A comprehensive novel writing environment for Obsidian. Novalist turns your vault into a full-featured writing workspace with structured character and location management, an interactive relationship map, a plot board, inline annotations, real-time statistics, multi-project support, a shared World Bible, and multi-format export — all without leaving Obsidian.
On first launch Novalist opens a Startup Wizard that walks you through project setup. Pick a project folder name, choose your preferred dialogue language (for smart-quote auto-replacement), and Novalist creates the folder structure for you: Characters/, Locations/, Items/, Lore/, Chapters/, and Images/.
You can re-run the wizard at any time from the command palette with Novalist: Initialize novel project structure. To manage multiple projects or configure a shared World Bible, open Settings > Novalist > Projects.
A single vault can hold multiple novel projects. Each project has its own folder with independent chapters, characters, locations, items, lore, and images. Per-project data — plot board, annotations, word count goals, and relationship pairs — is stored separately and swapped automatically when you switch projects.
- Add a project from Settings > Projects or from the
Add projectbutton. Novalist creates the folder structure for the new project and switches to it. - Switch projects via Settings > Projects dropdown, the command palette (
Switch project), or the project switcher modal that lists all projects with a single click to switch. - Rename a project from Settings or the command palette (
Rename active project). The vault folder is renamed and all internal references (including annotation file paths) are updated. - Delete a project from Settings. The project entry is removed from Novalist's data; the vault folder is left untouched so no files are lost.
- Existing single-project vaults are migrated automatically on first load — no manual action needed.
A World Bible is a shared folder whose characters, locations, items, lore, and images are available to every project in the vault. Enabled by default with the folder name WorldBible. Useful for book series or shared-universe stories where multiple projects reference the same cast and setting.
- Configure the World Bible folder path in Settings > Projects > World Bible. Click
Initialize World Bible foldersto create the sub-folder structure. - When creating a character, location, item, or lore entry, toggle
Add to World Biblein the creation modal to place the entity in the shared folder instead of the current project. - Right-click any character or location in the explorer to
Move to World BibleorMove to <project>to relocate existing entities between the World Bible and any project. - World Bible entities appear alongside project entities in the explorer, sidebar, character map, and focus peek. A
WBbadge in the explorer distinguishes shared entities from project-local ones. - Entity scanning, mention detection, word counting, and file lookups all search both the active project and the World Bible folder.
An always-visible toolbar is injected into every editor tab header. It provides one-click access to all major actions:
- Create group — Add Character, Add Location, Add Item, Add Lore, Add Chapter
- Views group — Explorer, Context Sidebar, Character Map, Plot Board, Image Gallery, Export, Validate
- Chapter status dropdown — Visible on chapter files. Change between Outline (○), First Draft (◔), Revised (◑), Edited (◕), and Final (●). The status is stored in the chapter's frontmatter and reflected in the explorer.
A specialized file explorer in the left panel with five tabs:
- Chapters — Listed in order, grouped by act when acts are defined. Drag and drop to reorder (updates frontmatter automatically). Status icons indicate progress. Scenes within each chapter are listed as nested sub-items. Right-click a chapter to edit its metadata (name, order, status, act, date), add a scene, assign to an act, or delete. Right-click a scene to edit its name and date. An
Add actbutton lets you create new acts, and act headers support right-click to rename or delete. - Characters — Grouped by role with collapsible sections. Drag characters between groups to reassign roles. A Group/Role toggle switches between grouping by story Role (Protagonist, Antagonist, etc.) and by custom Group (family, faction, or any freeform grouping). Multi-select with Ctrl/Shift+click. Gender badges shown with configurable colors. A property filter bar lets you search by any built-in or custom property (e.g.
Eye Color: Blue,Role: Protagonist). Results update as you type. - Locations — A collapsible tree view built from parent/child relationships. Locations with a parent are indented under it; top-level locations appear at the root. Drag a location onto another to reparent it; drag to the root zone to detach it from its parent. Each node shows a type badge and a sub-location count badge when it has children. Right-click to set or remove a parent. Supports the same property filter bar (e.g.
