Canon Lock
Canon Lock is the one deliberate moment that turns an approved draft into permanent story — applying state changes and updating your route, cast, and codex.
Canon Lock is the magic moment. It's the single action that takes a draft you approve and makes it real: the chapter becomes permanent, your approved state changes apply, and the rest of the console catches up.
Draft is not canon until you lock it.
Why locking is separate from generating
Generation is fast, cheap, and reversible. Canon is deliberate and durable. Keeping them separate is what lets the AI propose boldly while you stay fully in control:
- A generated chapter produces proposed state changes — it never edits your world directly.
- You review those proposals and approve, tweak, or drop each one.
- Only you, by locking, make them canon.
Never let generated artifacts directly mutate canon.
What happens when you lock
- The chapter is locked into your save file timeline.
- Approved state updates apply — relationships shift, world facts change, and your route progress advances.
- Your Cast Board and Story Codex update to reflect what's now known.
- The Auto Route re-evaluates and offers your next three moves.
- A reward may be revealed — earned from the canon you just made.
Your story remembers itself
Because canon is tracked as structured state rather than left to a chat window's memory, later chapters stay consistent with everything you've locked. That's the whole point:
Your story remembers itself.
Next: after every lock the Auto Route offers your next three moves — and the Route Lab lets you try a different direction without touching your canon.
The Writers Room
How a recommended move becomes a Scene Brief and then a drafted or generated chapter — produced as a draft plus proposed State Updates, never canon.
Routes & the Route Lab
How Auto Route hands you three concrete next moves after every Canon Lock, and how the Route Lab lets you try alternate directions without risking your Main Save.