Import & Export

Your writing is yours — coming and going. Alcove is built so you can carry an existing story in and continue it with the full console behind you, then carry your finished chapters out in formats anyone can read.

Create here, publish anywhere.

Import an existing draft

Already have chapters written somewhere else? You don't have to start over. Paste your text or bring in a file, and Alcove reads what you've written to build a private Cartridge and a Save File around it — so the moment you continue, the rest of the console already knows your story.

From your draft, Alcove works out things like:

• the chapters and scenes you've written so far
• your major characters and how they relate
• locations, factions, and the objects that matter
• your voice, tense, and point of view
• the threads you've left open — and where the story seems to be heading

You see all of this on an import review screen before anything is final. Alcove flags its own uncertainty — low/medium/high confidence on the timeline, possible duplicate character names, point-of-view shifts — so you can correct what it was unsure about. Check what was detected, fix anything that looks off, and choose how your existing chapters should be treated — settled canon you continue after, earlier chapters that stay editable, or pure background reference. Then pick a direction and keep writing.

Your story remembers itself.

From there it's the same loop as any save file: the Auto Route suggests next moves, your Cast Board and Story Codex stay current, and nothing enters canon until you lock it.

The app proposes; the writer steers.

Pasting outside text is safe

Anything you import or paste in is treated as story material, never as commands. Outside text can't tell the engine what to do — it's just words for your world. So bring in that long, messy draft without worrying about what's hidden in it.

Export your work

When you're ready to publish or back things up, take your chapters out. Alcove exports at least Markdown and plain text, so your story is never trapped inside the app — it opens anywhere, on any platform.

You can also export the cartridge itself as a shareable file — the whole world, ready to hand to someone directly instead of sending them a public link (see Sharing).

Export respects your privacy the same way the rest of Alcove does: you choose what leaves, and nothing about your private save files becomes public on its own. Sharing the world is a separate, deliberate step — see Sharing.

Share the cartridge. Everyone writes their own save file.