Guiding Principles

Nib was built by a writer frustrated with the tools available for long-form fiction. These principles shape every design decision.

1. Focus on writing. Continuity tracking, manuscript assembly, and project bookkeeping are tedious and error-prone. Nib automates them so you can stay in the story.

2. Augment, not replace. Nib is not an AI ghostwriter and never will be. It handles complicated tasks that resisted automation in the past, helping you create your best work.

3. Plaintext everything. Scenes are Markdown, structure is YAML, continuity data is CSV. Every file in your project is human-readable text — no proprietary formats, no lock-in.

4. Editor agnostic. Use your preferred editor. As long as it can handle plain text files, nib doesn’t care.

5. Version control native. Because everything is plaintext, your novel works with git out of the box. Diffs are meaningful and merges work.

6. Automation friendly. A CLI, not a GUI. Script your workflow, integrate with other tools, and never repeat the same sequence of clicks again.