How can we help?
- Getting started on chattrStart a playthrough, pick a character name, and learn how a turn works.
- Playing a storyChoices vs. freeform actions, stats, and the art panels.
- Playthroughs & your dataWhere playthroughs live, how to continue them, how to remove them.
- Get in touchNeed help? Have feedback? Send a note to the operator.
Announcements
- Sep 14, 2026chattrbox is here: turn any scene into art, and write stories for everyone to play.
- Sep 14, 2026Upvote the stories you love — see what’s rising under Top voted.
- Sep 14, 202648 new stories — academy, isekai, sci-fi, mystery, historical and cozy. Filter by genre on the home page.
- Sep 14, 2026Dark mode is here — use the sun/moon switch in the header or reader toolbar.
- Sep 14, 2026Search now finds stories and pages from anywhere on the site.
- Sep 13, 2026Hollow and Resonance got cover, hero and first-turn illustrations.
- Sep 11, 2026The reader moved to a vertical-scroll, webtoon-style layout.
Getting started on chattr
What chattr is, how a playthrough works, and how to make the site yours.
What is chattr?
chattr is an interactive-fiction reader. Each story is a setting with its own narrator instructions, stat sheet and art. When you start a playthrough, an AI narrator writes the opening scene; every turn after that is shaped by what you choose or type.
It reads like a webtoon — one long vertical column of art panels and prose — but it is written live, for you, one choice at a time.
How do I start a playthrough?
Log in (or create an account with your email and a password), press “New playthrough” in the header or the banner on the home page, pick a story, and press Start. You land in the reader on turn one.
From a story page you can also press “First playthrough” or “Start playthrough”. The first time you start a story, chattr asks for your name.
Why do I need an account?
Playthroughs and every turn in them are saved to your account, so only you see them and they follow you to any browser you log in from. Browsing stories doesn’t need an account; starting or continuing a playthrough does.
I forgot my password.
On the log-in page, press “Forgot password?” and enter your email. We send a link that works once and expires in an hour. Setting a new password logs you out everywhere else.
Locked out after too many tries? Wait 15 minutes, or reset your password — that lifts the lock straight away.
What is my name used for, and how do I change it?
It is how the narrator refers to your character in every story, and how your playthroughs are labelled in lists. Use anything you like — it does not need to be your real name.
Change it any time in Settings (press the round button with your initial at the top right). The new name applies to new playthroughs and to your existing ones from their next turn; turns already written keep the name they used.
How do I set a profile picture?
Open your profile menu (the circle at the top right) and choose Settings. On the Profile tab, hover your picture — it darkens and shows a pencil — then click it to pick a file, or drop an image straight onto it. The image is square-cropped and shrunk to 256px in your browser before it uploads. “remove picture” takes it off again.
How do I turn on Dark Mode?
Use the sun/moon button at the right of the header, or the same button on the reader toolbar. chattr remembers your choice in this browser. If you never choose, it follows your device’s appearance setting.
Can I read on my phone?
Yes. The site is responsive down to small phones. The reader column fills the screen width and the toolbar hides while you scroll down and returns when you scroll up. Tap anywhere in the panels to toggle it.
Playing a story
Choices, freeform actions, stats and art panels.
Do I have to pick one of the suggested choices?
No. The suggested choices at the bottom of the column are prompts, not a menu. The text box under them accepts anything — an action, a line of dialogue, a question to another character. Hidden options often reward freeform input.
What do the stats mean?
Each story has its own stat sheet (for example rank, reserve and reputation in Hollow). Press “Stats” on the reader toolbar to see the current values. When a turn changes a stat, a small strip under the text panel shows what moved.
Why do some turns have illustrations and others don’t?
Cover, hero and opening-turn art is generated in advance for each story, always in an anime / manhwa style. Later turns have no picture until you paint one: press “paint this scene” under the text and it costs one Star.
Why does a turn take a few seconds?
Every turn is written on demand by the narrator model, which reads the story instructions, the rolling summary and your recent turns before answering. A skeleton panel shows while it writes. If it takes more than a minute, check the Troubleshooting section.
Can I undo a turn, or change what I typed?
Yes. Every turn has a strip above its art panel. “Rewind here” keeps that turn and discards everything after it, restoring your stats and the narrator’s memory to that point. “Edit” lets you rewrite the action that produced the turn; the story regenerates from there with the new action.
Both ask you to confirm, because the discarded turns cannot be recovered. The last turn in a playthrough has no rewind button — there is nothing after it yet.
Playthroughs and your data
Where playthroughs live, continuing them, and removing them.
Where are my playthroughs saved?
They are saved to your account on the server, not in your browser, so clearing your browser will not lose them and logging in elsewhere brings them along. Find them under “Continue reading” on the home page or in the playthrough list on each story page. Other accounts can’t see or open them.
If you run chattr yourself, playthroughs are in .data/db.json by default, or in Postgres (Neon or Supabase) if you have configured it.
How do I continue a playthrough?
Open “Continue reading” on the home page, or press “Continue latest” on the story page. Inside the reader, the “All playthroughs” list at the bottom switches between playthroughs of the same story.
Can I play a story with a friend?
Yes. Open the playthrough, press the avatar cluster / “invite” button in the reader toolbar, and either search for them by player name or email (you’ll see their picture and name as you type) or create an invite link to send them. Links last 14 days; anyone signed in who opens one joins.
Everyone in the playthrough sees the same column. When someone submits an action, the others see “Name is writing…” and the finished turn appears for them within a few seconds. Each action costs a Quill from the account that sent it. Only the owner can rename the playthrough or remove people; members can leave from the same dialog.
Can I rename a playthrough?