Type: Tavern). - Items — Lists all items/artifacts across the project and World Bible. Click to open in the Item Sheet View. Supports the property filter bar.
- Lore — Lists all lore/encyclopedia entries. Click to open in the Lore Sheet View. Supports the property filter bar.
Clicking any character, location, item, or lore entry opens it in its dedicated Sheet View.
A structured form editor that replaces the raw Markdown view for character files. Fields include:
- Basic info — Name, surname, gender, age, role, group. The group field is a freeform label (family name, faction, or any grouping) used to cluster characters in the Character Map and as the grouping key in the explorer's Group mode. The age field can optionally act as a birthdate picker (configurable per template) that automatically computes the character's age relative to the current chapter or scene date.
- Physical attributes — Eye color, hair color/length, height, build, skin tone, distinguishing features
- Images — Named image slots with drag-and-drop upload, an image browser, and thumbnail previews. Duplicates are detected via SHA-256 hashing.
- Relationships — Character links with role labels. An inline suggester helps you pick characters, and the plugin automatically prompts you to define the inverse relationship on the target character.
- Custom properties — Typed key-value pairs you can add and remove freely. Each property has a selectable data type:
Text,Integer,Boolean,Date(ISO format),Enum(custom definable string options), orTimespan(a reference date whose interval to the current chapter or scene date is computed automatically). Types are defined in the entity template and the sheet view renders the appropriate input control (text field, number spinner, toggle, date picker, dropdown, or date picker with computed interval label). - Free-form sections — User-defined Markdown sections (e.g. Backstory, Notes)
- Chapter overrides — Select an act, chapter, and optionally a scene, then override any field for that point in the story. The override cascade is: scene > chapter > act > base data. Act-level overrides apply to all chapters within that act unless a more specific chapter or scene override exists.
Renaming a character in the sheet automatically renames the underlying file. A Save button writes changes, and Edit Source switches to the raw Markdown.
A structured form editor for location files with fields for name, type, parent, description, custom properties, images, and free-form sections. The parent field links a location to another, building the hierarchy shown in the explorer tree. Autocomplete suggests existing locations and cycle detection prevents invalid chains. Works the same way as the character sheet.
A structured form editor for item/artifact files. Track significant objects — a family heirloom, a magical weapon, a key plot device — across your story. Fields include:
- Basic info — Name, type, description, origin
- Custom properties — Typed key-value pairs (same data types as characters: text, integer, boolean, date, enum, timespan)
- Images — Named image slots with drag-and-drop upload and thumbnail previews
- Free-form sections — User-defined Markdown sections (e.g. History, Powers, Notes)
Renaming an item in the sheet automatically renames the underlying file. Items mentioned in chapter text appear in the context sidebar with their type and description.
A structured form editor for lore/encyclopedia entries. Organize world-building knowledge — organizations, cultures, historical events, or any other reference material — in dedicated files. Fields include:
- Basic info — Name, category (Organization, Culture, History, Other), description
- Custom properties — Typed key-value pairs
- Images — Named image slots with drag-and-drop upload
- Free-form sections — User-defined Markdown sections
Lore entries mentioned in chapter text appear in the context sidebar with their category and description.
A central view for browsing all images in your project's Images/ folder. Accessible from the toolbar, command palette, or ribbon. Features:
- Grid mode — Thumbnail cards with image name, copy-wikilink button, and open-file button
- List mode — Compact rows with small thumbnails, file name, path, and action buttons
- Search — Filter images by name as you type
- Image count — Displays total and filtered image counts
- Auto-refreshes when images are added, removed, or renamed in the vault
Templates control the structure of new character, location, item, and lore files. Each template defines which fields, sections, images, relationships, and custom properties are included when an entity is created. A built-in Default template ships with all standard fields enabled.
- Character templates configure fields (gender, age, role, physical attributes, etc.), whether to include relationships, images, and chapter overrides, plus optional typed custom property definitions and free-form sections. The age field can be set to
Number(plain text) orDate (Birthdate)mode with a configurable interval unit (years, months, or days). Timespan properties include an interval unit setting that controls how the elapsed time is displayed. - Location templates configure fields (type, description), images, typed custom properties, and sections.
