Gamebook Tracker
User Guide
Contents

Overview

A browser-based tool for mapping the branching structure of gamebooks (Fighting Fantasy, Choose Your Own Adventure, etc.) across multiple playthroughs. Supports multiple users and multiple books per account.

Landing page panels

The login and books screens share a three-panel layout:

Left — Book covers: A public covers wall showing books, anthologies, and series. Hover over an item to see its title; series use a live composite cover built from up to four book covers in that series. Click a book or anthology to open its public detail modal; click a series to open its public series modal. The panel is hidden if there is nothing public to show. Two header controls let you choose a sort order — Latest (newest first, default), Oldest, A–Z, Z–A, or Random — and a type filterAll, Books, Anthologies, Series, or Favorites. Your choices are remembered across sessions. In sorted modes the wall lazy-loads as you scroll. The Search field filters in real time and matches titles, anthology child-book names, author names, and series names. Special keywords are recognised too: anthology / anthologies shows anthology containers, and series shows series cards. When you are logged in, hovering a cover reveals a small star in the top-right corner; click it to add or remove that book, anthology, or series from your personal Favorites filter. Right now, this covers wall is the only place where favorites exist. The first time you favorite a specific cover item, you earn 5 XP. New public items appear automatically when another player creates, updates, or deletes a public book, anthology, or series. Press Ctrl+Y on the landing page to open a hidden cover-title settings popup for this wall: you can nudge the preview-title font size in 1% steps, toggle Bold, and globally Hide Cyrillic covers across every sort mode and filter. Long cover-preview titles now wrap instead of truncating with ellipses.

Centre — Activity feed: Below the app header is a tip bar — a dark strip showing a rotating Tip: (in orange) followed by a short feature hint. Tips cycle every 15 seconds with a fade transition. A thin orange progress bar along the bottom of the strip counts down to the next tip.

Displays recent activity from all users over the last 30 days, grouped by day (Today, Yesterday, or a full date). No login is required to see the feed. Users who have enabled Hide from activity feed in their profile do not appear here — except for runs they have explicitly marked as public.

The following event types appear in the feed:

EventWhat it means
username added book bookA new book was added
username created series series / added series seriesA public series was created or added to a library
username began run N of bookA new playthrough was started
username won / lost / died in book run NA playthrough ended — "won" for victory, "died" for battle death, "lost" for a regular death ending. Battle death runs only appear if the run is marked public.
username discovered every section of bookAll sections in a book have been mapped or referenced
username visited every section of bookAll sections in a book were visited across runs
username reached level NTitleThe user levelled up
(announcement title)An admin announcement — displayed as a bordered card with the title embedded in the border

If the admin has pinned an announcement, it always appears at the very top of the feed in its own amber-bordered card marked Pinned, regardless of when it was published. At most one announcement can be pinned at a time.

The feed refreshes automatically whenever you navigate to the login or books screen.

Busy-user collapsing: If a user (or a fixed party) has 5 or more entries on the same day, their entries are collapsed into a single toggle row showing their username, role badges, and the number of actions. Click the row to expand and see all entries. Party groups show all member names and a party badge.

Right — Login / Books: The login form or your books list.

Each side panel has a small collapse button ( / ) on its inner edge. Click it to slide the panel away and give the activity feed more room. Click again to restore it. The feed also has its own top-center collapse tab ( / ). Collapse state is remembered across refreshes; for logged-in users it follows the account. On mobile these landing toggles are hidden.

Press Ctrl+X on the landing page to hide all three landing panels at once (left covers, feed, right panel). Press Ctrl+X again to restore only the ones that were open before you hid them. Press F1 to open the in-app Cheat Sheet if you need a shortcut reminder.

