The complete offline desktop suite for novelists and screenwriters. Plan with cards, write with focus, design like a professional, and prove — with a single QR — that the words are yours.
One application. Three platforms. Your license travels across up to three devices, and your work never leaves your machine without your say-so.
In a world flooded with AI-generated books, Quilva quietly notices how you write — your keystrokes, edits, pauses, time at the keyboard — and folds it all into an encrypted QR code anyone can scan to verify your authorship.
Your manuscript never leaves your computer until you choose to share it. A quiet, confident way to say: I actually wrote this.
From first spark to final proof, every part of the writing journey lives inside a single, non-destructive workspace. Switch hats; never switch apps.
The structural spine of your project. Drag, drop, rename, rearrange — and watch every other part of Quilva update in real time. Build a whole act of chapters in a single keystroke.
A digital corkboard where your story comes to life. Spread colourful cards across the table, arrange beats by hand, and feel the shape of your novel before you write a word.
Your story as a living mind map. Hit Tab to grow ideas, Alt-click to move whole branches in a single gesture. Restructuring stops feeling like file management and starts feeling like sculpting.
Like a video editor for your story. Run main plot, subplots, and character arcs on parallel tracks and spot pacing problems at a glance. Build as many timelines as you want — all driven by the same underlying cards.
Your story's living world bible. Build rich profiles for every character, place, and idea — then watch the Atlas track every appearance across your entire manuscript, automatically.
Your private vault. Notes, tables, images, and PDFs all live inside the project file — never lost, never broken, always there. Email your project and your whole research library travels with it.
A calm, beautiful place to write — for both prose and screenplays. The Compass sidebar quietly hands you the cards, notes, and characters for the scene you're writing, so all your planning travels with you onto the page.
Professional book layout, built right in. Design beautiful pages that stay perfectly in sync with your manuscript — edit a paragraph, and the design updates itself. No more juggling separate apps.
From manuscript to finished book in a few clicks. Quick PDFs for beta readers, press-ready PDFs for the printer, Word and Fountain exports for agents and producers — all from one place.
No subscriptions, no surprises. Try the demo forever — upgrade only when you're ready.
Experience the full power of Quilva Standard or Pro with no credit card required. 15 uses, no watermarks, every feature unlocked.
Depending on whether you like to read, watch, or dig deep.
A 60-page eBook walking you through the main features and workflows of Quilva. A light, introductory read, perfect for Quilva beginners.
Download free ebook →From quick tips to in-depth feature walkthroughs, our video library helps visual learners get the most out of Quilva.
Watch on YouTube →Searchable, regularly updated docs with detailed technical information, references, and community-contributed tricks.
View documentation →Quilva exists for writers who care about the craft — the ones chasing real stories, real characters, and real creativity in a world obsessed with speed and disposable content. We support people who choose to create something genuinely human, and we focus on the features writers actually need.
Traditional writing software forces a choice between simplicity and power. Quilva offers both. The story planning tools are simple yet incredibly intuitive. The integrated Designer means you never switch apps. Everything from idea to publication lives in one place — making your whole process more efficient.
We've talked to novelists and screenwriters to understand what they really need: planning tools that feel intuitive, and a compass to keep them on track when actually writing. Quilva combines the best ideas from other programs and gives writers what they've always wanted — but couldn't quite put into words.
Quilva gives writers full control over planning and production in one place. You get a colour-coded card planner and a strip-based timeline for scenes, subplots, and arcs, plus traditional index cards and outlining tools. Your structure links directly into an integrated Designer and Publisher, so you can shape the look of your book as you write. It's a single, non-destructive workspace that covers planning, writing (books and screenplays), layout, publishing, and even optional authorship verification.
Quilva runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux. All platforms have identical features and capabilities. We recommend running the demo and/or trial version before purchasing, especially on Linux, where distributions can vary. Minimum 8GB RAM recommended, around 350MB disk space required.
The Standard Edition includes all core writing and planning tools plus a basic Publisher. The Pro Edition adds the Designer for full control over interior design, page layout, and press-ready PDFs. Pro also unlocks Human Authorship Certificates, which the Standard Edition lacks.
In short, no — it's not practical. Quilva tracks your real writing habits (how fast you type, pauses, deletions, rewrites, what you wrote yourself vs. copy-pasted) and stores all that data, encrypted, right inside the .qlv file itself. Even we can't read your manuscript — you can prove it by using the app fully offline. When you generate a certificate, only tiny snippets plus the behavioural data get compressed and locked into a QR code. The server is the only thing that can decrypt it. The only way around it would be to slowly re-type the AI-generated book by hand over weeks or months, perfectly imitating real human messiness. So much effort that practically nobody will bother.
Absolutely. Quilva is a fully offline desktop app. The website never tracks your writing or personal data, and you can even activate your license without an internet connection. We value user privacy and ownership, which is why there's no subscription. QR authentication was designed around these values so writers can prove the authenticity of their work without storing or sharing it online.
Think of the Designer as a stripped-down version of Illustrator or CorelDRAW, tightly linked to your book's structure. It's not a full replacement for those programs, but it gives writers and self-publishers every tool relevant to book interior design. Because the Writer and Designer are dynamically linked, design changes propagate automatically, and structural changes (adding chapters, reordering scenes) are completely non-destructive to your layout.
The Timeline displays your story cards on horizontal strips, similar to a video editor. You can create separate tracks for different subplots or character arcs, then drag events to reorder your narrative visually — letting you see your story from new angles or isolate plots for clarity.
Yes. Quilva runs in a non-expiring demo mode with word count limits and watermarked exports. A free trial license removes these limits for 15 uses, letting you fully explore the Designer and Publisher features of Pro without watermarks. You can get an instant trial key for free on this page.
Yes. You can upgrade any time by paying the difference. Email support with your receipt or current license key and we'll happily assist.
We evaluate free or discounted licenses on an individual basis and have supported people with free licenses before. Write to us about your situation and we'll do what we can. There's no guarantee, but we try to help where we reasonably can.
Download and install the latest version from the website whenever you like. Your license includes all updates within the same major version — 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, and so on. These updates are yours permanently. Version 2.0 and beyond would require a new license if you've only bought version 1.
Quilva exports to PDF, DOCX, and EPUB for books, and .fountain and PDF for screenplays.
Quilva comes with roughly 200 curated fonts, organised to help you quickly find what you need. You can also add your own — the documentation explains how.
All purchased licenses include email support, usually with a response within 48 hours. Including your license in support emails tends to bump you to the top of the queue.
Because of how our licensing system works, we can't de-activate a license once it's activated — especially if there's a copy running offline. Our demo and free trial allow thorough testing of every feature before purchase, so we don't offer refunds.
Real humans, usually within 48 hours. We read every message.
Drop a note about a feature request, a bug, a discount enquiry, or just to say hello. We try to reply within two business days — usually faster.
Include your license key in support emails for priority handling.