CanonBoardCanonBoard
FAQ

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.

Still deciding?

The free plan is the full structural product. Build a world, watch the engine catch something, then decide.

Start free