Getting started with Wren

Wren is an AI writing collaborator for LinkedIn. It helps you develop what you want to say, shape it into a post that sounds like you, and learn from what happens after you publish.

This guide starts after onboarding. If you are still setting up your profile, writing samples, voice, or audience, follow the onboarding walkthrough first.

The Getting Started checklist

After onboarding, the sidebar shows four actions:

1. Choose something to write about
2. Connect LinkedIn
3. Turn on post analytics
4. Publish your first post

Choosing a topic and publishing are the two core milestones, so the checklist progress runs from 0/2 to 2/2. LinkedIn and analytics remain visible as optional setup and do not block completion. Set the connections up before you publish if you want Wren to publish directly and begin collecting performance data from your first post.

The Explore Wren link under the checklist brings you back to this guide. You can dismiss the checklist at any time.

Step 1: Choose something to write about

The simplest place to start is Ideas.

1. Open Ideas from the sidebar.
2. Choose an idea you have already saved, or select New Idea to add one.
3. Open the idea and select Write This when you are ready to turn it into a post.

An idea does not need to be polished. A question, an opinion, a lesson from work, or a story you keep telling is enough. Wren can help you find the useful point and develop the supporting details.

You can also begin with material from Sources. Open a saved article, trend, suggested idea, call, Readwise item, or Top Hit, then promote an angle to your Idea Bank. Available source types depend on your plan.

Learn more:

• The Idea Bank
• The Sources page
• How Wren suggests post ideas

Step 2: Connect LinkedIn

Connect LinkedIn if you want to publish directly from Wren.

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Connected Accounts, then LinkedIn.
3. Select Connect LinkedIn and complete LinkedIn's sign-in flow.
4. Return to Wren and confirm that the connection shows your LinkedIn name.

You can still write in Wren without this connection. If you publish on LinkedIn yourself, mark the post as published in Wren afterward and add its LinkedIn URL when you have it.

Learn more: Connecting your accounts.

Step 3: Turn on post analytics

The Wren browser extension reads performance data for your own LinkedIn posts and syncs it to Wren. It never writes to LinkedIn.

1. Open Settings → Connected Accounts → Extension.
2. Install the Wren browser extension from the Chrome Web Store.
3. Return to the Extension section and select Connect extension.
4. Turn on Keep my analytics up to date automatically if you want ongoing capture.
5. Leave Chrome open while the first sync runs. Your recent posts will appear gradually.

This step is optional. It is useful to complete before your first post so Wren can begin building a performance history earlier.

Learn more:

• The Wren browser extension
• Tracking your performance

Step 4: Develop the post

Wren's writing chat lets you move through the work in stages. You decide when to move from one stage to the next.

1. Develop the idea. Talk it through in the chat, or use @interview when you want Wren to ask direct questions and draw out the story, examples, and point of view behind it.
2. Shape the structure. Use @outline to create a section-by-section plan and compare possible openings.
3. Write the draft. Use @draft once the direction feels right. Wren uses your saved voice profile and the context in the conversation.
4. Review the work. Read the draft yourself. Use @feedback when you want a scored critique with specific revision guidance.
5. Revise. Use @draft again to apply the feedback, or tell Wren exactly what you want changed.
6. Save the version you want. Keep editing in the post until it is ready to publish.

You can pause, ask a question, or return to an earlier stage at any point. Wren does not move through the stages or publish without your direction.

Learn more:

• How a writing session works
• Using @mode hints in writing chat
• Adding images to a post

Step 5: Publish your first post

Open the finished post in Posts.

• If LinkedIn is connected, select Publish and confirm the action.
• If you published outside Wren, mark the post as Published and add its LinkedIn URL. The URL helps Wren match the post to analytics captured by the extension.
• If you are not ready to publish now, schedule the post or set a reminder.

Finishing a draft in chat does not publish it. Immediate publishing is always a separate action you take in Wren.

Learn more: Managing your posts.

Step 6: Bring useful material into Sources

Sources gives you places to start before you open a blank draft. You do not need to connect every source. Choose the ones that fit how you already work.

• Saved holds articles you add by URL or capture with the browser extension.
• Trends shows timely subjects worth considering.
• Recommended holds angles Wren has surfaced for you to review.
• Readwise brings in reading from Readwise Reader.
• Calls turns meeting transcripts into source material you can search, discuss, and promote into ideas.
• Top Hits surfaces strong published posts and possible ways to develop a new angle from them once enough performance data exists.

Open a source, review the available angles, and promote the one you want into your Idea Bank. The source stays connected to the idea and the post that follows.

Learn more:

• The Sources page
• Send call transcripts from any tool

Step 7: Connect the tools you want to keep using

Open Settings → Connected Accounts to add optional workflows:

• Telegram for capturing ideas and receiving writing nudges.
• MCP server for working with your Wren account from Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or another compatible AI client.
• Readwise for bringing saved reading into Sources.
• Recorder for bringing in transcripts from supported meeting tools.
• Extension for saving articles, onboarding capture, and LinkedIn analytics.

These are separate paths into the same writing system. Add the connections that remove friction from your current workflow. You can return later if another one becomes useful.

Learn more:

• Connecting your accounts
• Connect Wren to an AI client over MCP
• The Wren browser extension

Step 8: Keep your writing context current

Wren uses the documents created during onboarding to understand your voice, background, audience, and boundaries. Review them when your work or writing changes.

1. Open My Docs.
2. Review your Voice Profile, About Me, Audience, and any optional context documents you use.
3. Add newer writing samples when they better represent how you write now.
4. Update the underlying profile or audience information before regenerating a document that is out of date.

Your documents are working context, not a one-time setup artifact. Keeping them accurate gives Wren better material to work from.

Step 9: Build a repeatable rhythm

Once the first post is published, decide what a sustainable cadence looks like.

1. Set or review your writing goal.
2. Turn writing nudges on or off based on whether they help.
3. Keep a few useful ideas ready in your Idea Bank.
4. Schedule a post when a date matters, or publish when the work is ready.

The goal is not to use every feature. It is to keep the path from expertise to a finished post clear enough that you can return to it.

Step 10: Learn from performance

Return to Analytics after the extension has collected data.

1. Start with the performance of individual posts.
2. Compare reach, engagement, and LinkedIn-attributed follower growth over time.
3. Open What's working when enough history exists to compare patterns across your own posts.
4. Set up your content pillars in Settings → Post Settings if you want to compare performance by the themes you plan around, rather than only by the labels Wren infers.
5. Review Top Hits when Wren has enough mature post data to identify work that stands out against your normal results.
6. Carry what you learn into the next idea, outline, or draft.

Analytics becomes more useful as your history grows. It is normal for these sections to be limited or empty at the beginning.

Learn more:

• Tracking your performance
• How Wren labels your posts
• Content pillars
• How Wren decides a pattern is real

A useful first-week path

If you want the shortest route through this guide:

1. Choose one real idea.
2. Connect LinkedIn and analytics if you want them ready from the start.
3. Use interview, outline, draft, and feedback to finish the post.
4. Publish it.
5. Add one source or connection that fits how you already collect material.

You can return for the rest when it becomes relevant.