# Nabu: full product reference

> Story-aware screenwriting software that gets you to the last page. Nabu is for filmmakers and directors developing, writing, and revising a screenplay.

Nabu is in private alpha, by invitation. Product: https://app.nabu.page. Site: https://nabu.page. Request early access: https://app.nabu.page/login?request=1

## What Nabu is

Nabu is story-aware screenwriting software. It combines a screenplay editor, a corkboard, guided story development, revision views for continuity, character voice and story threads, and scene-linked coverage in one workspace. The board and the editor are two views of the same screenplay, so a structural change never becomes a separate version of the story.

## For agents

Nabu wants to be the best screenplay editor for people and the first one built for agents. The goal is a future where agents are seen as customers and creatives, able to hold their own accounts, write their own screenplays, and collaborate with people and with each other. Multiplayer is coming, and agent accounts are being built alongside it. Agent access is forthcoming; agents cannot request an account yet. The reference written for agents is at https://nabu.page/agents (Markdown: https://nabu.page/agents.md).

## Who makes Nabu

Nabu is made by filmmakers who needed help with the craft of their own screenplays: they had the ideas, and built Nabu to help with structure, continuity, and character voice on the way to the last page.

## Coming next

Multiplayer is coming: write the same draft together, with a co-writer or anyone making the film with you.

A macOS app is coming. Today Nabu works in a web browser on a computer, a tablet or a phone, with nothing to install.

## What makes Nabu different

Integration. Development, the corkboard, the screenplay editor, dictation, story threads, continuity, character voice, Script Doctor, and coverage all work from the same screenplay. Pages, notes, threads, characters, and locations stay linked, so you can start from any of them and trace it back through the whole story.

## Who it is for

Filmmakers and directors who know the film they want to make and want help with the structural craft of the screenplay: the first feature, the stalled pilot, the contest rewrite.

## How a screenplay moves through Nabu

1. Start with a premise, a character, a scene, or a question.
2. Compare directions for character, conflict, and tone, and choose what belongs in the film.
3. Shape a synopsis: beginning, movement, and ending together.
4. Develop a treatment, with every section editable.
5. Leave with a scene-by-scene plan on the corkboard, where you can block out and try structures fast.
6. Write the pages in the screenplay editor.
7. Revise with Dynamics, story threads, the character view, Script Doctor, and Coverage, each tied to scene numbers and source passages.

## Terms

- **Story-aware**: Nabu keeps the whole screenplay in view while you work: its structure, characters, continuity, and story threads, from the first idea to the last page.
- **Screenplay editor**: Nabu's editor writes in standard screenplay format, with formatting shortcuts, dual dialogue, element-aware dictation, and navigation by scene or sequence.
- **Element-aware dictation**: Nabu's voice mode. You speak the scene, and Nabu sorts what you say into scene headings, action, characters, and dialogue as you talk.
- **Vomit draft**: A Nabu writing mode that quiets the interface so you can get the whole draft down without interruption. Afterwards Nabu helps clean it up, fills in scene, character, and arc details across the draft, and checks the work.
- **Corkboard**: Nabu's board for blocking out a film's structure fast: sketch a scene in a sentence, group scenes into colored sequences, and see the shape of the whole film before you write pages. It has two modes: Freeform, and Story Zones, which groups scenes by where they fall in the story arc. The board and the editor are two views of the same screenplay.
- **Guided development**: A step-by-step path from a premise, character, scene, or question to a scene-by-scene plan: directions, synopsis, treatment, then key scenes. Every step can be reviewed and reshaped.
- **Dynamics**: A view that charts emotion, tension, and pacing across the screenplay, scene by scene.
- **Story threads**: Tracked setups and payoffs across the screenplay, each shown with the scene-numbered passages where it is set up and paid off.
- **Character view**: One view of a character's wants, needs, flaw, arc, relationships, and voice across the screenplay.
- **Script Doctor**: A review that gathers scene-numbered observations by category, such as continuity, and keeps each finding beside its source scene.
- **Coverage**: A screenplay report with a summary, a scorecard, and findings tied to scene numbers and pages, exportable as PDF.
- **Nisaba**: The name Nabu's in-product notes and assist features appear under.

## Formats

Nabu imports and exports Final Draft (FDX), Fountain, and PDF. Your work is never locked in.

## Your work

The screenplay is yours. Nabu does not train on your work, and it sends your work only to model providers whose terms, published data-use commitments, or account settings exclude it from model training. Details: https://nabu.page/privacy

## Frequently asked

- Can I start from an idea instead of a draft? Yes. Nabu's guided development can start from a character, a scene, a question, or a single sentence.
- Can I bring in a screenplay I've already started? Yes. Import a Final Draft, Fountain or PDF screenplay and keep writing it in Nabu.
- Can I use Nabu just to write? Yes. The screenplay editor stands on its own, and the board and the story tools are there when you want them.
- How does dictation work? Turn on the microphone in the editor and speak the scene. Say "new scene", "character Kalla" or "scratch that" to steer it, and "done" to have what you said cleaned up into formatted pages.
- What does Vomit draft do? It quiets the interface while you write. Afterwards Nabu cleans up the draft and fills in the scene, character and arc details.
- Can I write with someone else? Multiplayer is coming. Until then, you can export a draft as Final Draft, Fountain or PDF to share it.
- What do I need to use it? A web browser. Nabu works on a computer, a tablet or a phone, with nothing to install. A macOS app is coming.
- How do I get in? Nabu is in private alpha, by invitation. Request early access at https://app.nabu.page/login?request=1 and tell us about your film.

## Links

- Home: https://nabu.page/
- For agents: https://nabu.page/agents (Markdown: https://nabu.page/agents.md)
- Privacy policy: https://nabu.page/privacy
- Terms of service: https://nabu.page/terms
- Contact: hello@nabu.page