Import & Parse
Papers, photos, notes — even content drafted by another AI — all turn into experiments in one shot.
Ways to import
Five sources — all go through Smart Review before becoming a full experiment:
| Source | How to import | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Paper PDF | Drop into Vara chat / + Attach / dashboard hero | Auto-detects discipline, extracts accordingly |
| Experiment photos · handwritten notes | Same as above, vision model reads the image | Upload iPhone HEIC directly, auto-converted to JPG |
| Multiple images | Up to 3 at a time | Combined extraction across pages, no duplicates |
| Web / note text | Paste into the chat, say "turn this into an experiment" | Plain text parses too |
| Markdown drafted by an external AI | Paste in using the import template | No cold start — bring over work organized elsewhere |
Two parse modes
- New experiment: parse a whole paper / multiple experiments → create an experiment + N steps.
- Append sub-experiment: within an existing experiment, parse a single protocol step and add it.
Long PDFs (within 200K chars) parse in full; oversized text is truncated for the agent to grasp an overview.
Import from an external AIno cold start
Already drafted a protocol in ChatGPT / Claude / DeepSeek? No need to redo it in Vara — bring the whole set in and fill a new account instantly. This is an experiment-level import (sub-experiments, parameters, materials), different from parsing a single document.
Entry: on the starter page or the new-experiment page, open "Want a more accurate parse? Copy a prompt for your AI" under the "Paste text" card. If you already have experiments, the [Import from external AI] button at the top right of the home page works too. The steps:
- Copy the Prompt — the page gives you a ready-made structured prompt; click "Copy Prompt".
- Feed it to the external AI — paste the Prompt together with your paper / notes / even a one-line research idea into ChatGPT / Claude / DeepSeek and let it generate the result.
- Paste back into Vara — paste the AI's Markdown output back in, or upload a
.md/.txtfile.
After submitting, it enters Smart Review (including material confirmation); confirm to generate the full experiment. The Prompt is provided in Chinese or English to match your interface language.
Why this avoids a cold start: new users have often already drafted a protocol in another AI — this path moves that work over in one click, instead of starting from a blank account.
How it differs from Quick Import: Quick Import parses a single PDF / image into one sub-experiment in a single local step; external-AI import brings over the whole experiment and needs one round trip through the external AI.
Import protocols from protocols.ioprotocol library
protocols.io hosts a huge library of public protocols. In the Template Library, click [Import from protocols.io], find a protocol, save it as your own experiment template, then apply it to create an experiment. Public protocols only — no protocols.io login needed.
- Search: type a keyword (Chinese works too — auto-translated to English for the search); results show step count / reagent count / DOI.
- Save as template: pick one to store its steps + reagents as an experiment template, filed under the "protocols.io" source, with the original DOI link kept.
- Apply: on a template, click "Use / create experiment" to turn the section-grouped steps into a new experiment.
Auto-translation for Chinese users: when your interface is in Chinese, protocol titles / steps are auto-translated (reagent names, catalog numbers, and technical abbreviations stay in English for searchability), labeled "AI-translated, please verify against the source".