References

References help you track people, places, and story elements across scenes. Each reference can include notes and custom attributes, and you can link them to specific scenes.

Reference Types

kindling supports seven reference types:

Characters — People in your story
Locations — Places where scenes occur
Items — Objects that matter to the plot
Objectives — Goals, quests, or missions
Organizations — Groups, factions, institutions
Timelines — Events and chronology
Notes — Other research and story notes

Choose File → Settings → Reference Types and select a project to enable or disable its categories.

References Panel Overview

The References panel sits to the right of the editor and shows tabs for each enabled reference type. From here you can create, edit, and link references to the current scene.

When a scene is selected:

References linked to the scene appear at the top
Unlinked references appear below
Drag references to set per-scene ordering
Expand/collapse state is saved per scene

The References panel beside the editor, with a character expanded to show its description, typed fields and tags

Editing Reference Details

Each reference includes:

Field	Description
Name	The reference’s primary name
Description	A short summary or bio
Notes	Free-form notes for your own reference
Custom attributes	Key/value pairs for structured data (e.g., Eye colour: green)

Custom Fields (v1.2+)

References support typed custom field definitions. Instead of plain key/value pairs, you can define fields with specific types:

Field type	Use it for
Text	Names, descriptions, freeform notes
Number	Age, height, chapter count
Date	Birth dates, event dates
Select	Role (protagonist/antagonist/supporting)
Multi-select	Tags, traits, affiliations

Open File → Settings → Custom Fields and choose a project to manage its definitions. Custom field definitions are created per project and apply consistently across all references of that type. This means you can define “Role” once for Characters and all characters will have that field.

Custom field definitions for Characters — Role as a select, Age as a number, Wants as text and Traits as multi-select

Hierarchical Tags (v1.2+)

References support a hierarchical tagging system with up to three levels of depth. Tags can have colours and are managed project-wide from the Tag Manager (under File → Settings → Tags).

Example hierarchy:

role/
  protagonist
  antagonist
  supporting
status/
  active
  deceased
  unknown

Apply tags to any reference and use saved filters to quickly find references matching specific criteria — for example, all active characters with role/protagonist.

Tags in Settings showing a role hierarchy and a status hierarchy

Smart Reference Detection (v1.2+)

kindling’s non-AI reference detection engine can scan your prose for character, location, and item names. When matches are found, suggestions surface automatically in the References panel so you can link them with one click.

Smart detection runs on demand — it doesn’t modify your prose or add anything automatically. It simply surfaces references you may have mentioned but haven’t explicitly linked to a scene yet.

Suggested references detected in the prose, each with a confidence level and the matched text, offering one-click linking

Reference Type Settings

Open File → Settings → Reference Types and choose the project to configure. Disabling a type hides its tab and keeps its existing entries. See Settings for saving changes.

Copying References Between Projects

Bring your characters, locations, and story notes into another book:

Open the project that should receive the references.
Choose Copy references from project… in the References panel header, then select the source project.
Select the references or categories you want. Everything starts selected; searching does not clear hidden selections.
Review the preview and choose Copy references. Possible duplicates are skipped unless you choose Keep both.

The reference-copy preview filtered to Eleanor Blackwood, with one character selected and the fields and tags to include

Copies include descriptions, notes, custom fields, and tags. Scene links and manuscript text stay in the source project. Existing references are never overwritten.

Each copy belongs to its book. Changes in one project do not update another. Review your selection carefully: there is no batch undo.

References from Import

When you import a project, kindling imports reference data where the format supports it:

Format	Characters	Locations	Items	Objectives	Orgs
Plottr	✓	✓	—	—	—
Scrivener	✓	✓	—	—	—
Markdown	—	—	—	—	—
yWriter	✓	✓	✓	—	—
Longform/Obsidian	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
novelWriter	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓

Longform/Obsidian and novelWriter also support Timelines and Notes. See the format guides for how notes are classified and linked.

See Importing Projects for details on how each format handles references.