Yes. In the reader, click the playthrough name in the toolbar (next to the story title), type a new one and press Enter. Clear it to go back to the default “Playthrough N”. The name shows on your Continue reading cards and story pages.
Can I comment on a playthrough?
Yes. Under the choices at the bottom of the reader there is a comment box. Post as many as you like; the × next to your own comment removes it.
Can I have more than one playthrough of the same story?
Yes, as many as you like. Each one has its own stats and history, and the story page numbers them in the order they were started.
How do I delete a playthrough?
There is no delete button in the reader yet. Ask the operator through “Get in touch” below, or on your own instance delete the session row from the database (or the entry in the data file). See the Privacy Policy for what is stored.
Stars, Quills and chattrbox
What each one does, how to get more, and what chattrbox changes.
What are Quills?
Quills are the turn currency. Every turn the narrator writes costs one Quill. You hold up to 20, and one comes back on its own every hour. Open your profile menu (the circle at the top right) to see your balance and a countdown to the next Quill.
Below 20 you can watch a short ad for 10 more, once every 15 minutes. Quill packs in the shop (30, 200 or 500) stack past the cap and never expire. chattrbox members never spend Quills at all.
What are Stars?
Stars paint scenes. Under any turn without an illustration there is a “paint this scene” button; it costs one Star and produces a webtoon-style panel of that exact moment. If the image fails or is blocked by the safety filter, the Star comes back.
Buy Stars in packs from the shop (10 to 1,400). chattrbox members are given 30 Stars every month on top.
What does chattrbox include?
chattrbox is the one subscription: unlimited Quills, 30 Stars credited every month, and the story editor so you can write stories other people play. It is billed monthly through Stripe and can be cancelled any time from Settings; perks stay until the period ends.
How does “watch an ad” work?
From your profile menu or the shop, press “Watch an ad”. A short ad plays; when it finishes, 10 Quills are added. It is available once every 15 minutes and only while you are below the 20-Quill cap.
Stories
The originals on chattr and what’s coming.
What is Hollow?
An isekai dungeon-fantasy. You are sent into Arden — a world of Guild ranks, ambient mana and near-mythical runes — with no memory of who you were and a power called Authority: spoken commands that reshape reality from a finite reserve you don’t understand.
What is Resonance?
A dystopian supernatural story set in a megacity where emotion is power. Resonants push feeling past its natural boundary and reality answers. You awakened three days ago with the rarest fuel of all, and the Authority wants a baseline.
Can I request a story or genre?
Yes — send it through “Get in touch”. New stories are added as their narrator instructions and art are ready.
chattrbox and community stories
The one paid plan: turn images and writing stories. Plus upvotes, which are free.
What do I get with chattrbox?
chattrbox is $4.99 a month. It unlocks turn images (a set number per month, shown on the chattrbox page) and writing stories that other players can find and play.
Reading, playing, rewinding and upvoting stay free. Cancel any time from “manage billing”; perks last until the end of the month you paid for.
How do I turn a scene into art?
In the reader, press ✦ Art on the toolbar, then tap the turn you want. It takes a little while to paint; you can keep reading. When it’s done, the picture replaces that turn’s art panel for good.
Images the safety filter blocks, or that fail, don’t count toward your monthly allowance.
How do I write a story?
Open the menu under your initial and choose “Write a story”, then “new story”. Write as much or as little as you like — even one line of lore — and press “✦ autofill the rest”. Autofill only fills empty fields; it never overwrites what you wrote.
Each field also has “✦ suggest”, and once there’s enough to go on the editor suggests titles, taglines, genres and opening choices on its own. Drafts save automatically and stay private. Use “test play” to try it before anyone else can.
Why didn’t my story publish?
Publishing needs every field filled in, and then an automatic check against chattr’s SFW rules: no sexual content, no graphic violence, no hate, no real people or existing franchises. If it doesn’t pass, the editor shows the reason — change that part and publish again.
Editing a live story re-runs the check when you save. chattr can also take down any story that breaks the rules.
How do upvotes work?
Press ▲ on any story card or story page (you need to be logged in). Press it again to take the vote back. Counts are public; who voted isn’t. The Top voted tab on the home page ranks stories by upvotes.
Trust and safety
Content ratings, AI-generated content and reporting.
Is chattr suitable for younger readers?
You must be 13 or older to use chattr. Stories can contain violence, peril and mature themes appropriate to their genre; each story page carries a short summary so you know the tone before you start.
Who writes the turns?
A language model, following the story’s narrator instructions and your input. Nobody reviews a turn before you see it, so it can be inconsistent or surprising. It is fiction and is never advice.
How do I report a turn or illustration?
Copy the link from the reader toolbar (the ⧉ button) and send it through “Get in touch” with a note about what went wrong. The operator can remove individual turns or whole playthroughs.
Troubleshooting
When the narrator won’t answer or the page looks wrong.
I see “No narrator key is set”.
This instance has no narrator key configured. If it is your own instance, put your Z.ai GLM Coding Plan key in .env.local as ZAI_API_KEY (or a free OpenRouter key as OPENROUTER_API_KEY) and restart the dev server. Otherwise, let the operator know.
A turn has been loading for a long time.
Reload the page — the turn is saved server-side as soon as the narrator finishes, so you will not lose it. If turns keep failing, the narrator provider may be down; try again in a few minutes.
Images are not loading.
Art is served from the site itself under /art/. Check that the file exists on the instance and that nothing in your browser is blocking images. Placeholders are expected on turns that have no illustration yet.
The site is stuck in dark (or light) mode.
Press the sun/moon button to switch. To go back to following your device setting, clear this site’s data in your browser, which removes the stored chattr-theme key.
GET IN TOUCH
Didn’t find what you needed?
Send feedback, request a story, or report a turn. Include the playthrough link from the reader toolbar if it’s about a specific turn.