Practical overview
When it fits
Use StoryCraftr when you want AI-assisted planning or drafting as part of a command-line book-writing workflow, especially if choosing among OpenAI, OpenRouter and Ollama matters to your setup.
Who it is for
- Novelists planning story worlds, plot structures or chapter drafts.
- Writers who prefer terminal-based tools and can configure Python applications and language-model providers.
Documented uses
- Generate worldbuilding details such as geography, history and cultures.
- Turn a plot idea into an overall outline, character summaries or chapter synopses.
- Draft chapters, cover pages and epilogues from book ideas.
- Use an AI chat interface to brainstorm or refine story ideas.
Requirements & limits
The README documents installation through pipx or invocation through uvx. It identifies the project as MIT-licensed and describes a VS Code extension for starting StoryCraftr chat.
- The documented LLM provider choices are OpenAI, OpenRouter and Ollama; the project configuration also accepts a custom endpoint.
- Credentials can be provided through environment variables or text files in the documented configuration directories.
- Embedding settings include a default model and an option to use a lighter model on constrained hardware.
- The primary workflow is a CLI; the README also documents a VS Code extension for launching chat from a project.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Install StoryCraftr and configure an LLM provider
Prepare the CLI with a documented provider configuration for book-writing tasks.
Before you start
- pipx, or uv and uvx
- Credentials for OpenAI or OpenRouter, or an Ollama service
- A shell for running the documented commands
Steps
Install the documented v0.12.0-beta10 source with pipx, or use the README's uvx invocation.
Provide provider credentials through the documented environment variable or a text file under ~/.storycraftr/; Ollama can instead use OLLAMA_BASE_URL.
Set the project's storycraftr.json provider and model settings, using the documented provider names: openai, openrouter or ollama.
Expected outcome
The CLI is installed or invoked, and the project has provider and model settings for subsequent writing commands.
Guide limitations
- The README does not establish that a particular provider or model will work with every user’s account or environment.
- The guide covers installation and configuration, not a verified execution result.
Initialize a book and request a general outline
Create a book project and submit a general plot-outline prompt using the README's example workflow.
Before you start
- StoryCraftr installed or invokable through uvx
- A configured language-model provider
- A project title and plot prompt
Steps
Run the documented storycraftr init command with a project title and relevant book details such as language, author and genre.
Include the documented provider and model options when initializing the project.
Run the documented outline general-outline command with a plot-summary prompt.
Expected outcome
The documented commands initialize a book project and request a general plot outline.
Guide limitations
- The README provides an example prompt and command, not a guarantee about the generated outline.
- The example includes additional project options, including behavior and embedding-model values; adapt those only according to the project's own guidance.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 14 October 2026
- Original website title
- raestrada/storycraftr · Official homepage title · retained in its source language