- Item templates configure fields (type, description, origin), images, typed custom properties, and sections.
- Lore templates configure fields (category, description), images, typed custom properties, and sections.
- Create, duplicate, edit, and delete templates from Settings > Character / Location / Item / Lore templates. Built-in templates can be edited but not deleted.
- Set an active template per entity type. The active template is pre-selected in the creation dialog. When multiple templates exist, a dropdown appears in the creation modal.
- A
TemplateIdis stored in each generated file. When opening a sheet, missing custom properties and sections from the associated template are automatically merged in, so template changes propagate to existing entities.
A right-panel view that updates automatically when you open a chapter file. It scans the chapter text for mentions of your characters, locations, items, and lore entries, then displays cards with key details at a glance — role, gender, age, relationships, chapter-specific info, location descriptions, item types, and lore categories. Character data reflects the full override cascade (scene > chapter > act > base). When you are inside a scene (an ## heading section), the sidebar shows the current scene name and applies the most specific matching override. When the plot board has data for the current chapter, the sidebar also shows filled plot board columns inline. A Mention Frequency graph shows a heatmap of which chapters each character appears in, with a warning badge when a character has been absent for three or more consecutive chapters. Accessible via the toolbar, ribbon icon, or command palette.
Novalist automatically derives metadata for every scene without requiring any data entry. As you open a chapter file, each scene's prose is scanned and a set of values is computed and cached (re-computed only when the scene text changes):
- POV — detected by scoring first-person pronouns vs. named character mentions. The
Autosource badge indicates a detected value; aManualbadge appears when the value has been overridden. - Emotion — classified into 15 tones (joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, anticipation, disgust, trust, love, grief, hope, tension, humor, melancholy, neutral) by a built-in keyword lexicon covering English and German.
- Intensity — a −10..+10 numeric score derived from lexicon base weights, word-count-normalised action-verb density, dialogue ratio, and punctuation pressure (exclamation marks, question marks, ellipsis). Positive scores indicate high energy; negative scores indicate calm or subdued scenes.
- Conflict types — flags present in the scene: Internal, Interpersonal, Societal, Environmental, Supernatural. Detected via role keywords and contextual mentions.
- Tags — extracted from the scene's inline tags (
#tag), stripped of the#prefix. - Stats — word count, dialogue percentage, and average sentence length.
All detected values are shown in the Context Sidebar under a Scene Analysis section when you are inside a scene. An intensity sparkline graphs all scene intensities in the chapter, with the current scene highlighted. Any computed value can be overridden per-scene from the sidebar — the override is saved to the project and does not affect scene text.
A rule-based consistency checker that analyses your entire manuscript and flags structural, continuity, and pacing issues. Run it from the Validate button in the toolbar, from Settings > Dashboard (Story Health widget), or from the command palette.
Findings are grouped into six categories:
- Timeline — chapters with no date set, scenes with no date set, date regression between consecutive chapters, gaps over 365 days.
- Characters — characters mentioned only once (orphan), absent for five or more consecutive chapters (long absence), without a role assigned, or referenced but not found in the project.
- Plotlines — plot-board columns that are defined but always empty across all chapters, single-chapter plotlines.
- Structure — missing chapter headings, chapters without scenes, extreme scene count imbalance between chapters, chapters with no characters, chapters with no locations, very short chapters (< 200 words), very long chapters (> 10 000 words), missing act assignments.
- Continuity — placeholder for AI-powered checks (runs only when AI assistant is enabled and the rule is toggled on in settings).
- Pacing — five or more consecutive slow-pace scenes, chapters with near-zero dialogue, chapters with very high dialogue (> 80 %), extreme intensity swings between adjacent scenes, flat intensity arc over the whole story, steep drop in word count near the climax.
