Local-first · one store · two surfaces
Write the novel series against its spine.
Keel is a system for writing a multi-volume novel the way planned novels are actually written: rough shape far from the pen, full detail only where you are about to write. A narrative spine carries the story; strict revisions carry the words; AI sits at every stage — and never writes a word you didn't accept.
What's in the box
Every module answers to the ship. The whole system runs on your machine; the Yard is the only part that lives on the web.
keel.helm — the writing room
A fast terminal app where the writing happens: the spine on screen, the beat's contract beside the prose, a purpose-built editor that wraps on the printed measure.
keel.chart — the planning table
Set the series up in the browser: volumes, arcs, movements, beats — and the book's design, from trim size to chapter openers.
keel.davy — AI at every stage
Drafts, edits, and structural proposals from a context recipe you can inspect line by line. Nothing lands until you accept it, and every accepted word carries its provenance.
The write gate
Prose can only be written against a specified beat. The spine leads; the words follow — so a sagging middle shows up in the plan, not on page 214.
Strict revisions & locks
Every save is an immutable revision — checkout, checkin, no silent overwrites, no lost words. The ledger tracks facts and promises on two clocks so the story can't contradict itself quietly.
The book pipeline
From markup to a print-ready B-format PDF on an exact typographic grid, plus EPUB and DOCX — the same words, typeset like a real book from day one.
Two surfaces, one store
The same objects, the same locks, whichever side you touch them from — divergence is impossible by construction.