What people ask most.

Who makes Sgeulai?

One person. Sgeulai is written by a novelist who needed it — every part of it started as something missing from an actual writing day, not as a line on a product roadmap. Buster Mungus Industries is the name on the App Store listing; behind it is one writer, writing code between drafts.

That shapes the app in ways worth knowing about. The features are specific to the point of being opinionated, because each one had to earn its place in real work before it was built. Email the support address and the person who wrote the code is the person who answers. There's no investor waiting on a subscription, and no growth target that has to be met by bolting on things writers never asked for.

The trade-off is the honest one: a single pair of hands means fewer platforms and a slower pace than a company with a team behind it. It also means Sgeulai only ever has to satisfy one kind of person — someone trying to finish a book.

Can I tell you what's broken, or what's missing?

Please do — it's the most useful thing you can send us. A bug report and a feature request are the same message as far as we're concerned: both say the app didn't do what a working writer needed it to do.

What helps most is the specific moment. The thing you sat down to do and couldn't. The point where you gave up on Sgeulai and went and did it in another app instead — that one especially, because we can't see it from here. The feature you assumed would be there and went looking for. Those are worth more than a general impression, because they can be acted on.

Because it's one person, there's nothing between your message and the code — no committee, no quarterly planning round, no ticket triaged into silence. The person reading it is the person who can change it. That's the honest limit too: one pair of hands means not everything asked for gets built, and sometimes the answer is "no" or "not for a long while." You'll get that answer straight rather than a form reply.

It's also how Pro stays worth its price — every feature in it should be one a real writing day asked for. Send it through the support page, which has a topic for bug reports and one for feature requests, or email me@sgeulai.com. Either reaches the same inbox, and we answer within two business days.

Is there a Windows version?

No. Sgeulai is for Mac and iPad, and there's no Windows or Android version planned. It's built end to end on Apple's own frameworks — that's a deliberate trade-off for one person, not a "not yet."

Does Sgeulai work on iPad?

Yes. Sgeulai runs on both Mac and iPad, and one purchase covers both.

Do I have to buy it separately for Mac and iPad?

No. Sgeulai is a single purchase on the App Store that unlocks it on both — Apple calls this Universal Purchase. Buy it on either device, and it's yours on the other too, as long as you're signed in with the same Apple Account.

Can my family use my copy?

Yes. Sgeulai is free for anyone to download, and Sgeulai Pro supports Family Sharing: buy it once, and up to five other people in your Family Sharing group can use it on their own Macs and iPads at no extra cost. Paid upgrades to a new major version are shared the same way.

What do I get for free, and what does Sgeulai Pro add?

Free, with no time limit and no cap: the editor and as many projects as you like, with no limit on words (a free project holds one manuscript; a series sharing one Story Bible is part of Pro); the whole Story Bible — characters, locations, events, relationships, dates and your own record types — with no limit on how many records you keep; every import, including Scrivener, EPUB, Plottr and Aeon; exporting your manuscript as DOCX or Markdown and your whole project as a JSON backup (PDF and ePub come out too, marked as made with the free version); eight of the analysis tools, including the Corkboard and Scene Grid; and a continuity check on the scene you are writing, as often as you like.

Sgeulai Pro adds the Continuity Check across the whole book and as you type, the Timeline, Plot Board and Relationship Graph, the fifteen tools that judge the manuscript rather than show what you entered, Canon Fixes, Ask Your Book, Draft Here, Rewrite Selection, Previously in the Series, the Submission Pack, the exports an agent or a formatter asks for (PDF and ePub without the free-version mark, RTF, Vellum and more), and analysis with AI, whether Claude or Apple's on-device model.

You can try all of it first. A 14-day free trial unlocks everything Pro does, on your own book. Nothing is charged when it ends; the Pro tools lock again and everything you made with them stays.

Two things stay true whatever you have paid: your words always come out — DOCX, Markdown or a full JSON backup, plus PDF and ePub with the free-version mark — and anything the app did to your prose can always be undone without buying anything.

How much does Sgeulai cost?

Sgeulai itself is free. Sgeulai Pro, which unlocks the rest of it, has its current price on Sgeulai's App Store page, shown in your own currency. Whatever it is, you pay it once — not monthly, not yearly.

Is it a subscription?

No. The app is free, and Sgeulai Pro is a one-time lifetime purchase. You pay once, and the version you buy is yours to use for as long as you like — no monthly fee, no renewal, and nothing that stops working because you stopped paying.

Are updates free?