Findings are rated Error (likely breaks the story), Warning (worth reviewing), or Info (stylistic note). The validator modal shows all findings in a filterable list with category tabs and severity toggles. Each finding card has a Go to button that opens the relevant file and scrolls to the scene heading, and a Dismiss button to silence a finding permanently (dismissals are stored per-project).
The Story Health widget on the Dashboard shows a summary of error, warning, and info counts plus the top five findings. A Run Validator button is available there as well.
An interactive graph visualization of character relationships powered by Cytoscape.js. Characters are sized and colored by role. The group field (if set) is used as the family clustering key; when group is not set, the surname is used instead. Mutual relationships (e.g. three siblings) are collapsed into shared hub nodes to reduce visual clutter. Edges show labeled roles, and multiple relationships between the same pair are merged into a single edge. Click a node to open that character's file. Pan, zoom, and drag to rearrange.
A visual story-mapping tool for outlining narrative structure, organizing scenes, and tracking plot threads. Two view modes are available:
- Board view (default) — a Kanban-style layout where acts serve as swim lanes and chapters appear as draggable cards. Drag-and-drop cards to reorder chapters within an act or move them between acts. Each card shows the chapter status icon, scene count, labels, and a notes preview. Act lanes are collapsible.
- Table view — the original spreadsheet layout with chapters as rows and user-defined columns. Scenes appear as indented sub-rows with their own editable cells. Click a cell to edit,
Ctrl/Cmd+Enterto commit. Column names are renamable via double-click.
Both views share a header toolbar for toggling the view, managing labels, and adding note columns. Additional features:
- Color-coding — right-click a card to assign one of eight preset colors. A color stripe appears on the card (board) or row (table) for at-a-glance subplot identification.
- Labels — create named, color-coded labels (e.g. "Subplot A", "Foreshadowing") from the labels manager and assign any combination to a card via right-click. Label badges appear on cards and table rows.
- Notes — right-click a card in board view to open a notes editor overlay that lets you fill in all note columns (and per-scene notes) in one place. In table view, cells remain inline-editable.
- Drag-and-drop — in board view, drag chapter cards between act lanes to reassign their act and reorder them. Drop position is indicated by a highlight above or below existing cards.
Export selected chapters to EPUB, DOCX, PDF, or Markdown. Configure a title, author, and whether to include a title page. Select individual chapters or use Select All / Select None. Exported chapters have frontmatter stripped, wikilinks converted to plain text, and are sorted by order. Scene headings (## heading) within chapters are converted to scene-break separators in the output.
- Standard Manuscript Format (SMF) — available for DOCX and PDF. Enable the
Standard Manuscript Formattoggle to apply industry-standard submission formatting: 12 pt Courier / Courier New, double-spaced lines, 1-inch margins, and a running page header with surname / title / page number. The SMF title page places the author name top-left and a centered title block. - PDF export — generates a self-contained PDF via pdf-lib with proper pagination, chapter headings, scene breaks, and inline bold/italic formatting. With SMF enabled, the output matches the conventions expected by literary agents and publishers.
Novalist replaces typed characters with language-appropriate typographic equivalents as you write. Eleven language presets are built in (German guillemets, German low-high, English curly, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak) plus a fully customizable mode. Common replacements like -- → em dash and ... → ellipsis are included in every preset. The system is frontmatter-aware and handles Obsidian's auto-paired quotes correctly.
A Google Docs-style commenting system. Select text in the editor, click the "+" tooltip that appears, and create a comment thread. Annotated ranges are highlighted with a rotating color palette. Comment cards appear in a right-side gutter aligned with the annotated text. Threads support multiple messages, can be resolved and reopened, and positions update automatically as you edit.
Hover your cursor over a character or location name in the editor and an inline card appears after a short delay showing the entity's details — portrait, attributes, relationships, and more. Character cards include a group pill when a group is assigned. Location cards show a parent pill and a sub-location count pill to indicate their place in the hierarchy. Pin the card to keep it visible while you write. Click character links inside a peek to navigate between entities with breadcrumb back-navigation. The card is resizable with a stable default size, remembers custom size, inherits the current editor font size, and keeps section content filling the available height as you resize. If needed, reset the saved card size from Settings. The peek card applies character overrides with the full cascade: scene > chapter > act > base data.
