Three ways to write. One quiet page.

A writing app for Mac and iPad. Screenplays first, novels and articles too.

No account. Nothing collected.

A quiet page

It formats itself as you type.

⌘K

Type what you want. It is done, asked or made.

The panels

Board, people, notes, beside the page.

The Lighter

Three kinds of writing

Screenplay, novel or article. Say which once; the page does the rest.

What only Margin has

The page follows the board

Pick up a card and put it anywhere on the board. The script moves with it.

Board
The Lighter
BoardBin
Scenes7 2/8 pp
1

Int. bar - night

He is given something he does not want.

TM
the lighter

1 6/8 · pp. 1–2

2

Ext. pier - dawn

May almost lets it go.

M
the lighter

4/8 · pp. 2–3

3

Int. Tom’s kitchen - morning

The kettle screams and he lets it.

T

7/8 · pp. 3–4

4

Int. car - day

Neither of them mentions it.

TM

2 · pp. 4–6

5

Ext. pier - night

He waits. She is late.

T

1 1/8 · pp. 6–7

6

Int. bar - night

The lighter, finally lit.

TM

1 · pp. 7–8

The script follows: 1 bar · 2 pier · 3 Tom’s kitchen · 4 car · 5 pier · 6 bar

Every draft kept

A new draft off any draft, read beside the last. History puts any moment back.

Drafts
The Lighter

Draft 3a

Int. Bar - Night
Rain on the window. TOM sets a brass lighter on the bar and does not look at it.
May
You kept it.
Tom
I did. It’s yours.

Notes on the line

A note sits on the line it is about: red for you, blue for readers. A plant and its payoff draw a thread down the outline.

Notes
The Lighter

The Lighter

Int. Bar - Night
Tom
I did.
{{plant: the lighter}}
May
Light it.
[[Hold on the thumb. One flick, no flame.]]
Ext. Pier - Dawn
Grey water. May at the rail, the brass lighter in her fist.
{{payoff: the lighter}}

Apple Pencil on the page

Ink on the printed page stays with its line. Add a scene above; the ink moves down.

Read, on an iPad
Int. Bar - Night
Rain on the window. TOM sets a brass lighter on the bar and does not look at it.
May
You kept it.
Tom
I did.
May
Light it.
The flame stands up. Leans. Holds.

A scan becomes a script

Hand it someone else's PDF, even a scan. It comes back as a script, page by page.

Read a PDF

Their PDF

The script it read as

Int. Bar - Night
Rain on the window. TOM sets a brass lighter on the bar and does not look at it.
May
You kept it.
Tom
I did.

⌘K asks and makes

Type under the line you are on; return does it. A ? first asks the reader you choose.

⌘K, under the line
Int. Bar - Night
Rain on the window. TOM sets a brass lighter on the bar and does not look at it.
May
You kept it.
Tom
I kept everything.

Nothing leaves your Mac unless you choose a reader. Your private notes never go. Everything ⌘K does

Plain files underneath

Each project is a package with a plain .fountain inside. Your notes are plain .md files.

  • Export all projects Every script as a .fountain any editor opens.
  • Native Built for Mac and iPad.
  • iPhone Later.
Finder
Margin
  • The Lighter.marginMargin projectToday, 14:02
  • Low water at Skerry.marginMargin projectYesterday, 18:30
  • Loose notesFolderToday, 09:12

Get the beta

Mac and iPad. It needs people who will open it, get annoyed and say so.

Mac

The first Mac build is on its way.

Download for Mac
  1. Open the downloaded file. Margin appears beside it.
  2. Drag Margin into your Applications folder.
  3. The first time, macOS will stop it. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security and press Open Anyway.

iPad

Through Apple's TestFlight

Join on TestFlight

Install TestFlight, then open the link on your iPad.

Ask to be told when it opens.

One purchase, no subscription for the app. Team mode, when it ships, by subscription.

Not in this beta: syncing between your devices, and notes from other people.

  • Every download comes over an encrypted connection from GitHub.
  • Each build carries its fingerprint, so you can check the file.

No account. Nothing collected.

Margin collects nothing

No analytics, no server of ours. It goes online only where you choose: a reader, a blog, a picture.

Read the full policy

Last updated 8 October 2026. Covers Margin for Mac and iPad.

Nothing is collected
Margin has no accounts, no sign-in and no analytics. It does not track you or keep any record of how you use it. No advertising or analytics code is in the app.
Your writing stays on your device
Everything you write is a file on the Mac or iPad you wrote it on. Margin has no server. Nothing you write is ever sent to us.
When Margin goes online
Only where you choose: a reader, a blog you connect, and a picture you put on a page by its web address. Each talks straight to that service, never through us. Dictation goes to Apple’s speech service only where the device cannot hear.
Asking about your script
Nothing leaves your Mac unless you choose a reader. Your private notes never go. The reader is Apple’s on-device model unless you say otherwise, and it sends nothing anywhere. Apple’s model needs macOS 26 or iPadOS 26 with Apple Intelligence. Without it nobody reads until you choose a reader. You can choose Ollama on your own machine instead, or Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or another address you give, with your own key, kept in the keychain. Every request is logged in the project, so you can see what went and when.
Publishing
Connect a blog and press Publish, and that piece goes to that service with the key you gave it, kept in the keychain. Nothing is sent until you press Publish.
A picture by its web address
Put a picture on a page by its web address and Margin fetches it from there to draw the page.
Microphone
Dictation uses the microphone only while you speak, and no recording is kept. Voice memos are heard on the device. So is dictation, where the device can. Where it cannot, Apple’s speech service hears it.
Tell us
Tell us sends nothing by itself. It opens your own mail app with a message ready, addressed to hello@writeinmargin.com, and you decide whether to send it.
Files you export
PDF, Fountain, Final Draft, Word, ePub, Markdown, HTML or your whole library go wherever you put them. From there they are in your hands.
Third parties
The only third party is a reader or a blog you choose. There is no data to sell or share, and none is.
Children
Margin collects no personal information from anyone, including children.
Changes
If a feature ever sends anything off the device, this policy changes first, in plain words.
Contact
hello@writeinmargin.com

Margin is made by Super Deluxe LLC.