Stats for Nerds

A Stats button sits in the header between Demo and Forum, visible to everyone including unregistered visitors. Clicking it opens a modal with live platform statistics grouped into sections:

SectionWhat's shown
PlayersRegistered players, authors, contributors, public profiles, players with avatars, locked accounts
BooksUnique books in the database, total copies across all player libraries, public/private split, average sections per book
SectionsTotal, mapped, and discovered sections; number of books with 100% of sections visited and 100% discovered
GameplayTotal, active, and finished playthroughs; wins, deaths, and battle deaths with percentages
XP & ProgressionTotal XP earned; app level (the level the platform would be as a single entity); average player level; total level-up events
Gold Coins & ShopCoins earned, spent, and currently in circulation; total upgrades purchased broken down by type (undo slots, fast travel slots, XP boost %)
ForumCategories, threads (locked/pinned), live posts, deleted posts

Demo mode

Not ready to create an account? Click Demo (next to the User Guide button on the landing page) to launch a fully functional demo session.

Accounts

On first launch you will see the Login screen.

Your session is remembered in the browser. Click Log out on the books screen to sign out.

My books

After logging in you land on the Books screen. All your books are listed here. Each card shows a subtle progress bar indicating how many sections you have visited across all your runs. The bar turns green when you have visited every section.

New accounts start with a demo book — Demo Book — already set up with a fully mapped 50-section graph, 2 completed runs (one loss, one win), an in-progress run, notes, and priority markings on several sections, so you can explore all the features right away. There is exactly one loss outcome and one win outcome, both reached via the final section of the book. You can delete the demo book at any time.

Books in the same series are grouped under a collapsible amber series header row showing the series name, book count, and total sections. Click the series name to collapse or expand the group — the state is remembered per browser.

ButtonWhat it does
OpenOpens the book and enters the tracker
✎ (book)Edit the book's metadata. Inactive with a tooltip for books you did not create.
✎ (anthology)Edit the anthology's metadata via the Edit Anthology modal.
✎ (series header)Edit the series name, description, and public status via the Edit Series modal.
Permanently deletes the book and all your progress for it (with confirmation). Does not affect other users tracking the same book.

If a book was shared with you, the edit button is visible but inactive — hovering shows a tooltip explaining that only the original creator can edit metadata. You can still track, play, and delete your copy independently.

To add a new book, anthology, series, or stash, use the four buttons at the top of the books screen — Create Book, Create Anthology, Create Series, and Create Stash — each opening a dedicated modal.

The Create Book modal: enter a name — as you type, a dropdown suggests matching public books already in the system. Selecting one pre-fills all metadata and changes the button to Add to library, adding the existing book instead of creating a duplicate. Otherwise fill in the total sections, optional identifiers, and an optional cover image, then click Create. Use the dropdown to select the publication type:

Leave identifier fields blank if unknown. After creation the new book appears in your list — click Open to enter it.

Stashes

A stash is a personal sorting bucket for reducing clutter in your main books list. It does not change shared book or series metadata.

Selected items are moved out of the main top-level list and shown inside the stash instead. Stashes are collapsible and show a total item count and their own progress bar. Counts and progress flatten nested contents: an anthology with three child books counts as 4 items, and a stashed series contributes 1 for the series header plus all visible books/items inside it.

An item can belong to only one stash at a time. Stashing a series also moves that series' visible contents with it; stashing an anthology keeps its child books nested under it. Deleting a stash does not delete anything inside it — all items simply return to the main list. Use Edit Stash on the stash header to rename it and add or remove items later. The editor opens with the cursor already in the filter field so you can search immediately.

The tracker interface

The screen is split into two areas:

The sidebar can be collapsed using the button on its right edge, giving the graph the full screen width. Click to expand it again.

A current run path strip is pinned above the graph, showing the sequence of sections visited so far. Click the button on the right of the header to collapse or expand it.

A Legend panel sits in the top-right corner of the graph area. Click its header (or the button) to collapse or expand it.

Below the Play Together / User Guide / Notebook buttons is a compact Player XP panel showing your live level, title, XP bar, and boost line while you read. It updates immediately as XP or Gold Coins are earned. Click its header (or the button) to collapse or expand it.

Press Ctrl+X while reading a book to hide or restore the main play-area panels together: the sidebar, current run path, dice roller, legend, and Player XP panel. Pressing it a second time restores only the panels that were open before you hid them.

The collapsed state of all panels is remembered across sessions and across devices.

At the bottom of the sidebar:

Click ← Home at the bottom of the sidebar to return to your books list.

