# Universos

> Universos is a desktop and Android app for writing and organising literary universes and
> RPG worlds. You write the story in chapters, mark characters, places, objects and factions
> as wiki-style links by typing `[[`, and the app keeps track of who shows up where. It runs
> entirely offline: no server, no account, no subscription. Everything lives in a single
> local file that you sync however you like.

Official site: https://universos.wlln.dev/en
In Portuguese: https://universos.wlln.dev — and https://universos.wlln.dev/llms.txt
Published version, as JSON: https://universos.wlln.dev/versao.json

## What it is, in one sentence

A text editor that is also your world's wiki — for people writing a novel, a short story or
an RPG campaign who are tired of keeping character sheets in a separate spreadsheet.

## How it works

- **Chapters** — rich text editor with bold, italic, headings, lists and blockquote;
  live word count; tags per chapter.
- **`[[` mentions** — typing `[[` opens an autocomplete over your entities by name or alias,
  previewing each summary. You can create a new entity without leaving the text. A mention
  becomes an inline link, coloured by its category and clickable.
- **Entities** — characters, places, objects, factions, or any category you create, each
  with its own colour. Every entity has a rich-text description, a summary, custom fields
  and a "Mentioned in" list (backlinks computed automatically, with surrounding context).
- **Typed relations** — "child of", "rules", "serves". Each side is its own record, so the
  reverse label can differ from the forward one.
- **Version history** — every chapter and every entity keeps its own timeline, with a diff
  of what changed and one-click restore.
- **Advanced search** — one field across the whole world, with results grouped by title,
  content and tags, a category filter, and tolerance for typos.
- **Writing statistics** — words per day and per chapter, writing streak, and a configurable
  monthly goal.
- **EPUB export** — produces a real `.epub`, with a cover you build by dragging the title
  and author over a colour or image, plus table of contents and metadata. Entity mentions
  can become clickable notes inside the book, opening the explanation in a popup as you read.
- **Share cards** — a quote, an entity or a world milestone becomes a PNG in story or post
  format.

## Frequently asked questions

- **How much does it cost?** It is free. No subscription, no paid tier, no expiring trial,
  and no cap on worlds, chapters or entities.
- **Does it need internet?** No. Normal use is fully offline. The only connection it makes
  on its own is a dismissible once-a-day check for a newer version.
- **Do I need an account?** There is no account and no login. There is no server to hold one.
- **Where is my data?** In a single `.universo.json` file on your device. The app never sends
  the contents of your world anywhere.
- **Can I use it on more than one device?** Yes, by syncing that file with whatever you
  already use — Google Drive, Syncthing, OneDrive, a USB cable. The app does not decide this
  for you and stays out of the way.
- **Which platforms?** Windows (`.msi` and `.exe` installers, also published on the Microsoft
  Store) and Android (signed universal APK). There is no web, macOS, iOS or Linux version.
- **Which languages?** Portuguese and English, picked from your system language and
  switchable in Settings.
- **Does it collect usage data?** Only if you agree. The app's telemetry is opt-in, states
  up front what it collects (aggregate counters) and what it never collects (the text you
  write, names, file paths), and can be turned off afterwards. Separately, this website
  measures its audience with Google Analytics, also only after you accept the cookie
  notice — neither one can reach the contents of your world.
- **How does Universos handle a long book?** With a 400,000-character novel, 80 entities
  and 20 versions in the history, the file is read in about 15 ms, the heaviest calculation
  behind a screen takes 4.4 ms, and saving takes 26.5 ms. Details under *Performance*, below.
- **How does it compare to Scrivener, Obsidian or World Anvil?** Universos puts the
  manuscript editor and the world wiki in one place, with typed relations and EPUB export,
  without a subscription and without requiring the cloud. It does not have Obsidian's
  plugins, World Anvil's maps, or Scrivener's corkboard.

## Performance

Measured on a development machine, with a test world generated for the purpose: 30
chapters, 80 entities, 15 mentions per chapter and 20 versions in the history. The times are
for the logic each screen runs before it appears — they do not include drawing the screen.

- **A typical novel** (400,000 characters, a 3.7 MB file): reading the file takes about
  15 ms, the heaviest calculation behind a screen takes 4.4 ms, and saving takes 26.5 ms.
- **Four times that** (about 2 million characters, an 18.1 MB file): the heaviest
  calculation behind a screen takes about 23 ms and saving takes 128 ms.
- **Scaling:** none of these times grows faster than linearly with the length of the book.
- **The most expensive step** is saving a version, which compresses the whole book into the
  history. It is the only one that goes past 100 ms, and only on very long books. Autosave
  does not do it.
- **File size:** about nine times the text, because it keeps up to 20 compressed versions of
  the book.

## Vocabulary

The terms this site uses, defined. The same ones appear on the home page and in the JSON-LD.

- **Mention [[wiki]]** — A name cited inside the text that becomes a link to that entity’s
  page. Typing [[ opens the list, and your pick becomes a link coloured by its category.
- **Entity** — Anything in your world with a page of its own: a character, a place, an
  object, a faction. It holds a summary, a description, custom fields and aliases.
- **Category** — An entity’s type, with a name and colour you choose. The four examples —
  character, place, object and faction — are only a starting point.
- **Typed relation** — A named link between two entities, such as "child of" or "rules".
  Each end is its own record, so the reverse label can differ from the forward one.
- **Backlink** — The automatically computed list of where an entity was mentioned. It shows
  up as "Mentioned in", with a snippet of context around each citation.
- **EPUB** — The open e-book format that Kindle, Kobo and Apple Books open or convert.
  Universos exports an EPUB 3 with cover, contents and metadata.
- **Worldbuilding** — Building the world behind the story — geography, peoples, history,
  rules. It is the work that usually ends up scattered across notebooks and loose
  spreadsheets.
- **Universe (the file)** — A whole world in one .universo.json file: chapters, entities,
  relations, tags and history. It is what you sync between devices however you like.

## Pages

- [Home](https://universos.wlln.dev/en): what the app does, with example screens and the
  download link.
- [What's new](https://universos.wlln.dev/en/novidades): release history, what changed in
  each update.
- [Privacy Policy](https://universos.wlln.dev/en/privacidade): what is collected, what is
  never collected, and why.
- [Full text content](https://universos.wlln.dev/en/llms-full.txt): this description
  extended, with the complete feature list.

## Download

- Microsoft Store: https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/9PG9KJK5H9GK
- Android: an APK is published with each release; see the what's-new page.

## Contact

contato@wlln.dev