Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Kindling — the free, open-source writing app built for plotters and outliners.
Is Kindling free?
Yes. Kindling is completely free and open-source under the MIT license. There are no premium tiers, no subscriptions, and no feature gates. It is free forever.
What platforms does Kindling run on?
Kindling is available for Windows 10+, macOS 12+ (universal binary — Apple Silicon and Intel), and Linux (x86_64 AppImage). It's a native desktop application built with Rust and Tauri — about 10MB total. The macOS build is signed and notarized by Apple.
How is Kindling different from Scrivener?
Scrivener excels at manuscript management, compilation, and long-term project organization. When you open a new scene in Scrivener, you get a blank page. Kindling pre-populates your drafting space with your synopsis beats and character context, so you never face a blank page.
Kindling now supports bidirectional Scrivener import and export — import your .scriv binder, draft scenes with your beats visible, and export back to a new or existing Scrivener project. Plan in Plottr, draft in Kindling, revise in Scrivener. Scrivener costs $49 one-time; Kindling is free.
Can Kindling import from Plottr?
Yes. Kindling imports Plottr (.pltr) files directly and turns your beats into expandable writing prompts. It also imports from Scrivener 3 (.scriv), yWriter (.yw7), Obsidian Longform, and Markdown outlines. Your character and location cards surface automatically while you write.
Can Kindling import from Scrivener?
Yes. Kindling imports Scrivener 3 (.scriv) projects directly — binder hierarchy becomes chapters and scenes, RTF content is converted preserving formatting, and synopses and document metadata are extracted.
You can also export back to Scrivener — either creating a new .scriv bundle or updating an existing one with a match preview dialog that shows exactly how your Kindling scenes map to Scrivener documents.
What file formats does Kindling support?
Import: Scrivener 3 (.scriv), Plottr (.pltr), yWriter (.yw7), Obsidian Longform, and Markdown outlines.
Export: Scrivener 3 (.scriv), DOCX, EPUB, Markdown, and Obsidian Longform format.
Kindling supports a full round-trip Scrivener workflow — import your binder, draft in Kindling, and export back to a new or existing Scrivener project with a match preview dialog.
Does Kindling support screenwriting?
Yes. v1.2 introduced a Screenplay project type with slugline input (INT./EXT. with time-of-day parsing), a page count estimator based on industry-standard 250 words per page, and treatment generation (export 1-page or 5-page treatments as DOCX).
Screenplay projects include Save the Cat, Hero's Journey, and Three-Act Structure beat sheet templates. Beats, references, and export all work the same as novel projects.
Does Kindling use AI to write?
No. Kindling provides structure and context, not generated text. Your writing is 100% yours — Kindling never suggests, autocompletes, or generates prose. There are no subscription fees, no API costs, and no data sent to external servers.
Kindling is built for writers who want to write, not outsource their creativity.
Is Kindling offline and local-first?
Yes. Kindling is a desktop application that works completely offline. Your projects are stored as SQLite files on your hard drive — no cloud accounts, no internet connection required, and no data collection. Your words stay on your computer.
Does Kindling send my writing to the cloud?
No. Kindling doesn't require an account, doesn't phone home, doesn't collect analytics, and doesn't upload your manuscripts. Your projects are stored as SQLite files on your hard drive — just like a Word document. Back them up however you want. Move them between computers with a USB drive. They're yours.
Is Kindling open source?
Yes. Kindling is fully open source under the MIT license. The complete source code is available on GitHub. Anyone can inspect, modify, and redistribute the code. If the project ever stopped being maintained, the community could carry it forward.
What is Kindling built with?
Rust and Tauri 2.x for the backend, providing fast performance and a small ~10MB application size. The user interface is built with Svelte 5. Project data is stored in SQLite databases. It launches in under a second and uses a fraction of the memory of Electron-based writing tools.
Ready to try it?
Free, open source, no account required.