Recording a playthrough

Starting a run

Click + New in the Runs panel to begin a new playthrough. Runs start at section 1 by default. If your book starts at a different section, open the book before starting any runs, right-click anywhere on the graph and choose ✎ Edit start node to set the starting section. This setting is saved with the book and used for all future runs.

Recording choices

When you reach a section that has not been mapped yet, a text input appears. Enter the section IDs the book offers as choices, comma-separated. Both numeric and alphanumeric IDs are supported:

34, 67, 112
101-A, 101-B, 202

Special values:

Press Record & Choose (or Enter). The choices are saved, and buttons appear for each destination. Press the one you actually took. If a section has a very large number of choices the button area scrolls so all options remain reachable.

If a section has only one choice, the tracker auto-advances without asking.

Alphanumeric sections: If you enter an alphanumeric ID (e.g. 101-A) for the first time on a book, the tracker will ask you to confirm that the book uses alphanumeric sections. Once confirmed, the book is permanently switched to alphanumeric mode and all future IDs pass through freely. In alphanumeric mode the tracker enforces the total section count as a hard ceiling — once you've reached it, navigating to a new undiscovered section is blocked until you increase the total in the book settings or edit existing nodes.

Revisiting mapped sections

When you return to a section that was already mapped in a previous run, the choice buttons appear immediately — no re-entry needed.

Undoing a step

An Undo button appears below the current section during an active run. Each press removes the last step and returns you to the previous decision point — if several sections in a row had no branch (only one possible destination), they are all skipped in a single undo.

Each run has a limited number of undos based on your level:

Level rangeBase undos per run
1 – 303
31 – 404
41 – 505
51 – 606
61 – 707
71 – 808
81 – 909
91 – 10010

Extra Undo purchases from the Gold Coins Shop stack on top of the base amount.

The button shows how many undos remain and disables when none are left.

Ending a run

Three buttons sit above the Battle Death button in the play sidebar. Each requires a themed confirmation before the run is finalised.

Managing runs

The Runs list in the sidebar shows every playthrough, ordered newest first:

ButtonWhat it does
Private / Public (completed runs only)Toggles the run's visibility. Shows Private when hidden and Public when visible to others. Only public runs can be linked from the activity feed — making your profile public does not expose private runs.
Load (in-progress)Resumes that run as the active one
Load (completed)Shows that run's path in the trail and highlights its nodes in the graph. The run item gets a blue highlight to show which one is being viewed — persists across page refreshes and navigating away and back.
Permanently deletes the run (with confirmation)

You can have multiple in-progress runs at once. Only one is active at a time.

The graph

Every section number you have ever encountered appears as a node. Edges show which sections lead to which.

Edge colours

ColourThicknessMeaning
RedThick if traversed this run, normal otherwiseThis edge leads inevitably to a loss
GreenThick if traversed this run, normal otherwiseThis edge leads inevitably to victory
Orange (thick)ThickTraversed in the active or viewed run, no inevitable outcome
GreyNormalNot traversed this run, no inevitable outcome

"Inevitable" means the destination node (and any chain of single-choice nodes after it) leads only to a loss or only to victory with no branching. If a node has more than one choice, the chain stops and the edge colour falls back to orange (if on the run path) or grey. Run-path edges are always thicker regardless of colour. Loss/victory colour always takes priority over orange.

Node colours

ColourMeaning
Orange (solid)Where you are right now
Blue (solid)Visited in the active or viewed run
Red (solid)The section where a lost run ended
Burnt orange (solid)The section where a battle death run ended
Green (solid)The section where a victory run ended
Dark with red outlineThis section can lead to a loss
Dark with green outlineThis section has a victory choice
Dark orangeThis section is flagged as a battle location
Purple (solid)Mapped — choices recorded, no terminal choices
Grey (solid)Discovered — referenced but not yet mapped
Yellow (solid)The start section of the book (section 1 by default; can be changed via ✎ Edit start node)

Nodes with loss/victory choices or a battle flag have a thicker border. Battle-flagged nodes additionally show a small orange ✕ badge at the bottom-right of the node.

Moving nodes

Drag any node to reposition it. Positions are saved automatically and persist across sessions.

