WritingBricks

Free for the Mac and the browser

Write in bricks.
Read it whole.

WritingBricks is a writing studio for long projects: novels, theses, anything with chapters. Every scene, paragraph and note is a brick you can move, split, merge and join back, and each brick is a plain Markdown file in a folder you own.

Download for Mac Free · macOS 11 or later Use it in your browser Create a free account

Version 0.1.2 for Apple silicon and Intel Macs, signed and notarised by Apple. How to install Already have an account? Sign in

The WritingBricks window on a Mac. On the left, the binder of a novel: parts, chapters and scenes, each with its word count. On the right, two scenes shown as bricks in one scroll, with a highlighted phrase and a note marker.
The sample novel in the Mac app: the binder on the left, the scenes of a chapter read as one scroll on the right.

Built for long projects

Everything a book or a thesis needs on its way from scattered notes to a finished manuscript.

  • Move, split, merge, join

    Split a chapter at the cursor, merge two scenes, or turn a scene into one brick per paragraph and join it back exactly as it was. Drag bricks to reorder them.

  • A binder with real folders

    Parts, chapters and notes in the binder are folders and files on disk. In a big project, Show only this folder keeps one of them in view.

  • Read it whole

    Select a chapter or a whole part and read every brick inside as one scroll, editing as you go.

  • Board and outline

    Lay your bricks out as index cards with their synopses, or see them in a table with status, label, word counts and fields of your own.

  • Notes and snapshots

    Every brick has notes of its own. A snapshot is kept before your first change each day, and you can compare or restore any of them.

  • Targets and focus

    Set a word target for the book, for the day or for one chapter. Full-screen writing, typewriter scrolling and focus mode keep just the text in view.

  • Export when it’s ready

    Word, EPUB, PDF (through printing), Markdown and plain text, in a Book, Manuscript or Plain layout.

  • Nothing gets lost

    Everything saves as you type. Deleting moves bricks to the project’s trash, and Undo puts them back where they were.

Your writing stays yours

A WritingBricks project is just a folder. Each brick is a Markdown file, and the order lives in binder.md, a table of contents you can read anywhere. Nothing is locked in a database or in a format only one app can open.

  • Open and edit the files in any text editor, on any computer.
  • Keep the folder in Git, or in Dropbox or iCloud Drive.
  • AI tools such as Claude Code find instructions in AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md, so they know how the folder is organised.
  • The Mac app needs no account and sends your writing nowhere.
  • Online projects download as Markdown files whenever you like.
the-salt-road
  • binder.md
  • project.yaml
  • AGENTS.md
  • CLAUDE.md
  • manuscript
    • arrival.md
    • arrival
      • the-inn-gate.md
      • the-inn-gate.notes.md
      • the-common-room.md
    • the-ferryman.md
  • characters
    • mara-richards.md

Two ways to write, both free

Use the Mac app for folders on your computer, the browser for projects that follow you from device to device. Or both.

WritingBricks for Mac

Works on folders on your Mac, including your Dropbox and iCloud Drive folders, which keep them in sync. No account needed.

  • macOS 11 or later
  • Apple silicon and Intel
  • Signed and notarised by Apple
Get the Mac app

WritingBricks in your browser

With a free account, online projects open on any computer or iPad you sign in on. In the browser you can also open a book straight from your Dropbox.

  • Nothing to install
  • Your projects on every device
  • A copy as Markdown files any time

Create a free account Sign in

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. The Mac app, the web app and the account are free.

Which Macs does it run on?

Any Mac with macOS 11 Big Sur or later, with Apple silicon or an Intel processor.

Is there a Windows version?

Not yet. On Windows, use WritingBricks in your browser for now, with a free account.

Where are my files?

With the Mac app, in the folder you choose, as Markdown files. Online projects are kept in your WritingBricks account, and you can download a copy of one as Markdown files whenever you like.

Does it work with AI tools?

Yes. Every project has an AGENTS.md and a CLAUDE.md explaining how the folder works, so tools like Claude Code, Codex or Cursor know how to handle the text. WritingBricks picks up their changes as they happen.

What if I already write in plain files?

Open the folder. WritingBricks asks first, then lists the Markdown files in a new binder.md in the order they are in and adds a short header with an id to each. It never moves or renames them.

Start your next long project

Free on the Mac and in your browser.

Download for Mac Create a free account