Yes, within the version you own — and updates to the free app are free too. Buy Pro for Sgeulai 2, and every 2.x release after it — new features, fixes, improvements — comes to you at no extra cost.

What happens when a new major version comes out?

A new major version is an optional upgrade: a one-time in-app purchase, at a discounted price for people who already own Sgeulai Pro. You never have to take it — if you don't upgrade, you keep the version you bought.

How do refunds work?

Purchases go through the App Store, so refunds do too — request one from Apple at reportaproblem.apple.com. We never see your payment details, so we can't issue a refund ourselves, but if something's wrong with your purchase, tell us and we'll help sort it out.

How is this different from Scrivener?

Sgeulai imports a Scrivener project — binder structure and text both — and exports back to a real .scriv package, so moving between them isn't a one-way trip. The difference is what's built in once you're here: a Story Bible with linked character, place and event records, twenty-six analysis tools, continuity checking, and AI reading are native to Sgeulai, not bolted on. Scrivener is still the more general-purpose drafting tool; Sgeulai is narrower and more structured around the story itself.

How is this different from Vellum?

They're not really competing — Vellum is a book-design tool, for turning a finished manuscript into a polished ebook or print layout. Sgeulai is where you write and plan the book; when it's done, Export for Vellum (DOCX) hands it off already styled for Vellum's own importer to recognise, front matter and all. Most people writing in Sgeulai who want a designed final book will still finish in Vellum.

How is this different from Microsoft Word?

Word is a word processor — it doesn't know your characters, your timeline, or whether you've contradicted yourself three chapters back. Sgeulai does that thinking alongside the manuscript, and when you need a Word file for an editor or agent, Export Manuscript (DOCX) gives you one with a real, clickable table of contents.

Do my projects sync between Mac and iPad?

Yes, through iCloud Drive. Keep a project in iCloud Drive and it's there on your Mac and your iPad, as long as both are signed in to the same Apple Account. If two devices save different versions of the same document, iCloud keeps both, so nothing is lost. On the Mac, Sgeulai also shows each document's sync status and asks which version to keep. It works best with a document open on one device at a time.

Is my data locked into Sgeulai?

No. Your manuscript text is plain Markdown under the hood — not a proprietary format the app keeps to itself. A full project backup (Export Project Backup (JSON)) writes out everything — manuscripts, Story Bible, relationships, positions — as plain text you can read without Sgeulai installed at all. If Sgeulai disappeared tomorrow, your work wouldn't.

Can I get a finished, distributable book out of it?

Yes. Export Manuscript (PDF) gives you a standard manuscript format for submission — unbranded with Sgeulai Pro, and carrying a faint “Sgeulai Free Version” mark without it; Export ePub (Styled) gives you a real, readable EPUB — the only EPUB export there is, no rough draft version. Both are finished deliverables, not intermediate files. The ePub carries a free-version notice on its own page and at the foot of each chapter until you have Pro.

Can I move a manuscript between two Sgeulai projects without losing anything?

Yes — Export Manuscript for Another Project… writes one manuscript, on its own, and Import Manuscript (from Another Project)… merges it additively into whichever project you bring it into. The import result tells you exactly how many Story Bible links carried over, so moving a book between projects — splitting a series apart, say, or consolidating two into one — doesn't mean rebuilding its Story Bible from scratch.

Getting a manuscript out is free, like every other export. Bringing one into a project that already holds a book needs Sgeulai Pro — that's two books sharing one Story Bible, which is the series case Pro is for. A free project holds one manuscript.

What does Labs mean in the tools menu?

Labs is a section at the bottom of the tools menu and the binder sidebar. It isn't a warning about quality, and it isn't a beta: everything in Labs is finished, reachable and working right now. It's a statement about what's being promised. A supported tool is one whose bug reports get answered. A Labs tool is offered without that undertaking — and saying so in the menu is the honest version of a decision that would otherwise be made silently.

Today, Labs holds one tool: AI Readings. Everything that used to sit there graduated to supported in September 2026, after a tool-by-tool audit of the code and its tests — the Timeline, Plot Board, Family Tree, Loose Ends, Voice Check and the rest are all supported features now, not curiosities.

AI Readings stays in Labs for two reasons that won't change by polishing it. It depends on Claude, a paid service we don't control and can't make promises on behalf of; and it disappears from the app entirely if you switch AI analysis off. Neither is something the word "supported" can honestly be said about. It's also free, for the same reason — we're not going to charge for the one thing we've told you we don't stand behind.

Nothing in your manuscript depends on a Labs tool, and nothing in Labs will vanish out from under you.