A persistent bottom bar on every chapter editor showing real-time writing metrics:
- File stats — Word count, character count, reading time, readability score with a color-coded level badge
- Project overview — Total words, chapter/character/location counts, average words per chapter. Click to expand a per-chapter breakdown with word-count bar charts and readability badges. Chapters with scenes show per-scene word counts as indented sub-rows.
- Goal progress — Daily and project word goal progress bars with percentages
Readability scoring supports multiple languages with language-specific syllable counting and uses Flesch-Kincaid or equivalent formulas.
In reading/preview mode, character and location names are automatically rendered as styled, clickable links. The entity index updates as your vault changes.
Novalist tracks how many words you write each day against a configurable daily goal. A baseline snapshot is taken at the start of each day and a 30-day rolling history is maintained.
When you paste or drop an image into a project file, Novalist automatically moves it to your configured Images/ folder, handling name collisions and preserving link integrity.
Connect an LLM to analyse chapter text for references, inconsistencies, and missing entities. Two providers are supported:
- Ollama (local) — point at a local Ollama server and select a model. Model lifecycle can be managed automatically (loaded on demand, unloaded when the plugin closes) or manually via the settings panel.
- GitHub Copilot — uses the Copilot CLI as an ACP server. Install and authenticate the CLI, then set the executable path in settings (defaults to
copilot).
Two analysis modes are available. Per paragraph splits the text and analyses each piece individually, enabling incremental re-scanning — only paragraphs whose content has changed since the last run are sent to the model. Whole chapter sends the entire chapter in a single prompt, giving the model full narrative context (requires a large context window). Each check can be individually enabled or disabled.
- Reference detection — finds indirect entity references the regex system cannot catch, such as pronouns, relationship terms (e.g. "his wife" → the character linked as Wife), nicknames, and abbreviated names. Direct name matches already found by regex are excluded.
- Consistency checking — flags contradictions between the chapter text and your entity data (e.g. wrong hair colour, mismatched location details). Relationship-based references are also checked. Entity data reflects act/chapter/scene overrides.
- Entity suggestions — spots characters, locations, items, or lore concepts that appear in the text but do not exist in the project, and offers to create them. Each suggestion card has a
Createbutton that opens the matching creation modal with the entity name and description pre-filled.
Findings are shown in two places: the AI Assistant section at the bottom of the context sidebar (with sub-tabs and action buttons), and as inline highlights directly in the editor — references get a solid underline, inconsistencies a wavy red underline, and suggestions a dashed green underline. Hover over a highlight to see the finding title.
An Auto toggle enables iterative re-analysis — the chapter is automatically re-analysed 5 seconds after each edit. A manual re-analyse button is always available. Unchanged paragraphs are skipped automatically (paragraph mode only), making re-analysis faster after small edits.
The toolbar gains an AI tab with a one-click analyse button, a Full Story button, and a Chat button that opens the AI Chat sidebar.
An interactive chat sidebar where you can converse with the LLM about your novel. The AI receives a system prompt containing all known project entities (characters, locations, items, lore) and the full text of the chapter you are currently editing, giving it complete context to answer questions, suggest plot developments, brainstorm dialogue, or help refine prose.
- The status bar shows which chapter the AI is using as context. Switch to a different editor tab to change the chapter context.
- Conversation history is maintained within the session. Use
Clear chatto start fresh. - The AI can edit the active chapter file directly. It proposes edits using a structured search-and-replace format; edits are applied automatically and a notice confirms how many changes were made.
- The AI cannot modify any other project files (characters, locations, items, lore). It can only read them for context.
- Supports both Ollama and GitHub Copilot providers. Responses are streamed token-by-token for immediate feedback.
- Open the chat from the toolbar
AI > Chatbutton, or from the command palette (Open AI chat).
