Custom Entities & Worldbuilding

Wonderthrough is built around the idea that your world is more than a pile of notes. You can keep using the built-in entity types, or you can create custom ones when your project needs a structure the default set does not cover cleanly.

What custom entities are

A custom entity type is your own category of worldbuilding entry. Instead of forcing everything into people, places, items, or a generic note, you can create a type that matches the way your world actually works.

That is useful when a concept shows up repeatedly and deserves a consistent home. If you keep tracking the same kind of thing over and over, that is usually a sign it may want its own type.

Built-in types vs custom types

Start with the built-in types unless you have a clear reason not to. They are the fastest path, and they already cover many common worldbuilding jobs.

Create a custom type when the built-ins feel like a bad fit, or when you need a recurring category with its own identity. If you only need one isolated extra note, you probably do not need a whole new type yet.

Good reasons to create a custom type

Custom types are most helpful when the category matters across the project rather than in just one scene. Examples might include factions, magic systems, religious orders, species, artifacts, courts, ships, planets, or institutions.

The common pattern is not genre-specific. The question is simply whether this is a meaningful repeated class in your world, not whether it fits a fantasy or science-fiction template.

How folders and type hubs work

Your worldbuilding can be organized into folders, and the entity types inside those folders appear in the navigation sidebar. Folders are for the human shape of the world: what belongs together, what should sit near each other, and what should be easier to browse.

An entity type hub is the home for one type as a whole. It gives that type a shared place for notes and for browsing the entries inside it, while individual entity pages hold the actual entries themselves.

When to use custom fields

Custom fields are helpful when you want the same kind of information captured repeatedly in a predictable place. They are different from freeform notes because they make the structure explicit.

Use them when the repeated question matters. If you are only capturing something once or twice, plain notes are usually simpler.

How worldbuilding connects to scenes and books

Your worldbuilding is meant to support the manuscript, not compete with it. Entities give Wonderthrough clearer context for reference, search, and AI-assisted project work, and they give you a stable place to keep facts that would otherwise get scattered across scenes and notes.

That does not mean every idea needs a full entity. Sometimes the right answer is still just a note inside the project, or a detail kept directly in scene work until it proves important enough to formalize.

New type vs new entry vs note

Create a new type when you are inventing a whole category that will likely contain multiple entries.

Create a new entry when the category already exists and you are just adding another person, place, object, group, or concept inside it.

Use a note when the information is still rough, one-off, or too small to justify structure yet.

Keeping your structure simple

The usual mistake is creating too much structure too early. A world with ten careful types is often easier to use than a world with thirty barely used ones.

Add structure when repetition shows up, not just because the option exists. If you find yourself inventing types that only ever hold one entry, that is often a signal to step back.

Common modeling mistakes

One common mistake is splitting one idea across too many places, so you are no longer sure which page is authoritative. Another is adding many custom fields before you know which details really matter.

It is also easy to use structured entities for material that would work better as a simple note. Structure is most valuable when it reduces confusion, not when it creates bookkeeping.

Evolving your world over time

You do not need to design the perfect taxonomy on day one. It is normal to start with a lighter structure, then add folders, new types, or custom fields once your project reveals what it actually repeats.

Refining the structure later is part of the process, not a sign you set it up wrong. The best world model is the one that stays useful while you keep writing.

For bringing source material into a structured project, see Import & Merge.
For searching across your world once it exists, see World Search.