Zoom and pan

Your zoom level and pan position are saved automatically and restored the next time you open the same book.

Right-click menu

High and Low markings are stored with the graph data and persist across sessions. They can be set on any section, including ones not yet mapped.

Section notes

Any section can have a text note attached (e.g. "need the brass key to reach this"). Right-click the node and choose Edit note. Nodes with a note display a small green book icon. Hover over the node to see the note text in the tooltip.

Dice roller

A collapsible dice panel sits in the bottom-left corner of the graph area while you are in the tracker. Click the Dice header (or the arrow button) to collapse or expand it — the collapsed/expanded state is remembered across sessions.

d% is a percentile roll shown as a single result tile, but internally it is rolled as two d10 digits (tens and ones), with 00 counting as 100.

The dice count and last throw are saved per run. When you switch between runs or return to a run later, the panel restores exactly what you had. Viewing a completed run shows its saved dice state.

Stats (sidebar)

StatMeaning
MappedSections where choices have been recorded, with percentage of total sections
DiscoveredAll sections seen so far (mapped + referenced but unmapped), with percentage of total sections
MissingOnly shown when Mapped equals Discovered (all found sections are fully mapped). Shows how many sections within the book's total count have never been encountered. Hover over the count to see the individual section numbers.
PlaythroughsTotal number of runs (active and completed), with a breakdown of completed runs shown in brackets — losses in red, wins in green

Character sheet

Click Character Sheet (bottom-right corner of the tracker screen) to open the character sheet dialog. This lets you track any stats, items, or attributes for the current run.

The sheet is per run — each run has its own independent sheet. The button is only active when a run is in progress. When viewing a completed run the overlay shows that run's saved values but the sheet cannot be edited. When no run is loaded the button and overlay are hidden.

Reordering fields

Drag the handle on the left of any field row to reorder it. The new order is applied when you press Save or Save as Template.

Adding fields

Click + Add field to create a new field. Each field has:

SettingDescription
Visibility toggleWhether the field appears in the compact overlay on the graph screen. The pill switch is blue when visible, grey when hidden.
NameLabel shown in the overlay and the dialog
TypeOne of: Number, Boolean, Text, List, Enum
ValueCurrent value — edit inline in the dialog

Field types

TypeUse forValue format
NumberSKILL, STAMINA, Gold, etc.Integer or decimal — use the − / + buttons or type directly
BooleanHas item / ability yes/noCheckbox (Yes / No)
TextFreeform notesAny text
ListInventoryComma-separated items
EnumCharacter class, faction, stancePick one from a defined option set

For Enum fields, type the available options (comma-separated) in the small grey box above the select — the dropdown updates immediately.

Saving

ButtonWhat it does
SaveWrites the current dialog state to the active run's sheet
Save as templateSaves the current dialog state as the book's template — new runs will start from this
CancelDiscards all unsaved changes

There is one template per book. Pressing Save as template overwrites the previous one.

The compact overlay

Visible fields are shown as plain text at the bottom-right of the graph screen, above the Character Sheet button. Only fields with a non-empty name and the visibility toggle enabled are shown. The overlay updates when you press Save. It has no background and does not block interaction with the graph.

Character sheet data is saved with the rest of the book state.

Notebook

Click Notebook (bottom-centre of the tracker graph area, next to User Guide) to open a freeform text notebook for the current book. Notes are per book — all runs share the same notebook.

Use it to track anything that doesn't fit in section notes or the character sheet: meta-strategies, unsolved puzzles, things to try next session, or lore observations.

ButtonWhat it does
SaveWrites the current text to the server and closes the modal
CloseCloses the modal without saving

You can also close with the ✕ button, by clicking outside the modal, or by pressing Escape. Unsaved changes are discarded if the modal is closed any of those ways.

Show in play area

A pill toggle at the bottom-left of the notebook modal (labelled Show in play area) pins your notes as a transparent text overlay on the left side of the graph. The toggle state persists across page refreshes.

When the overlay is visible:

Scroll position: Both the notebook modal and the play area overlay remember the scroll position you left them at, including across page refreshes. Scrolling one also scrolls the other. Typing in either view is reflected in the other in real time without saving first.

