# inkle/ink

inkle's open source scripting language for writing interactive narrative.

Repository: https://github.com/inkle/ink
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/inkle-ink
Homepage: http://www.inklestudios.com/ink
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-05-05T11:24:42+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 74/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 80, release rhythm 50, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3875, "days_push": 120, "days_rel": 120, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4914, forks 541 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:02.321951+00:00)

## What it is
ink is inkle's open-source scripting language and narrative engine for writing interactive, branching stories in games. Written in C#, it includes a compiler (inklecate) and runtime designed to integrate with game engines like Unity and Unreal.

## Use cases
- write branching dialogue for a video game
- create interactive fiction playable on the web
- add a narrative engine to a Unity project
- compile ink story files to JSON for a custom runtime
- author choice-based stories with a writer-friendly markup

## When to choose
- you need highly branching narrative in a text-centric or graphical game
- writers on your team need an easy-to-learn markup rather than a programming language
- you want proven middleware used in shipped commercial games
- you need Unity or Unreal integration for interactive dialogue

## When to avoid
- you need linear, non-branching cutscenes only
- your project has no narrative or dialogue component
- you need a visual node-based story editor rather than a text scripting language

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: interpreter, compiler, sdk, plugin-system
- domain: programming-languages, parsers
- platform: cross-platform, game-engine, cli
- tags: interactive-fiction, narrative-scripting, storytelling, branching-narrative, game-writing, game-development, c#

## Member repositories
- inkle/ink (main) score 74

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:02.321951+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:18:03.795467+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/inkle/ink (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:02.321951+00:00, sha f09eb7bb1d53)
  - homepage: http://www.inklestudios.com/ink (fetched 2026-08-29T09:00:02.162483+00:00, sha 22302abb52f1)
  - site_page: https://www.inklestudios.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T09:00:02.171930+00:00, sha 954c81d90591)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.