Lore & Lilac
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Changelog

What's new

Every release, newest first. Unfinished work stays on the list at the bottom until it ships.

Release 0.5.1 · October 2026

Fixes for saving, billing and the desktop app

No new features: this release makes sure fewer things can go quietly wrong.

Writing and saving

  • Changing one detail of a story-bible fact (its status in a custom view, say) no longer resets its note, story time or who believes it
  • Notes, corkboards, map pins, scene titles and edition design changes made just before you leave a page are saved instead of dropped
  • Scene details (including “Keep this scene out of AI questions”) show what you saved after you switch tabs, so a later save can't undo them
  • Restoring an older version waits until your latest words have reached the cloud
  • Words written offline in your own book sync correctly even while a shared book is open, and so do final saves when you leave a shared book
  • If part of the studio can't load, you see a message with a Reload button instead of a blank page

Plans and AI allowance

  • Monthly renewals always add the full allowance, including for subscriptions started on the 29th–31st
  • A purchase made before you signed up or confirmed your email is added to your account as soon as you confirm it
  • A refund on one charge no longer keeps later paid renewals on Free
  • A question or scan that stopped before reaching the AI provider no longer counts against your allowance, and a cancelled one stays cancelled

Desktop app 0.3.1

  • The portable Windows copy no longer tries to update itself by installing the full app; it points you to the download page instead
  • The “update ready” message no longer reappears every few hours after you choose Later, and Check for Updates on the Mac works again after Later
  • If the studio's server is unreachable, the app opens your offline copy instead of an error page
  • Local backups of two books with similar titles always go to separate folders

Release 0.5 · October 2026

Free to start, and on the Mac

A Free plan with no end date, one-time reading packs for extra AI reading, and the desktop app on macOS.

Free

  • Free takes the place of “no active plan”: one active book with the full writing workspace, planning, story bible, export and continuity checks that don't use AI, for as long as you like
  • When the trial or a paid plan ends, your account moves to Free and your books stay as they were

Reading packs

  • One-time reading packs, no subscription: about 420,000 words for $5, about 1.2 million for $12 or about 4.2 million for $29
  • Each lasts 12 months, is used only after the monthly allowance, and works on every plan, Free included, with a verified email address
  • Bought on Gumroad from Settings with your account's email, so the reading is added by itself; or claim one with the sale ID from your receipt
  • Settings shows this month's allowance and your extra reading separately, with the earliest expiry

macOS

  • The desktop app for macOS, for Apple silicon and Intel: a .zip you unzip and drag to Applications
  • It isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first launch needs System Settings › Privacy & Security › Open Anyway; the download page shows how
  • Mac updates aren't automatic yet: the app tells you when a new version is ready and opens the download page. Windows and Linux still update themselves

Release 0.4 · October 2026

Together, and anywhere

Open your books with no connection, write a book with a co-author, and build your own tables of records, scenes and details. Plus yearly plans.

Open with no connection

  • Books you've opened on a device open there without a connection — in the browser, the installed app and the desktop app
  • Changes made offline are kept on the device, even if you close the app, and sync in order when you're back; a scene that changed elsewhere goes to the usual review
  • A calm connection status in the studio, and a plain “needs a connection” wherever a feature needs the server
  • The library marks which books are on this device

Co-authoring

  • Invite a co-author to a book by email; they need a free account, not a plan
  • See who is writing in which scene; a scene someone is writing in opens read-only, with Edit anyway
  • Version history names who saved each version, and comments show who wrote them
  • AI runs, exports, reading links, publishing and billing stay with the book's owner

Saved views

  • Your own tables of story-bible records, scenes and details, worked out from the live records each time
  • Filters, multi-column sort and grouping; change a scene's status or POV, or a detail's status or truth, right in the table
  • CSV export and four starter views

Plans

  • Yearly plans: two months free, with the AI allowance still arriving month by month
  • Fair-use limits on AI runs, so one day or one run can't use up a month; nothing is spent when a run can't start

Desktop

  • Installers download from our own site, and the download page shows which builds are ready

Release 0.3 · October 2026

Easier to move in

Bring your book from Scrivener and most other writing apps, keep backups on your own computer, and get a book ready for your editor and your readers.

