Introduction
Plotra is an open-source, collaborative writing app for novelists and worldbuilders. A linked story vault with real-time co-editing that keeps track of canon.
Plotra is like Obsidian, built for stories, with more than one person in it. The manuscript and the world live in one linked project: scenes, characters, places, a timeline, a plot grid. You write together live. Plotra tracks what is canon, who knows which secret, and what readers know as of each book.
It is free and open source under the AGPL-3.0. There are no paid plans. You can run it yourself or use the free hosted version.
Early software
Plotra is built by one developer and has not been used by many people yet. The core features work, but most have only been tested by the developer. Keep your own copy of anything you can't afford to lose, and please report what breaks.
Where to start
Guide
Using Plotra: the binder, links, views, working together, canon and the spoiler horizon.
Self-hosting
Run your own Plotra.
Deploying
How the hosted version is put together, service by service.
Contributing
Set up the repository and learn how the code is organised.
What is in it
- A linked vault. Notes link to each other with
[[wiki-links]]. Backlinks, embeds, typed properties, tags and a graph come with that. - Views. The same project as prose, a timeline, a storyboard, a corkboard, a plot grid, an outline or a relationship map, side by side in split panes.
- Working together. Live co-editing with cursors, comments, suggestions and version history. Share a project by email with a viewer, a commenter or an editor.
- Canon. A canon status on every note, releases, and a spoiler horizon that shows the world as your audience knows it at a given book or session. Plus who-knows-what tracking and continuity checks that run on plain rules.
Who it is for first
Plotra has eleven project types. Two get the most attention for now:
- Novel and series writers who build worlds: one tool for the manuscript and the world behind it.
- Tabletop game masters: a wiki built at the spoiler horizon is the player-safe version of a campaign.
Script formats (screenplay, stage, comic, audio) and the production, interactive, localization and research modules are available to everyone, and are less tested.
What is not there yet
- The AI agent is being built and is not finished. It will run on your own API key or a local model.
- There are no community plugins yet.
- The layout is built for a laptop or desktop screen. It is not adapted to phones.
The full plan, with notes on what was tested and what wasn't, is in plan.md in the repository.