Chronicle combines typewriter Zen writing, visual story timelines, interactive cast presence matrices, living character codexes, on-device audio proofreading, and bookstore-ready PDF and EPUB exports—all in one private, free desktop and web app.
Vertical eye-level lock, paragraph spotlight dimming, and zero-UI Ghost HUD.
Visual story arcs with collision-free lanes and chapter cast presence heatmaps.
Dossiers for character psychology, relationships, and sensory location profiles.
Export print-ready PDFs with drop caps and folios, EPUB 3 books, and Shunn manuscripts.
Take a look inside the specialized workspaces built into Chronicle to support your writing from outline to final book.
A focused writing canvas built for authors. Organize chapters with smooth drag-and-drop, leave inline feedback with a 6-color highlight palette, split chapters at the cursor in one click, and clean up punctuation automatically.
.md, .markdown, or .epub file. Markdown files are automatically
split into structured chapters on top-level headings (#), with YAML frontmatter parsing,
formatted tables, and images preserved.
Browse, reorder, and split chapters with instant word count metrics.
Clean formatting, customizable margins, paper tones, and line spacing.
Real-time word counts, chapter tallies, and estimated reading durations.
Map out story beats, character viewpoints, and subplots across interactive time rulers. Chronicle’s automatic collision avoidance stacks overlapping events into clean sub-lanes so you can easily spot and fix plot holes.
Switch smoothly between hours, days, chapters, or multi-year arcs.
Drag, resize, and link narrative beats directly to characters and lore.
Smart collision algorithms stack parallel events cleanly into lanes.
Preview your book in 4 curated reading palettes (Sepia, Light, Night, Obsidian). Then listen to your chapters read aloud with realistic Kokoro text-to-speech voices that run 100% locally on your computer.
Warm Sepia, Obsidian OLED, Crisp Light, and Midnight Blue.
Interactive scrub bar, variable speeds, and realistic local voices.
Tailor line heights, letter spacing, and book typefaces with one click.
Keep complex lore organized without clumsy spreadsheets. Create character profiles with motivations, archetypes, and relationship ties, alongside location profiles complete with sensory notes (sights, sounds, atmosphere) and landmark checklists.
Document sight, smell, weather, sounds, and visit checklists for settings.
Track traits, internal motives, arc trajectories, and relationship ties.
Filter factions, items, heroes, and places in milliseconds.
Turn your manuscript into physical books and standard e-books without paying for Vellum or InDesign. Design custom covers, set trim sizes, and export clean PDFs, EPUB 3, and Shunn manuscripts.
Set standard book trims (6x9, 5.5x8.5, A5), gutters, and running heads.
Print-Ready PDF, Industry Shunn .docx, and validated EPUB 3.
Inspect drop caps, ornaments, folios, and page breaks in real time.
All the tools for long-form writing, plotting, worldbuilding, and book publishing without juggling multiple paid subscriptions.
Plot complex story chronologies with precision time rulers. Track events across multi-day segments, subplots, or character POV tracks. Collision avoidance automatically stacks overlapping beats into sub-lanes so your story stays clear and plot-hole free.
Annotate manuscripts with a 6-color highlight palette. Jump to notes with smooth animations, toggle highlights on or off, and rest easy knowing draft notes are automatically stripped from published editions.
Immersive distraction-free writing. Typewriter scrolling keeps your typing line centered at eye level, paragraph spotlight dimming casts inactive text into 35% shadow, and the zero-UI Ghost HUD only appears when your mouse moves.
Never fear cutting a scene or restructuring an act again. Capture frozen, timestamped milestones of your entire project in a single click. Compare any past snapshot against your active draft in a visual side-by-side diff studio, view color-coded additions and deletions, and restore chapters, whole paragraphs, or individual words with 1 click. Need to bring back a deleted character sheet or timeline beat without touching your manuscript? Selective restore allows you to recover only the modules you choose.
"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."
"Take some more warm tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly. "I've had nothing yet," Alice replied coldlyin an offended tone← Restore, "so I can't take more."
Track character appearances across every chapter at a glance. Real-time density heatmaps highlight screen time balance, reveal character intersections, and alert you when key protagonists vanish from the narrative.
Design clean, eye-catching book covers directly in the studio. Choose from typography pairings, background gradients, genre emblems (fantasy, sci-fi, thriller), and decorative frames.
Generate submission-ready Word documents adhering to the industry-standard William Shunn format (running headers, approximate word counts, courier type, sluglines, and proper contact blocks).
