close the code early. Only anime with a MAL id can be a target. If the picker does not open (JavaScript off) the code can be typed by hand and the boxes work as usual. Anime titles are shown in Romaji by default (e.g. "Shingeki no Kyojin"). Under List Settings → "Title Language" you can pick another language: English, Japanese, Turkish, Chinese, Korean or French. Choosing English, for example, gives you "Attack on Titan".
The source sites and the catalog do not always agree on what counts as "one anime". MyAnimeList sometimes bundles two cours, a series and its sequel film, or a handful of short OVAs into one record; the catalog may want to keep them apart. Normally the same MAL or AniDB number cannot be given to a second record — that is what stops accidental duplicates. The shared-record checkbox is the deliberate exception to that rule: the statement "this source record is several anime here".
On the detail page, next to the link under "Anime Sites", a badge like "MyAnimeList · 2/3" appears — only when the number really is shared. Right below, the "Same Source Record" section lists the other parts carrying the same number, with their part number and your watch status. That section is not a relation; it is derived from the data. If you also want an order between the parts ("Sequel"), you set that in the Relations panel.
[[anime:2994]] in a synopsis points at the first part; a specific part is written as [[anime:2994/2]]. The link picker on the synopsis field writes this for you.For further questions: more detailed technical information is on the project's GitHub page.
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