User guide (in-app)

Click User Guide (bottom-centre of the tracker graph area) to open this guide in a modal overlay without leaving the tracker. Close it with the ✕ button, by clicking outside the modal, or by pressing Escape.

Your profile

Click the avatar circle next to your username on the Books screen to open your profile.

Your profile also shows your current level, title, and progress toward the next level. These update automatically as you use the tracker.

Click Save to apply changes. The dialog closes immediately on success. Password and username changes take effect immediately.

Levels

As you track your playthroughs, map sections, and engage with your books, you earn experience and level up. Your current level and title are shown in your profile.

When rewards are gained, small floating notices appear near the bottom-right of the screen. XP uses its own pill (for example +50 XP), Gold Coin gain uses the coin icon by itself, and level-ups appear as a separate orange LEVEL UP! pill showing the new level and title. Multiple XP gains earned in quick succession are merged together. If all three landing panels are collapsed, these floaties move to the centre so they remain visible.

Levels are gained by doing things naturally — playing through books, recording choices, completing runs, filling out your profile, sharing your books publicly, and organising your library into series. There is no need to do anything special; progress happens on its own as you use the tracker.

Creating a new series earns a one-time XP award. Adding a description to a series and assigning a book to a series for the first time also each earn a one-time award.

When a book has a PDF uploaded, every user who has that book in their library automatically receives a one-time XP award.

Exporting your data also earns a one-time XP award — for exporting everything and for each individual book export.

Each level you gain also grants a permanent +1% XP boost, stacking with any boosts purchased from the shop. The bonus applies automatically to all future XP awards.

Your level and title are also visible on your public profile, if you choose to make it public.

Gold Coins & Shop

As you earn XP, you also accumulate Gold Coins (GC): 1 GC for every 1,000 XP. Your current balance is shown in the GC button in the books screen header. Clicking it opens the shop. The coin balance updates live as soon as coins are earned.

Gold Coins are spent permanently — there is no way to refund a purchase.

ItemCostEffect
XP Boost1 GC+1% to all future XP awards, permanently. Stacks — buy multiple times to increase the bonus further.
Extra Undo3 GC+1 undo per run, permanently. Adds on top of your level-based limit.
Fast Travel5 GC+1 fast travel per run, permanently. Adds on top of your level-based limit.

XP Boost only applies to XP earned after purchase — it does not retroactively increase your existing XP.

Editing book details

Books can be edited from two places:

The Identifiers section uses a dropdown to switch between Book (ISBN + ASIN) and Magazine (ISSN) mode. Any set identifiers are shown in the books list next to the section count, prefixed with their type (e.g. ISBN 9781234567890 · ASIN B00EXAMPLE). Books sharing the same ISBN or ISSN are treated as the same title across users — useful for linking different-language editions.

The Edit Book dialog includes a Series dropdown and Number in series. The series dropdown shows your own series only, not every series in the database. Anthologies and series each have their own dedicated create and edit modals — clicking ✎ on an anthology row opens the Edit Anthology modal; clicking ✎ on a series header row opens the Edit Series modal. Fields that don't apply are hidden automatically — selecting a parent anthology hides cover, identifiers, and page count (those belong to the parent). Expanded/collapsed state for series, anthologies, and stashes follows your account when you are logged in. See Anthologies for the full workflow.

Discoverable sections

When you have reached the exploration wall — every section you know about leads only to sections you have already visited, yet the discovered count is still below the book's total section count — the Edit Book dialog reveals an extra field: Discoverable Sections.

This lets you record the true number of reachable sections in the book. Setting it corrects the XP thresholds for "discover all" and "visit all" achievements, and adjusts the progress bar on the books list to reflect the real reachable total rather than the book's printed section count.

The value must be between the current discovered/visited count and the book's defined total sections. Leave it blank to leave the setting unchanged.

The value applies to all users tracking the same book. XP is retroactively awarded to every user whose progress already meets the new threshold.

