App for macOS · private beta

Ariadne

The writing tool for branching, story-heavy games.

Your story lives as plain text in your game's own repository. The Mac app, the ariadne command line and Claude Code all work on those same files, so you and your agent edit one story together.

Write a scene, then play it on the spot
Walk every path to find dead ends and lines nobody can reach
Plain text in git: no database, no account, no lock-in

Join the beta See the format →

Ariadne's story graph: scenes laid out by chapter, with the Problems list beside it

What it does

Write it, play it, prove it.

Everything between the first line of dialogue and a story your game can trust, in one quiet window.

A script editor for branching dialogue

Speakers, choices, conditions and jumps are coloured as you type. Problems show inline, and focus and typewriter modes keep the page the only bright thing.

Play any scene, right away

Play from the start or from any scene, set variables by hand, and watch each effect fire as you choose.

Tests and auto-walk

Save a playthrough as a test that replays later. Auto-walk explores every path and reports dead ends, unreached lines and runtime errors.

A linter that knows stories

Missing targets, undeclared variables and unreachable content, sorted into errors, warnings and hints in one Problems tab.

Graph and constellation

See the story as a flow graph laid out by chapter, or as a constellation coloured by the endings each scene can reach.

Bible, inbox and state

Characters and places pick up their mentions from the scenes. Idea cards become scenes. Variables are typed: flags, numbers, items and quests.

Made for RPG dialogue

Skill checks, chance, variants, topics and conversations, ambient barks, and tables for interface text.

Safe with git and outside edits

Saves are atomic. When Claude Code changes a file, Ariadne shows it within a second, and asks you to choose when both sides changed it.

Command line and MCP server

Lint, build, walk, test, outline and make guarded edits from a terminal, or let Claude Code do the same through MCP tools.

Ariadne: the Play panel running a scene beside the script

Play it the moment you write it

Press ⌘↵ and the scene runs beside the script: speakers, choices and every effect as it fires. Set the world by hand to test a line that only appears at night, or after a quest.

Ariadne walking every path of a story, with a report of endings and lines never shown

Walk every path

Auto-walk tries every choice, state by state, and reports the endings it reached, the dead ends, and the lines no player will ever see. It runs in the background, so you keep writing.

Ariadne previewing an imported manuscript before replacing files

Bring the manuscript you have

Ariadne writes a prompt, you run it in Claude with your manuscript, and paste the answer back. Long books go chapter by chapter, with a preview of every file it will change and a check that nothing was lost.

The format

Plain text, in your repo.

One file per scene, readable by people and by language models, and merged cleanly by git. The compiler turns the story folder into one file your game reads.

The story folder is the database. Ariadne holds nothing that isn't in your files.
Agent-native, not AI-powered: Ariadne makes no model calls and needs no API key.
The app, the command line and the MCP server share one core, so they always agree.

# road
The road into Saltmark ends where the sea begins,
in a tangle of rope, salt and lamplight.  #L1

Rook (dry): Charming. Smells like the inside of a boot.  #L2

* Tell Rook to keep his voice down -> hush  #L7
* Laugh with him -> laugh  #L8
* {trust_mara > 0} Say that Mara chose this place
  for a reason -> defend  #L9

# defend
~ trust_mara += 1
Rook (surprised): You trust her. That's new.  #L5
-> gate

Where it stands

Early, and honest about it.

Now

The Mac app, in a small private beta
The command line and MCP server for Claude Code, installed from source for now
The format, the linter, the compiler, Play, tests and auto-walk

Later

Autocomplete, go to definition and quick fixes
A Godot add-on and a live link to your running game
Localization and voice-line export
Exporters for Ink, Yarn Spinner and Ren'Py
A signed download with updates, and Windows

Questions

Before you ask.

Does Ariadne use AI, or need an API key?

No. Ariadne makes no model calls. Claude Code, or you, edit the files, and Ariadne checks, plays and compiles them. Every action in the app is also a command and an MCP tool, so an agent can do what you can.

Where is my story stored?

In a story/ folder inside your game's repository, as plain text you commit with the rest of your game. There is no cloud account and no proprietary file.

How does my game read the story?

The compiler builds the story folder into a single file, and a published runtime specification describes how to play it. A Godot add-on is planned but not built yet.

Is it Ink?

No. The format is close in spirit to Ink and easy to read for people and models, but it is its own. An Ink exporter is planned.

Can a team use it?

Through git, yes: one file per scene keeps merges clean. Version one is made for one writer at a time, not live co-editing.

What will it cost?

That isn't decided yet. Beta testers will hear first.