Acts are an optional grouping layer above chapters. Create an act from the explorer's Add act button, then right-click a chapter and use Assign to act to place it under that act. Chapters in the explorer are grouped under collapsible act headers, and unassigned chapters appear in a separate section. Acts are stored as frontmatter on chapter files and managed entirely through the explorer UI — no manual frontmatter editing required. Right-click an act header to rename or delete it. Drag chapters between act groups to reassign them. Character sheet overrides can target an act, applying to all chapters within it unless a more specific override exists.
Scenes are subsections within a chapter file, created as ## heading (H2) Markdown headings. Use the command palette (Add new scene) or right-click a chapter in the explorer to add a new scene. Scene names appear in the explorer nested under their chapter, in the plot board as sub-rows, and in the statistics breakdown. Character sheet overrides can target a specific scene for fine-grained tracking of character changes. The full override cascade is: scene > chapter > act > base character data.
Chapters and scenes can each carry a date (stored in chapter frontmatter). When a timespan custom property is displayed in the character sheet, the interval between the property's reference date and the selected chapter or scene date is computed and shown automatically. Edit chapter or scene metadata — including dates — by right-clicking in the explorer.
A toggle in settings that adds printed-book-style spacing between paragraphs in edit mode.
Snapshot a chapter before a major rewrite and compare versions side-by-side.
- Create a snapshot from the command palette (
Snapshot chapter) or by right-clicking a chapter in the explorer and selectingSnapshot. Enter a descriptive name (e.g. "Before restructuring") and the current chapter content is saved to the project'sSnapshots/folder. - View snapshots from the command palette (
View chapter snapshots) or the explorer context menu (View Snapshots). The modal lists all snapshots for the chapter sorted by date, newest first. - Compare a snapshot against the current chapter text in a side-by-side diff view with added, removed, and unchanged lines highlighted. A summary bar shows line counts.
- Restore a snapshot to replace the chapter body while preserving frontmatter.
- Delete snapshots you no longer need.
A fixed-width panel on the left side of the editor that shows notes and outline entries alongside each chapter and scene heading while you write.
- Notes are stored per chapter and scene, keyed by the chapter's GUID, so they persist when the file is renamed.
- Click any note card to open an inline textarea. Press
Ctrl+Enterto save orEscapeto cancel. Notes also auto-save on blur. - Each card can be collapsed to reduce visual noise. Collapse state is preserved while the file is open.
- Cards scroll in sync with the editor content so the relevant notes always appear next to the corresponding heading.
- Move content to notes (
Move chapter content to notescommand or the arrow button in the chapter card header): extracts the prose under each heading into the notes panel and rewrites the chapter file to headings only, optionally creating a snapshot first. - Move all (
Move all chapter content to notes): runs the same extraction for every chapter in the project at once. - Toggle the panel with the
Toggle chapter notes panelcommand or the notebook button in the toolbar. Disable it entirely in settings.
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Active project | Select which project to work on | First project |
| Novalist root folder | Optional subfolder inside the vault where all projects and the World Bible are placed; leave empty to use the vault root | (empty) |
| World Bible folder | Root folder for shared entities across projects | WorldBible |
| Project path | Root vault folder for the novel project | NovelProject |
| Focus Peek size | Button that clears stored Focus Peek dimensions and restores default card size on next open | Default card size |
| Auto-reveal Novalist Explorer | Automatically switch the left sidebar to the Novalist Explorer when opening a project file | On |
| Character folder | Subfolder name for characters | Characters |
| Location folder | Subfolder name for locations | Locations |
| Item folder | Subfolder name for items/artifacts | Items |
| Lore folder | Subfolder name for lore/encyclopedia entries | Lore |
| Chapter folder | Subfolder name for chapters | Chapters |
| Image folder | Subfolder name for images | Images |
| Character templates | Define which fields, sections, and options new character files include | One built-in Default template |
| Location templates | Define which fields, sections, and options new location files include | One built-in Default template |
| Item templates | Define which fields, sections, and options new item files include | One built-in Default template |
| Lore templates | Define which fields, sections, and options new lore files include | One built-in Default template |