Book cover (optional)

Both the Create Book modal and the edit book dialog include a cover upload section showing a 2:3 preview or a "No cover" placeholder. Click Upload Cover to select an image file — the preview updates immediately. Images are automatically scaled down and compressed to stay within 256 KB. For new books the cover is uploaded right after creation; for existing books it is uploaded when you press Save.

Once uploaded, the cover appears in the left panel of the landing page (visible to anyone, no public profile required).

Hovering over a book name (in either the sidebar or the books list) shows the full name in a tooltip if it is truncated.

Series

Create a new series using the Create Series button at the top of the books screen. The series modal lets you set a name, description, and optionally make the series public. As you type, the name field can suggest existing series already in the system; selecting one adds that shared series to your library instead of creating a duplicate.

Assign a book to a series using the Series dropdown in the Edit Book or Edit Anthology dialog. Fill in Number in series (e.g. 12 or XII). Books in the same series are grouped under a collapsible amber series header row in the books list. Set the dropdown back to None and save to remove the association. The series header row has a ✎ edit button (creator only) and a ✕ button.

Series ownership: only the creator can edit a series. Other users can add a public series to their library by clicking + Add to my library in the series detail modal — this also adds all public books and anthologies in the series automatically. The creator earns 150 XP each time someone adds their series. Clicking ✕ gives two options: Delete Series removes only the series entry from your library and leaves the books behind as standalones; Delete Series & Contents removes the series entry and also removes the series books from your library. If the creator removes a series and other owners still have it, ownership transfers to the next owner instead of deleting the shared series record.

If you have a series in your library with no books yet, the row shows no books yet and a Browse series link to open the series detail modal and add books individually.

Anthologies

An anthology is a physical book that contains multiple shorter adventures or stories inside — each tracked separately with its own map, runs, and graph. A magazine with three gamebook adventures, or an annual anthology, are typical examples.

You create one anthology entry for the physical book, then link individual story books to it as children. In the books list the anthology row is collapsible — clicking it reveals the stories inside.

What anthologies have vs. what child books have

FieldAnthologyChild book (story)
Name
Cover image— (belongs to the anthology)
ISBN / ISSN / ASIN— (belongs to the anthology)
Page count— (belongs to the anthology)
Authors, description
Section count & runs
Series membership

Creating an anthology from scratch

  1. Click Create Anthology at the top of the books screen. Enter the anthology name — as you type, a dropdown suggests matching public anthologies already in the system. Selecting one pre-fills all metadata and changes the button to Add to library. Otherwise fill in the ISBN or ISSN, cover, page count etc., then click Create.
  2. The anthology appears in the list with a purple left border showing "0 books".
  3. For each story inside the anthology, click Create Book: enter name and section count, select the anthology in Part of anthology, set an Order within anthology number (1, 2, 3…), then click Create. Cover, ISBN, and pages are hidden for child books — they live on the anthology.
  4. Repeat for every story. They move inside the anthology row. Click the row to expand or collapse it. Expanded state follows your account when you are logged in. If the anthology also belongs to a series, it keeps the same joined purple anthology styling inside the amber series group.

Grouping books you already have

If you have already added books like Annual 1984 – Story 1, Annual 1984 – Story 2:

  1. Create the anthology first: click Create Anthology → enter name → add ISBN/cover → Create.
  2. For each existing story: click → set Part of anthology to the new anthology → Save.
  3. Done — they move inside the anthology.

Progress, feed, and search

Adding someone else's anthology: if an anthology is public, clicking + Add to my library in its detail modal adds the anthology and all its public child books to your library in one step. The creator earns 150 XP plus XP per child book added.

Deleting an anthology you own removes it and its child books from your library. Removing someone else's anthology also removes the child books that came with it — but child books you added independently are unaffected. Children are never deleted from the system automatically. A book can belong to both a series and an anthology simultaneously.

Making a book public

The Edit Book dialog includes a Make public checkbox (visible to the book's creator only). When checked, the book becomes discoverable by other logged-in users:

Reset

Reset Book wipes all graph data, positions, and run history for the current book. The book entry itself is kept. This cannot be undone.

To fully delete a book, use the button on the Books screen.

Exporting your data

Both export options produce a .zip archive that opens in any file manager.

