SHOW-WRITER

Show Writer is a local-first desktop screenwriting application built around portable Fountain files. It supports drafting, structural planning, revision, and production export without requiring a remote backend.

Purpose

Screenwriters need an efficient writing environment alongside reliable formatting, scene organization, revision tracking, and file ownership. Show Writer combines those tools while keeping the screenplay in a transparent plain-text format that remains usable outside the app.

Core capabilities

• Screenplay editor: A keyboard-focused CodeMirror editor with screenplay-aware formatting commands, contextual Enter and Tab behavior, autocomplete, search, focus mode, and typewriter scrolling.
• Preview and output: Live paginated screenplay preview, title pages, dialogue continuations, dual dialogue, printing, and PDF export.
• Film and television formats: Feature, single-camera, and multi-camera presets, pilot templates, act tools, page targets, and independently editable episodes within ordered seasons.
• Structural planning: Searchable scene outlines, scene cards, drag-and-drop and keyboard reordering, continuous multi-scene editing, saved collections, reference panes, and season storyline lanes.
• Supporting records: Character and location bibles, aliases, reference images, scene notes, production tags, custom fields, and setup/payoff links.
• Revision tools: Locked baselines, revision colors and marks, changed-pages PDFs, best-effort page locking, word-level ScriptCompare, alternate dialogue, and restorable snapshots.
• Reports and interchange: Scene, cast, location, coverage, and breakdown reports; structured FDX import/export; and screenplay export to PDF, Fountain, FDX, and editable Word.
• Project protection: Atomic autosave, recovery drafts, external-change detection, conflict resolution, and portable folder or writable .sw projects.
• Writing support: Local advisory proofing, read-aloud, writing goals, streaks, sprint timers, and a searchable handbook.

Typical workflow

Create or open a project → select a screenplay format → draft and organize scenes → review structure and supporting records → compare and revise drafts → export a submission or production document.

Technical foundation

React, TypeScript, and Zustand manage the workspace. CodeMirror provides editing, while a dedicated Fountain parser supplies the screenplay model. A shared pagination model supports preview and PDF output. Tauri and Rust handle native filesystem operations, project packaging, and recovery.

Fountain remains the canonical screenplay; supporting JSON files hold annotations, identities, settings, and structural metadata.

Current position

The package version is 0.3.0. Documentation marks the original ten development phases as implemented, followed by substantial additions for seasons, portable project files, structural tools, reports, and export.

Remaining limitations include pagination calibration for unusual material, restricted PDF font coverage, heuristic proofing, and best-effort page locking after major restructuring. AI functionality and the broader Showrunner synchronization bridge remain deferred.

Relationship to Showrunner

Show Writer supplies the screenplay drafting and revision environment, while Showrunner manages story development, continuity, and production planning. Showrunner can read and manually refresh linked Show Writer .sw projects for television episodes and export approved beats as a Fountain outline. A broader two-way synchronization system remains future work.