| Active character template | Pre-selected template when creating a character | Default |
| Active location template | Pre-selected template when creating a location | Default |
| Active item template | Pre-selected template when creating an item | Default |
| Active lore template | Pre-selected template when creating a lore entry | Default |
| Language | Auto-replacement language preset | de-low |
| Auto-replacements | Editable token → replacement pairs (in Custom mode) | Language-dependent |
| Book paragraph spacing | Toggle book-style paragraph gaps in edit mode | Off |
| Enable chapter notes panel | Show a notes/outline panel on the left side of the editor for chapter files | On |
| Enable annotations | Toggle the inline comment system | On |
| Daily word goal | Target words per day | 1000 |
| Project word goal | Target total word count | 50000 |
| Role colors | Color picker per character role | Auto-discovered |
| Gender colors | Color picker per gender value | Auto-discovered |
| Enable AI assistant | Use an LLM for reference detection, consistency checks, and entity suggestions | Off |
| Provider | Choose the AI provider: Ollama (local) or GitHub Copilot | Ollama |
| Analysis mode | Per paragraph (incremental) or whole chapter (single prompt) | Per paragraph |
| Ollama server URL | Address of the Ollama API server (Ollama provider) | http://127.0.0.1:11434 |
| Model | Select which Ollama model to use for analysis (Ollama provider) | (none) |
| Auto-manage model | Automatically load the model when needed and unload it when the plugin closes (Ollama provider) | On |
| Copilot CLI path | Path to the Copilot CLI executable (Copilot provider) | copilot |
| Copilot model | Select which model Copilot uses for analysis (Copilot provider) | (default) |
| Check references | Detect indirect entity references (pronouns, relationship terms) that regex matching cannot find | On |
| Check inconsistencies | Flag contradictions between the chapter text and entity details | On |
| Check suggestions | Identify unregistered entities mentioned in the text | On |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| Initialize novel project structure | Create or recreate the project folder tree |
| Open context sidebar | Open the chapter context panel |
| Open custom explorer | Open the project explorer |
| Open character map | Open the relationship graph |
| Open plot board | Open the plot planning board |
| Export novel | Open the export view |
| Open character sheet view | View the active character file as a form |
| Open location sheet view | View the active location file as a form |
| Open item sheet view | View the active item file as a form |
| Open lore sheet view | View the active lore file as a form |
| Open image gallery | Browse all project images |
| Add new character | Create a new character file |
| Add new location | Create a new location file |
| Add new item | Create a new item/artifact file |
| Add new lore entry | Create a new lore/encyclopedia file |
| Add new chapter | Create a new chapter file |
| Add new scene | Add a scene heading to the current chapter |
| Switch project | Switch the active project |
| Rename active project | Rename the active project and its vault folder |
| Snapshot chapter | Save a named snapshot of the current chapter |
| View chapter snapshots | List, compare, restore, or delete snapshots for the current chapter |
| Toggle chapter notes panel | Show or hide the chapter notes panel in the editor |
| Move chapter content to notes | Extract chapter and scene prose into the notes panel, leaving only headings |
| Move all chapter content to notes | Run the extraction for every chapter in the project |
| Analyse chapter with AI | Run Ollama-powered reference, consistency, and suggestion analysis on the active chapter |
| Analyse full story with AI | Analyse every chapter in the project with a progress bar, ETA, and grouped results |
| Open AI chat | Open the AI chat sidebar for interactive conversation about your novel |
| Validate story | Run the rule-based plot validator across the full project and open the findings modal |
| Validate chapter | Run the validator on the active chapter only (available on chapter files) |
| Migrate character family groups from relationships | Scan all character relationship labels for family terms (mother, father, son, daughter, etc. in English and German), group connected characters into the same family group, and auto-populate the group field for characters that don’t have one yet |
Novalist ships with English and German UI translations. The active locale is set automatically based on your Obsidian language setting.
If you find Novalist helpful in your writing journey, consider supporting its development:
Quick note: I’m a professional developer, but for Novalist I leaned heavily on LLMs. That may or may not align with your philosophy — either way, I appreciate you taking a look. I prefer to be transparent about how it was built.
Write your story, better.