Export vector-crisp PDFs tailored for physical printing. Includes customizable headers, author folios, page numbering, ornamental section dividers, and drop caps that scale seamlessly to standard trim sizes (6x9, 5.5x8.5, A5).
Catch typos, repetitive phrasing, and awkward dialogue by listening to your chapters read aloud with realistic human cadence. Powered by Kokoro running 100% on your device without sending text to any remote server.
Keep track of character details, relationships, and motivations in dedicated profiles. Build location dossiers with sensory notes (sights, sounds, atmosphere) and landmark exploration checklists.
Keep your storytelling momentum steady. Track live session words (+words written today), set chapter target milestones, and view instant reading time estimations for every scene.
Switch between 6 handcrafted aesthetics: Classic Dark, Classic Light, ModernX Dark, ModernX Light, Glass Dark, and Glass Light. Designed with zero-jitter layout stability so your focus stays purely on writing.
Synchronize manuscripts seamlessly across your computers using self-hosted Nextcloud, ownCloud, Fastmail, or any standard WebDAV server. No monthly cloud fees and no third-party lock-in.
Your stories are never held hostage in proprietary databases. A .chronicle project is a
standard,
unencrypted ZIP archive containing clean XHTML chapters, raw styles, and plain JSON metadata.
Bring your manuscripts into Chronicle with zero friction. Drag-and-drop any standard .md,
.markdown, or .epub file. Markdown files are automatically split into chapters
based on top-level headings (#), complete with YAML frontmatter parsing, formatted tables, code
blocks, and embedded images. Edit freely and save as an open .chronicle project.
One-click automated cleanup. Formats straight quotes into curly book quotes, cleans up em-dashes, ellipses, dialogue punctuation spacing, and eliminates accidental double spaces across chapters.
For writers who want full control over their book formatting. Inspect and fine-tune raw XHTML, edit book CSS stylesheets directly, and inspect the package manifest (OPF) and spine hierarchy.
Select, resize, reposition, and manage embedded chapter artwork directly on the writing canvas. Move images up or down between paragraphs, cycle display widths, and delete with confirmation and undo.
How Chronicle compares directly to Scrivener, Vellum, and World Anvil across writing immersion, cast tracking, plotting, and publishing.
| Capability | Chronicle | Scrivener | Vellum | World Anvil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing & License Cost to own and use indefinitely | 100% Free & Open Source (AGPLv3) | $60+ per OS | $250 (Mac only) | $105/yr subscription |
| Platform Support Operating system & device availability | Windows, macOS, Linux & Web | Windows & Mac ($60 each, no Linux) | macOS only (no Windows, no Linux) | Web only |
| Markdown & EPUB Import Automatic H1 chapter split, YAML metadata & tables | Auto-split Markdown (#) & reflowable EPUB | Complex multi-file import | DOCX/RTF only (no Markdown) | Not supported |
| Chapter Writing Canvas WYSIWYG focus & chapter binder | Modern, zero-jitter | Complex binder | Basic editor | Clunky web forms |
| Typewriter Zen Mode Auto-switch on typing, typewriter lock, paragraph focus dimming & Ghost HUD | Auto-switch, eye-level lock, 35% focus dimming & Ghost HUD | Manual toggle only (no auto-switch, no Ghost HUD, breaks flow on chapter change) | Not supported | Not supported |
| Version Snapshots & Visual Diff Studio Full project milestones, side-by-side visual diffs & selective item restoration | Side-by-side Git diffs, 1-click paragraph & word restore, selective rollback | Basic text inspector diff only (no visual side-by-side diffs, no word-level or selective module restore) | Not supported | Not supported |
| Dual-View Author Comments 6-color palette, clean EPUB export | Dual-view & clean export | Sidebar footnotes | Not supported | Disorganized wiki notes |
| Visual Narrative Timeline Collision lanes & multi-timescales | Integrated visual studio | Requires 3rd-party tool | Not supported | Clunky timeline module |
| Cast Presence Heatmap & Character Grid Chapter-by-chapter character heatmaps, screen time balance & dialogue excerpts | Interactive density matrix, glowing nodes & scene excerpts | Not supported (plain text character sheets only) | Not supported | Not supported (static wiki only) |
| World Codex Character psychology & sensory locations | Deep integrated dossiers | Plain text folders | Not supported | Supported (Online) |
| Print-Ready PDF Typesetter Drop caps, trims, folios & running heads | Bookstore-ready proofs | Complex compile rules | Excellent (Mac-only) | Not supported |
| William Shunn Manuscript (.docx) Standard for literary agents & editors | One-click native export | Requires custom preset | Not supported | Not supported |
| Privacy & Data Ownership Zero telemetry, local unencrypted files | 100% Local (Open ZIP archive) | Local files | Local files | Cloud telemetry |
Common questions from independent novelists and authors about Chronicle.
