Frequently Asked Questions

Chronicler is a free, offline worldbuilding tool for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It's a desktop application that works entirely on your computer. No sign-up, no cloud, no internet connection required. You write notes in Markdown, link them together with [[wikilinks]], and build a private, interconnected wiki for your fictional worlds, TTRPG campaigns, or novels. It blends simplicity with flexibility: easy enough to start writing in seconds, but powerful enough to support custom HTML and CSS directly in your pages for those who want full control.

No. Chronicler requires no registration, no email address, and no account of any kind. You download it, open it, and start building your world immediately. There is no login screen and no cloud service to authenticate with.

Chronicler stores everything in a private local folder on your computer (your "vault"). Inside, your notes are just plain text Markdown files (.md) and your images are standard image files. You always have full access to them. Nothing is ever uploaded to a server.

Yes, 100% offline. Chronicler is a native desktop application that runs entirely on your device. It does not require an internet connection to create, edit, search, or navigate your world. You can write on a plane, in a cabin, or anywhere without Wi-Fi.

Because Chronicler uses standard files, you can back up your world just like any other folder. You can:

• Copy the folder to a USB drive.
• Sync it with Proton Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or iCloud.
• Use Git to version control your world.

Chronicler is widely used by Dungeon Masters and Game Masters to organize campaigns, track NPCs, document session notes, and build entire homebrew settings. Features like wikilinks, infoboxes, spoiler tags, and templates are specifically designed with TTRPG worldbuilding in mind.

Yes. Chronicler has built-in importers for Word / Google Docs (.docx) and MediaWiki / Fandom (.xml dump). It also works natively with Obsidian vaults. Just point Chronicler at your existing vault folder and your notes, links, and images will work immediately.

Chronicler is source-available. This means the code is public on GitHub for transparency and security auditing, but it is licensed under the PolyForm Shield License. This prevents others from selling clones of the app but allows you to use it freely.

Chronicler stores all notes as plain-text Markdown (.md) files. This is an open, widely-supported format that you can read with any text editor. Your data is never locked in a proprietary format. If you ever stop using Chronicler, your files are still yours and still readable.

Chronicler runs on Windows (10 and above), macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), and Linux (AppImage and .deb). It is a native desktop application with the same features on all platforms.

Some Linux distributions have a known issue with WebKitGTK and the DMA-BUF renderer that can cause Chronicler to show a blank screen or fail to launch.

Workaround:

Prepend the following environment variable to your launch command:

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 ./Chronicler.AppImage

You can also add this variable to your .desktop file or shell profile to make it permanent. This disables the DMA-BUF renderer and falls back to a compatible rendering path. This is a known upstream WebKitGTK issue, not a bug in Chronicler. If the above doesn't work, try this instead:

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libwayland-client.so ./Chronicler.AppImage

Chronicler is currently a desktop-only application. There is no mobile app or web version. That's on purpose: being offline-first and desktop-native is what allows Chronicler to be fast, private, and subscription-free. Your vault folder can be synced via a cloud drive and accessed from multiple desktop machines.