Getting Started

Overview of Composez and how it fits into your fiction writing workflow.

What is Composez?

Composez is a terminal-based AI writing tool for long-form fiction. It’s built as a fork of Aider, the AI pair-programming assistant, adapted for the specific needs of novel writing:

  • Structured narrative management instead of flat file editing
  • Prose-oriented prompts instead of code-oriented ones
  • Reference database for characters, locations, and world-building
  • Scene-level granularity for focused, context-efficient AI interactions
  • Export pipeline for producing publication-ready manuscripts

If you’ve used Aider for code, Composez will feel familiar. If you haven’t, think of it as a command-line interface where you chat with an AI that understands your novel’s structure.

Key Concepts

The Narrative Hierarchy

Your manuscript is organized into a configurable hierarchy of levels—by default, Act, Chapter, and Scene:

novel/
  Act 1 - The Beginning/
    Chapter 1 - Arrivals/
      Scene 1 - The Train Station/
        SUMMARY.md      # Synopsis of this scene
        PROSE.md        # The actual prose
      Scene 2 - First Impressions/
        SUMMARY.md
        PROSE.md
    Chapter 2 - Settling In/
      ...
  Act 2 - Rising Action/
    ...

Each scene contains exactly two files:

  • PROSE.md — the actual narrative prose
  • SUMMARY.md — a synopsis the AI uses for context when writing adjacent scenes

Non-leaf levels (acts and chapters) can contain any .md files you want—outlines, notes, research, timelines.

The Reference Database

The db/ directory holds reference material that the AI uses to maintain consistency:

db/
  core/
    metadata.yml    # Book title, author
    style.md        # Style guide (voice, tone, POV)
  characters/
    sarah.md
    tom.md
  locations/
    apartment.md
  themes/
    ...

Entries in db/core/ are always loaded as read-only context. Other entries can be added on demand with /add db.

Slash Commands

Everything in Composez is driven by slash commands. The most important ones:

Command What it does
/add Load files into the AI’s context
/write Generate prose from summaries
/summarize Generate summaries from prose
/new Create new acts, chapters, scenes, or db entries
/lint Check prose for style issues
/analyze-style Load prose for style analysis
/feedback Get prioritized critique of a section
/export Export to Markdown, DOCX, or EPUB
/ls Show narrative structure and what’s loaded

See the Commands Reference for the full list.

Git Integration

Composez inherits Aider’s full git integration. Every AI edit is automatically committed, giving you a complete history of changes. You can review diffs, revert edits, and branch your manuscript just like code.

What’s Next?