Yes. Chronicle is completely free and open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3). There are no subscriptions, no locked tiers, no ads, and no hidden paywalls. You retain 100% intellectual property ownership over everything you write and export.
Chronicle is 100% GenAI-Free. There are no LLMs, no text generators, and no autocomplete replacing your writing. The only neural technology in Chronicle is the optional Kokoro voice synthesis engine, which runs 100% locally on your computer to read your own words aloud for proofreading cadence.
Zen Mode strips away all window chrome, sidebars, borders, and menus for complete distraction-free focus. It can switch on automatically the moment you start typing, featuring three essential authoring mechanics:
1. Typewriter Scrolling: Your typing line stays vertically locked in the exact center of
your screen as text smoothly scrolls upwards underneath it, keeping your posture relaxed at eye level.
2. Paragraph Focus Dimming: The active paragraph where your cursor rests stays
illuminated at
100% opacity while all surrounding text softly dims to 35%, silencing internal editing voices.
3. The Ghost HUD: Pure zero-UI while typing. The moment you move your mouse, a floating
translucent glass capsule HUD softly appears with your live session word count (+X words today), chapter
indicator,
and a floating chapter menu to switch scenes without leaving Zen mode.
The Presence Grid is an intelligent chapter-by-chapter matrix that analyzes your manuscript to track where every character and location appears throughout your book. It renders interactive heatmaps showing mention frequencies, character density, and screen time balance.
It instantly alerts you if a key character mysteriously disappears for multiple chapters, and lets you click any cell to inspect in-text dialogue excerpts, jump straight into the scene, or export the entire cast tracking matrix to a spreadsheet for editorial analysis.
Chronicle features an integrated, Git-grade Version Snapshots & Comparison Studio built specifically for novelists:
1. Instant Project Snapshots: Take a complete, frozen milestone of your entire project
(chapters, character sheets, timelines, locations, and metadata) in a single click before embarking on
major structural edits or rewrites.
2. Side-by-Side Visual Comparison: Open any snapshot in a Git-like side-by-side diff
studio. Your active draft is displayed on the left and the snapshot on the right, with color-coded
additions in emerald, deletions in rose, and word-level changes highlighted.
3. 1-Click Paragraph & Word-Level Restore: Cherry-pick exactly what you want to bring
back. Click [Restore] in the center gutter to restore an entire paragraph, or hover over any
modified phrase to restore just a single word or sentence while leaving the rest of the chapter
intact.
4. Selective Module Rollback: If you revised your manuscript but accidentally lost a
character profile or complex timeline arc, selective restore allows you to recover only the Timelines or
Character sheets from a snapshot without touching your manuscript text.
Yes. Chronicle’s PDF Typesetter creates high-resolution, vector-accurate PDFs adhering to standard publishing trims (6"x9", 5.5"x8.5", A5) with book geometry, author folios, running headers, ornamental breaks, and drop caps.
Our EPUB 3 exporter generates clean, validated semantic markup with embedded fonts and cover manifests, ready for upload to Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), Apple Books, Kobo, and Google Play.
Yes. Chronicle includes a native William Shunn manuscript exporter (.docx) formatted with 1-inch margins, Courier typography, author surname and title slugline headers, approximate word counts, and proper contact blocks.
Never. Chronicle is local-first. All projects are saved on your local file system as transparent, open ZIP archives. No remote telemetry tracks your writing. The website and web app use SimpleAnalytics solely to count page visits without cookies or personal tracking.
Chronicle is a first-class, cross-platform application natively available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and any modern Web Browser:
• Windows: Portable standalone executable (Chronicle.exe) for Windows 10
& 11 (64-bit). Direct run with zero installation or administrator privileges required.
• macOS: Standalone disk image (Chronicle.dmg) with native universal binary
support for both Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) and Intel Macs.
• Linux: Portable universal AppImage (Chronicle.AppImage) that runs out of
the box across Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, openSUSE, and other distributions. Native
.deb and .rpm packages are also supported.
• In-Browser Studio: Runs entirely client-side in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge with
private offline IndexedDB storage.
Chronicle is 100% free and open-source. Downloads are hosted on Gumroad where you can get the desktop app for free ($0) or choose to leave a donation to support continuous open-source development.
Pay What You Want ($0+)