How it works
PlotLens watches your Scrivener project folder
Point PlotLens at your .scriv project directory and it monitors for changes automatically.
Changes are detected automatically when you save
When you save in Scrivener, the Companion syncs the compile-scope units that changed and checks those units (or the whole synced manuscript if it cannot tell which changed). Trash, Research, and documents excluded from compile are not read.
Findings appear in the Companion window
Continuity findings come back in the Companion's own window, grouped by the chapter or scene they belong to.
What Elena needed
Your Scrivener project is opened read-only.
The Companion runs as its own app, outside Scrivener. It opens your project through a read-only handle and never edits, repairs, or rewrites your binder or your files.
Get started
Download and install the PlotLens Companion
Grab the signed installer for Windows, macOS, or Linux from plotlens.ai/downloads/companion/, install it like any desktop app, and launch it. The Companion is in beta and keeps itself up to date.
Sign in with your PlotLens account
Launch the Companion and sign in. A browser window opens for sign-in and returns to the Companion automatically. Watching Scrivener projects needs a Plus plan or above.
Add your .scriv project and map it to a PlotLens project
In Settings > Watched projects, click Add Scrivener project, select your .scriv folder, and choose the PlotLens project it maps to. The Companion opens your files read-only.
Write as usual — validation runs in the background
The status card turns to Watching for changes. With the default On save setting, each save checks the compile-scope units that changed, and findings come back in the Companion window.
Limitations
The Companion never writes to your source files. It cannot insert comments, apply fixes, accept suggestions, or annotate your .scriv package in place, and there is no "apply to manuscript" button — that is permanent, by design, not a v1 gap. It opens Scrivener projects read-only and reports findings in its own window.
Navigation is binder-level, not line-level: "Open in Scrivener" focuses the scene or document a finding belongs to, because a Scrivener deep link addresses binder items and cannot address a specific line. A scene PlotLens has not been able to match to a binder item says so on its card rather than guessing at a target.
There is no project-wide report in v1. The Companion validates incrementally — the scenes that changed, on save — so for a full-manuscript pass you compile or export from Scrivener and upload the result to the web app. Validation needs an internet connection; parsing is local, and changes made offline queue until you reconnect. One device at a time per project, and the Companion is Plus and above. The Companion is in beta and auto-updates itself, so expect rough edges.
Scrivener is the go-to writing environment for novelists and long-form writers. The PlotLens Companion is a desktop app in beta, downloadable today for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It runs in its own window next to Scrivener, needs no Scrivener plugin, and opens your project read-only. It reads compile-scope manuscript units only.
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