VC Writer

Story development, research, outlining, drafting, editing and read-back for screenwriters and novelists — a desktop application for Windows 10/11 and macOS, a mobile capture companion, and the store that sells and delivers it.

Built from the master development specification (4 September 2026).

Repository layout

Package	What it is
packages/domain	The platform-neutral domain model. Story structure, research, links, setups/payoffs, manuscript elements, capture and commerce entities, plus the project file format and its migrations. Desktop, mobile and web all build on this one model.
packages/supabase	Database schema, row level security policies and storage layout.
apps/desktop	The Electron desktop application for Windows and macOS.
apps/web	vc-writer.com — marketing, accounts, Stripe checkout, license delivery and installer downloads. Deployed on Vercel.

Getting started

pnpm install
pnpm -r build          # builds the domain package the apps depend on
pnpm dev:desktop       # Electron app with hot reload
pnpm dev:web           # vc-writer.com at http://localhost:3000

Copy .env.example to apps/web/.env.local and fill in the Supabase, Stripe and Resend values. No credential belongs in the repository.

pnpm -r typecheck
pnpm -r test

The rules this codebase keeps

These come straight from the specification and are enforced in code, in the database, or both — not left to convention:

• A beat lives inside a scene or chapter. There is no API and no column that allows a beat to float loose in a plot track (§19).
• A beat's internal title is authoring metadata. It renders only when a caller explicitly asks for an annotated reference copy, never in the delivered manuscript (§5.3, §6).
• Story relationships are typed links between stable ids, not text copied into several records, so an edit propagates everywhere (§7.4).
• "Used" and "archived" are reversible states, never deletes (§7.2, §7.3).
• The project format is platform-neutral and versioned. A project written on Windows opens on macOS; a file from a newer build is refused with an explanation rather than silently losing data (§3.1).
• Entitlement is server-authoritative. Licenses are created only by the Stripe webhook, and installers are handed out as short-lived signed URLs after an entitlement check — never a public URL (§12, §19).
• A retried Stripe webhook cannot mint a second license. Unique constraints, not application-level guesswork, make fulfillment idempotent (§17).

Documentation

Document	Contents
Architecture	How the pieces fit, and why each boundary is where it is
Roadmap	The eight delivery phases and what is built so far
Epics and user stories	The specification as deliverable work with acceptance criteria
API contracts	HTTP endpoints and desktop IPC channels
Deployment	Live services, environment variables, domain, Stripe and release wiring
Decisions	Architecture decision records
Master specification	The source document