# vkbo/novelWriter

novelWriter is an open source plain text editor designed for writing novels.

Repository: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/novelwriter
Homepage: https://novelwriter.io
Language: Python
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: text-editor, novels, python, linux, windows, writing-novels, editor, pyqt6, qt6
Last push: 2026-08-23T20:39:17+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2902, "days_push": 10, "days_rel": 39, "gap_med": 27, "n_releases_24m": 18}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3091, forks 212 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:42.330861+00:00)

## What it is
novelWriter is an open source plain text editor designed for writing novels assembled from many smaller text documents. It uses a Markdown-inspired formatting syntax with metadata for comments, synopsis, and cross-referencing, storing projects in human-readable text files.

## Use cases
- write a novel in plain text
- organize chapters and scenes as separate documents
- cross-reference character and plot notes in fiction writing
- export a manuscript to docx, odt, pdf, or markdown
- keep novel projects in version control
- outline a novel with chapters and scenes

## When to choose
- you write fiction and want plain text files for robustness and version control
- you want a free, open source novel editor that runs on Linux
- you need to split a novel into many small documents with cross-references

## When to avoid
- you need rich WYSIWYG word processing like LibreOffice or Word
- you want cloud collaboration or co-writing features
- you need screenplay or non-fiction-specific formatting tools

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: editor, markdown, file-system, internationalization
- domain: text-editors, developer-tools, files
- platform: windows, python, cross-platform
- tags: novel-writing, plain-text, pyqt6, qt6, fiction-writing, manuscript-export, writing-tool, linux, macos, desktop

## Member repositories
- vkbo/novelWriter (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:42.330861+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 2026-08-30T07:27:21.005403+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/vkbo/novelWriter (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:42.330861+00:00, sha 28b0ff3db15b)
  - homepage: https://novelwriter.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.667207+00:00, sha 914c85297205)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/download/install_pypi.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.681421+00:00, sha 815d088838df)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/features.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.669645+00:00, sha 26b503e8a847)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/about/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.671452+00:00, sha f7904d7c281c)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/docs/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.674667+00:00, sha e1f028bbae23)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/download/install_linux.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.678139+00:00, sha 244de886be24)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/download/install_win.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.679844+00:00, sha f5fd362a6227)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/novelwriter/json (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.682993+00:00, sha 2495bd6a5589)
  - site_page: https://novelwriter.io/releases/index.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:42:47.673122+00:00, sha e4ce4f3127b3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.