The Questions You Might Have.
Straight answers. If yours isn't here, ask us directly.
The product
What exactly is CanonBoard?+
Story architecture. Not a writing app. A war room for building, organizing, and stress-testing the logic of a fictional world before a word of script is written. You build the world here; you write it wherever you write.
Does Conflict Detection use AI?+
Yes. Conflict Detection ✦ reads your full world on demand and surfaces direct contradictions — dead-then-alive characters, broken rules, two characters in the same place at the same time — with an explanation per conflict. Available on Core and above; each scan costs 1 AI credit.
Will Refine ✦ write my story?+
Never. Refine interviews you — one question at a time, about ten per session — and parses your answers into structured cards on the board. It never generates story content and never suggests plot decisions. If you want a tool that writes for you, we are cheerfully the wrong product.
What's the Locked Vault?+
A sealed section for intentional mysteries — the season-two reveal, the hidden motivation, the twist. The conflict engine never flags what's in the Vault, because a deliberate gap isn't a mistake. It's kept completely separate from active canon.
What does "pre-writing" actually mean?+
The layer before the manuscript: who your characters are, what your world's rules permit, how every thread connects, what happens when. Most tools start checking your world after you've written it. CanonBoard works before — when contradictions are cheap to fix.
Can I map my world geographically?+
Yes. Geography lets you pin locations to a real-world map or build a fictional one, connected to your locations and timeline. It's free on every plan.
Plans & credits
What's actually in the free plan?+
The complete structural product for one project and one seat: infinite canvas, characters, plot threads, locations, lore, world rules, timeline, relationship mapping, geography, and bible export. AI features — including Conflict Detection ✦, Refine ✦, and Smart Import ✦ — start on Core.
What is an AI credit?+
One credit = one Refine ✦ session (~10 questions) or one Smart Import ✦ of a small document. Core includes 15 credits a month, Pro 40, Studio 100 — as a shared pool across your whole account, not per seat.
What if I run out of credits?+
Credit packs: Starter ($4.99 / 10), Standard ($9.99 / 25), Pro Pack ($19.99 / 60). Packs never expire and are available on every paid tier.
How do seats and pricing work?+
Core is $17/mo with 3 seats, Pro is $49/mo with 8, Studio is $99/mo with 15 — and any tier can add seats at $5/seat/month. Every paid tier has unlimited projects.
Can I cancel anytime?+
Yes. Subscriptions are monthly, cancellation is self-serve, and your boards stay readable and exportable. No retention maze, no chat with a 'specialist.'
Your data & your IP
Who owns my world?+
You do. Entirely, unambiguously, forever. CanonBoard claims no rights of any kind over the worlds, characters, or stories you build here.
When does AI touch my content?+
Only when you trigger a ✦ feature — Conflict Detection, Refine, or Smart Import. Those send the relevant content to our AI provider per-request to do the job you asked for. Relationship Mapping, Timeline, and Version History run on our own database logic and never transmit your content anywhere.
Can I get everything out?+
Always. Bible Export produces a formatted PDF of your entire world on every plan, including Free. Your world is portable by design.
Who can see my project?+
Only the people you invite, with the role you give them — view, comment, or edit. Projects are private by default. The Locked Vault is restricted further still.
Teams & rooms
How does a writers' room use CanonBoard?+
One project, one board, every writer on it — live presence, real-time cursors, role permissions. Pro adds comment threads on cards and a change history showing exactly who changed what, when. The episode-seven problem stops existing.
What does Studio add over Pro?+
Organizational scale rather than features: an admin dashboard across all projects, org-level billing on one invoice, multiple simultaneous teams under one subscription, and 15 included seats.
Can someone view without editing?+
Yes — view and comment roles exist exactly for producers, executives, and directors who need the world without the keys to it.
The free plan is the full structural product. Build a world, watch the engine catch something, then decide.
Start free