https://github.com/artfacility/fleshnote
Write first, note second. Minimalist writing app for excessive worldbuilders and planners who actually want to finish their book
https://github.com/artfacility/fleshnote
note-taking worldbuilder writing-tool
Last synced: 2 months ago
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Write first, note second. Minimalist writing app for excessive worldbuilders and planners who actually want to finish their book
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/artfacility/fleshnote
- Owner: ArtFacility
- License: mpl-2.0
- Created: 2026-02-27T10:06:26.000Z (4 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-04-26T14:09:44.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-04-26T15:08:06.743Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: note-taking, worldbuilder, writing-tool
- Language: JavaScript
- Homepage: https://artfacility.xyz/fleshnote
- Size: 9.67 MB
- Stars: 50
- Watchers: 1
- Forks: 4
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README
# FleshNote IDE (v1.1.0 Beta)
An advanced, no-bullshit writing tool for novelists and world builders who actually want to finish their draft this century. Built with Electron, React, TypeScript, and FastAPI.
[](https://opensource.org/licenses/MPL-2.0)
## Why FleshNote?
FleshNote was built by writers, for writers. I created this app mainly for myself to help me write my novel, but I decided to make it open source so that other writers can benefit from it as well.
### 🧹 The Janitor (Your Smart Editing Assistant)
Write now, edit later. The built-in Janitor actively reads your chapters in the background using local, offline linguistic analysis (spaCy & NLTK) to offer structural suggestions without ever interrupting your flow:
- **Sensory Analysis**: Avoid "White Room Syndrome." The Janitor tracks if your scene is missing descriptions of Smell, Taste, Touch, Sound, or Sight.
- **Show, Don't Tell**: Detects weak adverbs and passive voice.
- **Readability & Pacing**: Grades your chapter complexity and warns you if you start three sentences in a row with the exact same word.
### 🏃♂️ Hardcore Sprint Modes
Sometimes you just need a little push to get drafted. FleshNote gamifies the writing process with specialized, un-exitable Focus Modes:
- **Hemingway Mode**: The backspace and delete keys are completely disabled. No inner-editor allowed. You can only move forward!
- **Zen Mode**: Relax and watch a procedural tree grow on your screen as you hit your word count goals. Hitting your target makes the tree bloom.
- **Kamikaze Mode**: Stop typing for too long, and your text turns red before being permanently deleted. Survive the sprint!
- **Fog Mode**: Previous sentences fade into a thick fog, keeping your eyes locked on the *current* sentence so you don't scroll up.
### 🧠 Epistemic UI (Who Knows What?)
Track exactly what a character knows at any given point in your timeline. Use the **Entity Inspector** to lock away a character's "True Goal" while they lie to the reader, visually tracking narrative deception across chapters.
### 🗺️ Timeline & Plot Planner
A zoomable, multi-layer canvas for mapping out your story beats, arcs, and foreshadowing natively injected straight into the manuscript.
### 📜 World History Timeline
Track what happened with your characters and items before the book even begins. Build a deep chronological history by dragging relationships and pinning major backstory events across an interactive, visual timeline.
### 📂 Unified Entity & Twist Tracking
Dumping lore into your project is easy. Managing it is easier. The codebase features a robust tabbed dashboard to manage Characters, Locations, Twists, and Quick Notes with bulk operations and inline tagging (`@mention` any character right in the editor).
### 📚 Professional Book Export
Export straight to industry-standard formatting. Generates print-ready PDFs, standard DOCX files, and EPUBs with a WYSIWYG live preview.
### Other Features
- **Chapter Time Overrides**: Track flashbacks and timeskips at the paragraph level so your entities and relationship dynamics remain chronologically accurate.
- **Environment & Weather System**: Define weather states per location with **Hierarchical Inheritance** (sub-locations automatically pull weather from parents).
- **7 Total Sprint Modes**: Let it be Rewarding or Punishing, there is a mode for every writer.
- **Daily Writing Encouragement**: Context-aware prompts and streak tracking when you open your project.
- **Sketchboards & Mind-Mapping**: Visual node-graph canvas for mapping out magic systems, technology trees, and character webs.
- **Smart Entity Renaming Wizard**: Safely rename characters or locations across your entire manuscript with automated text-link rewriting.
- **Custom World Calendars**: Build your own calendar systems with custom months, seasons, and years for precise age and history tracking.
- **Image Gallery**: Each entity type has its own gallery and Icon. Add description, time, and crop icons.
---
# Getting Started
> ⚠️ **Windows Users:** I'm a solo indie dev and I don't plan on buying an expensive Windows Code Signing Certificate. When installing the app, Windows SmartScreen will show a scary blue pop-up warning you about an "unrecognized app". Simply click **More info** -> **Run anyway** to proceed with the installation!
### Prerequisites
- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) (Project uses npm)
- [Python 3.13](https://www.python.org/) (For backend services)
### Installation
1. Clone the repository and navigate into the `fleshnote-ide` subfolder:
```bash
cd fleshnote-ide
```
2. Install the frontend dependencies:
```bash
npm install
```
3. Setup the Python backend environment:
```bash
cd backend
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate # On Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
cd ..
```
> **Note:** `requirements.txt` contains only runtime dependencies. If you plan to **build/package** the app with PyInstaller, use `requirements_build.txt` instead.
### Development
Run the application in development mode:
```bash
npm run dev
```
## 📦 Building for Production
You can build the production installer using the provided platform-specific scripts or npm commands.
**IMPORTANT**: When building the app manually (via npm), you *must* also manually freeze the Python backend using PyInstaller first. The provided build scripts (`build.bat` and `build.sh`) handle this dual-compilation step for you automatically!
### Using Build Scripts (Recommended)
**Windows** (PowerShell/CMD):
```bash
./build.bat
```
**Linux/macOS** (Terminal):
```bash
chmod +x build.sh
./build.sh linux # or ./build.sh mac
```
### Manual Build Commands
*(Remember to run PyInstaller on the backend first!)*
**Windows**
```bash
npm run build:win
```
**macOS**
```bash
npm run build:mac
```
**Linux**
```bash
npm run build:linux
```
**Linux (Flatpak)**
> **Note:** To build Flatpak correctly, you must ensure `flatpak` and `flatpak-builder` are installed on your system.
> Since the bundler operates at the user-level, you also **must** have the Flathub remote added for your local user environment, or the build will fail:
> ```bash
> flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
> ```
```bash
npm run build:flatpak
```
## 🛠️ Recommended Setup
- **IDE**: [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/)
- **Extensions**:
- [ESLint](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=dbaeumer.vscode-eslint)
- [Prettier](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=esbenp.prettier-vscode)
- [Tailwind CSS IntelliSense](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss)
## 📄 License
This project is licensed under the **Mozilla Public License 2.0**. See the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for the full text.
---
Built with ❤️ by [Artfacility](https://www.artfacility.xyz)