Export Everything

Open your profile modal (click your avatar) and click ⬇ Export Everything (.zip). The archive is structured as:

username/
  backup.json
  books/
    Book Title.html
    Another Book.html
    …

Export This Book

While viewing a book, click ⬇ Export Book in the sidebar (below Reset Book). The archive contains:

Book Title/
  Book Title.html
  Book Title.json
  graph.png          ← graph snapshot (when available)

Forum

The community forum is at /forum. No account is needed to read; log in to post.

The forum is organised into five sub-forums:

Sub-forumPurpose
General DiscussionAnything and everything gamebook-related
Book RecommendationsLooking for something to read? Ask here
Playthroughs & SpoilersDiscuss specific books, routes, and endings
Site FeedbackBugs, feature requests, and suggestions for the site
Off TopicAnything else

Click a sub-forum to see its threads. Inside a sub-forum, click + New Thread to start a new discussion. Threads can be pinned (stays at the top) or locked (no new replies) by admins. You can delete your own threads and replies — deleted replies show as [deleted] rather than being fully removed.

New activity indicators: When there is new forum content since your last visit, the Forum button in the header pulses green. Inside the forum, sub-forum cards with new activity pulse green. Inside a sub-forum, threads with new posts pulse green. Inside a thread, individual new posts have a green left border. All indicators clear once you open the relevant thread.

Feedback & Inbox

Sending feedback

The Feedback button appears in the top header when you are logged in. Clicking it opens a dialog with three fields:

Press Send to submit. The dialog closes on success.

Notifications

The bell (🔔) button appears to the right of the Inbox button when you are logged in. When you have unseen notifications it turns solid green and pulses. Clicking it opens a small dropdown listing your recent notifications, newest first. Unseen items are highlighted with a green dot. Opening the dropdown marks all notifications as seen and stops the pulse. The bell updates live when notification state changes.

Currently three types of notification are generated:

Inbox

The Inbox button appears in the header when you are logged in. When there are unread admin messages it turns green and shows a count — e.g. Inbox (2). Clicking it opens your message threads. The count updates live when thread unread state changes.

The Forum button's new-activity pulse also updates live when forum activity changes, instead of waiting for the next periodic refresh.

The inbox has two views:

Thread list — shows all your conversation threads. Each entry shows the date, message count, and a preview of the last message. Threads with unread admin messages are highlighted with a purple border. Click any thread to open it.

Conversation view — shows the full back-and-forth conversation. Your messages appear on the right in blue; admin messages appear on the left in grey. A reply box at the bottom lets you send follow-up messages. Use ← Back to return to the thread list, Delete thread to remove the thread (your side only), or Close to dismiss the inbox.

Opening a thread marks it as read and clears the badge count.

Play Together

Play Together lets two or more users link their copies of a book so that all progress is shared in real time. While a party is active, any section mapped, run started, or choice recorded by one member instantly updates every other member's view.

Starting a party

Open a book and click the Play Together button at the bottom of the screen. Enter the username of the person you want to invite and click Invite. They will receive an invite card at the top of their books library.

As you type a username, a dropdown of matching users appears — click any entry to fill the field. You can invite multiple people one at a time.

If an invite is pending (sent but not yet accepted), the dialog shows Invite pending — waiting for others to accept and a Cancel Invite button.

Accepting an invite

When you have a pending invite, a green card appears above your books list. Click Accept to join. The book is added to your library with the inviter's current progress — all mapped sections, runs, notes, and priorities are copied over. Click Decline if you don't want to join.

You cannot accept an invite for a book you are already tracking independently.

While playing together

The Play Together button turns green and shows your party members' names. The book is fully synced: when anyone navigates a section, starts or completes a run, or maps new sections, everyone's graph updates automatically.

You can invite additional members at any time: click Play Together and use the Invite more form.

Activity feed

Shared runs appear as a single merged entry: john, jane began run 3 of Midnight Maze. Party entries are highlighted with a teal left border and a small party badge.

Stopping

Click Play Together while in a party and then Stop Playing Together. After confirming, each person keeps the current shared progress and continues independently. If only two members remain and one leaves, the party dissolves for both.