Import

  • Zipped Scrivener projects: the Draft in binder order, folders as chapters, documents as scenes, synopses, and research documents as notes
  • RTF, EPUB and Markdown import, alongside Word and plain text
  • Word comments brought into the margin on the paragraphs they belong to
  • Chapter detection for files without heading styles (“Chapter 12”, “Prologue”, “Part One”), which you can switch off in the preview

Write

  • Replace across the whole book with a preview of every match, unticking any you want to keep; a snapshot is saved first
  • A dictionary: select a word and choose Define. Only that word is looked up, and nothing in your text changes
  • Smarter story-bible names: distinctive parts of a character's name are recognised, and words that could mean more than one entry let you pick
  • Every keyboard shortcut in one sheet — press ? or Ctrl+/

Publish

Desktop

  • Local backups: a restorable copy of each book on your computer, automatic at most once a day, or whenever you choose
  • loreandlilac:// links that open the app at your library or a scene
  • Microphone access for dictation, for the studio only; where dictation isn't available, the app points you to your system's own

Plans & sharing

  • The AI allowance shown as approximate words of reading, with a warning before a large run and nothing spent when a run doesn't fit
  • Give a friend more reading: when a friend you invite keeps a paid plan past the refund window, you both get extra reading
  • Share cards for the Lilac Garden and your report card, with numbers left off unless you include them; an optional “Today's pace” note in the Garden
  • Reading links carry a small “Shared privately with Lore & Lilac” line, which you can turn off for any link

Release 0.2 · October 2026

The connected desk

Continuity checks, planning and world-building views, book design, beta readers and a revision desk.

Write

  • @-names that link to story-bible entries, and margin comments
  • Read aloud, dictation, smart quotes, find & replace, and splitting a scene (or turning a selection into one)
  • Writing stats, optional goals, streaks with rest days, sprints and focus sounds — see stats & goals
  • The Lexicon & style lens: echo words, filter and crutch words, watch-lists and readability by chapter
  • The Lilac Garden: a private November writing season where your lilac grows with words, revised scenes or story-bible entries

Keep track

  • Story scan: possible contradictions with both passages quoted side by side, intentional memory, and suggested story-bible entries with their sources
  • Basic continuity checks that run without AI
  • Profiles with images, a relationships graph, family trees, maps and character voices — see world-building
  • Series workspaces with a cross-book story bible and search

Plan

  • Plotlines, a pacing view and beat sheets
  • A free-canvas corkboard and notes inside each book

Revise

Share

  • Book design: ten free themes, editions, EPUB and print-ready PDF through the browser
  • Beta-reader links with inline comments, reactions and consensus

Website

  • Feature pages, honest comparisons, buyer's guides, the Academy and glossary, and plain-language privacy, terms and security pages

Release 0.1 · 2026 · private pilot

Foundations

The first pilot release: a writing studio you can trust with a whole draft.

Writing & recovery

  • Chapters and scenes, focus mode and three themes
  • A device copy and cloud saves with an honest status line; crash recovery; a choice when two devices disagree
  • Full version history with word-level compare and restore

Import & export

  • DOCX and TXT import with a fidelity report first
  • DOCX and TXT export, and a complete project archive that restores a whole book

Story bible & planning

  • Characters, places, objects, rules and groups with aliases and truth scopes
  • Cite selection: details tied to passages, flagged when a source changes
  • List, board and timeline views of the same scenes, with story time kept apart from reading order

Cited questions

  • Per-book permission, an estimate before every question, verified quotes and honest “I couldn't find a passage” answers

Everywhere

  • Desktop app builds for Windows and Linux, and an installable app for phones, tablets and Chromebooks

Next

On the workbench

Not available yet. Order and details may change.

  • Next Real-time co-editing. Two people typing in the same scene at the same moment. Today co-authors work scene by scene, and the studio shows who is writing where.
  • Next An author website. A simple public page for you and your books.
  • Next Google Drive import. Open a Google Doc straight from Drive. Today, download it as Word (.docx) and import the file.

Bring the draft you have

Import your draft from Word, Scrivener, RTF, EPUB or Markdown, or start on a blank page. The 14-day trial needs no card, and your book is exportable from the first word.

Start your free trial