SMF·DABBLE
Can a prompt replace Dabble?
AI writing — grammar, editing and long-form writing
Exhibit tracking slip
Verdict
Dabble's signature is the Plot Grid — a spreadsheet where each column is a plot thread and each row a scene, so a subplot that vanishes for eight chapters is visible at a glance. That is a small, specific interface with no model behind it, and it is buildable in a sitting. What you are not rebuilding is the sync that lets a writer move between a laptop and a phone mid-chapter, which for a manuscript is the feature that matters most.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on31.07.2026Build a local novel-writing application organised around a plot grid. No AI features.
Manuscript: a book holds parts, parts hold chapters, chapters hold scenes. A scene has a title, a point-of-view character, a one-line summary, a word target and Markdown text. Drag to reorder at any level; reordering never touches scene content.
The plot grid, which is the reason to build this. A grid whose columns are plot lines — main plot, each subplot, character arcs — and whose rows are scenes in manuscript order. A cell holds a short note describing what that scene does for that plot line, or is empty. From this one view:
- A column with a long empty stretch shows a thread that has gone quiet, and the grid should shade those gaps so they are obvious without counting.
- A row with every cell empty is a scene doing no structural work.
- Clicking a cell opens the scene; editing a cell note never opens the editor, so plotting and drafting stay separate activities.
- Columns can be reordered and coloured; the colour follows the thread into the chapter tree, so the manuscript outline shows thread coverage too.
Story notes: characters, locations and items as entries with fields and free text, linkable from scene notes. A character entry lists every scene where it is the point of view.
Writing view: a distraction-free editor for one scene, with the scene's summary and its plot-grid row visible in a collapsible strip so the writer can see what the scene is supposed to accomplish.
Progress: word counts per scene, chapter and book against targets, a daily writing history, and a projected completion date from the recent average.
Storage: SQLite as the working store, plus an automatic export of the whole manuscript to a folder of Markdown files on every close, so the text is never trapped in a database only this application can read. Timestamped snapshots before any structural change, restorable from within the app.
Export: single Markdown, compiled DOCX with chapter breaks and standard manuscript formatting, and a full JSON backup including the grid.
Out of scope: cloud sync, mobile apps, collaboration, and any AI writing or editing feature.Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 cloud sync between machines, and the phone app
- B.2 automatic backup of the manuscript somewhere other than your desk
- B.3 the goal and streak tracking tuned for deadline writing
- B.4 collaboration with an editor inside the same document
Prior art
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: polish, integrations, and proprietary language models
Because losing a manuscript ends a project, and paying for something that keeps three copies in three places is cheap insurance for work that took a year.
Questions
Can I import a Dabble manuscript?
Dabble exports to DOCX and plain text, so the prose comes across. The plot grid does not export in any structured form, which means rebuilding it — a few hours for a finished novel, and arguably worth doing since re-entering it is a structural review.
Why no AI features at all?
Because Dabble is structure software, not a drafting assistant, and the catalogue already has entries where an AI writing loop is the whole point. Adding one here would blur the distinction that makes this entry worth having.
What does it cost to run?
Nothing. A SQLite file and a Markdown folder on your own machine, no server and no keys. The prompt writes the Markdown export automatically because a manuscript in a proprietary store is a risk, not a feature.
What is the one thing that does not survive the rebuild?
Backup you do not have to think about. Dabble syncs and keeps versions off your machine; here a failed disk is a lost novel unless you have set up your own backups, and the snapshot directory sits on the same disk as everything else.
Related tools
Receipt