Commands
Open the Obsidian Command Palette and type Radial timeline to filter the list:
- Mac:
Cmd + P - Windows/Linux:
Ctrl + P
Command Index
Section titled “Command Index”These are the main command-palette entries.
- Timeline open — opens the Radial Timeline View.
- Note create
- Inquiry open — opens the Inquiry View.
- Book designer ← standalone guide
- Manuscript import
- Timeline date scaffold (beta)
- Timeline date audit (beta)
- Subplot manager
- Summary scene refresh
- Timeline search
- Gossamer analysis
- Runtime estimator
- Manuscript export ← standalone guide
- Inquiry omnibus (in testing — not yet released)
- Gossamer score manager
- Planetary time calculator
- Author progress report (APR) ← standalone guide
- Scene pulse analysis (subplot order)
- Scene pulse analysis (manuscript order)
- Community timeline share export
- Timetable open
- Timetable reset columns to recommended
- Timetable restore a Radial Timetable view
- Scene promote note
- Canvas create subplot map
- Canvas convert cards to scenes or sketches
- Scene time assignment ← standalone guide
Conditional Visibility
Section titled “Conditional Visibility”Some commands are hidden until their required feature is enabled. Others remain visible but stop with a setup message if prerequisites are missing:
- Scene pulse analysis, Summary scene refresh, and Gossamer analysis appear only when AI LLM features are enabled in Settings → AI.
- Inquiry open stays listed and opens with AI off, so you can read saved sessions, including the Story Vaults’, without an API key. Running a new question needs AI turned on and a provider. See Inquiry.
- Gossamer analysis also needs an active beat system, story beats, and scene content. To score by hand without AI, use Gossamer score manager.
- Runtime estimator configuration lives in Settings → Core.
- With AI off, the Timeline date audit AI scan and the runtime estimator’s AI mode tell you AI is off instead of running.
- Planetary time calculator is visible, but it needs at least one configured planetary profile before it can produce a conversion.
- Inquiry omnibus is undergoing testing and is not released yet. It does not appear in release builds.
Note create
Section titled “Note create”Opens the guided Radial Timeline note selector.
The selector is organized into three families:
- Scene — Core scene, scene with advanced properties, screenplay scene, podcast scene.
- Manuscript matter — Front matter, back matter,
BookMeta. - Story world — Beat and Backdrop.
After you choose a subtype, the file is created in the active book folder and opened immediately. Scene creation includes built-in scaffolds: minimal properties for basic scenes, richer metadata for advanced scenes, screenplay/podcast body scaffolds plus runtime defaults for those types.
Related: Scene Properties (Core + Advanced).
Manuscript import
Section titled “Manuscript import”Opens the guided flow for importing a Scrivener export, a Word document, or one large text file. Structure only — no AI is the default; AI assistance is an explicit choice.
Choose the source, check export readiness and narrative order, confirm scene boundaries and metadata mappings, then review before applying. The Welcome flow accepts a source folder without prior Book Manager setup. Imports create a separate book folder and preserve the original source.
See Import a manuscript for Scrivener export instructions and one-time metadata mapping.
Timeline date scaffold (beta)
Section titled “Timeline date scaffold (beta)”Opens Timeline Date Scaffold, an optional tool for assigning provisional When dates in story order. No AI is involved. Chronologue already keeps undated scenes with their narrative neighbors, so scaffolding is not required to use it.
The wizard helps you normalize When values in manuscript order, then review the proposed timeline before writing changes back to frontmatter. It supports scaffold-based chronology setup, anchor date and time selection, time-bucket adjustments (morning/afternoon/evening/night), ripple mode for cascading changes, needs-review filtering, and undo/redo before applying.
Use Timeline date audit to review chronology and continuity findings.
Related: Chronologue Mode.
Timeline date audit (beta)
Section titled “Timeline date audit (beta)”Opens the Timeline Date Audit panel.
Surfaces contradictions, invalid dates, summary/body disagreement, continuity problems, and unresolved findings. Undated scenes remain visible in their Chronologue display order and have their own Undated count and filter; a blank When alone is not a warning or an unresolved problem. The panel shows overview stats, finding filters, and finding cards with evidence and suggested actions.
You can audit a partially dated or completely undated book without scaffolding it first. Relative-time checks do not skip across undated scenes to assume a calendar interval, and a date without a clock time is not checked as though noon were authored. Optional AI can examine undated scenes, but should leave their dates unset when the text does not support one. Changes are written only when you accept and apply a suggestion.
The audit includes a deterministic pass and can optionally run a continuity pass. AI findings appear alongside deterministic findings for review. From the panel you can filter findings by issue type, inspect evidence, mark items for review, apply accepted fixes where supported, and rerun the audit after changes.
Related: Timeline date scaffold, Chronologue Mode.
Subplot manager
Section titled “Subplot manager”Opens the subplot manager for bulk cleanup. Use it when subplot names have drifted.
Lists active subplots with scene counts and gives you bulk actions:
- Rename a subplot in the active book’s scene files. Its own color, if it has one, and the Canvas cards given it go with the new name; renaming here rather than in each scene’s properties is what keeps them.
- Remove a subplot from the timeline.
Rename a subplot — updates the Subplot field of every scene in the active book that uses it
The main plot is marked with a map pin. It stays in ring 1 whatever it is called and includes any scene without a Subplot. Each book names its own main plot (Main Plot until you rename it): renaming it updates only the active book’s scenes, the dialog says how many before anything is written, and a name another subplot already uses is refused. The main plot can’t be deleted. Removing a subplot moves any scenes that only belonged to it back to the main plot.
Related: Narrative Mode.
Summary scene refresh
Section titled “Summary scene refresh”Regenerates scene summaries with AI.
Writes:
- Summary — the longer corpus-oriented summary.
- Synopsis — optional, if you enable
Also update Synopsis.
Run modes: flagged scenes, missing summaries only, missing/weak/stale, or regenerate all. You can also set target summary length, weak-summary threshold, and optional Synopsis update length.
This command is separate from scene pulse analysis: Pulse writes short structured editorial feedback per scene; Summary scene refresh writes longer summary text for corpus-level use.
Related: AI Pulse Triplet Analysis, Inquiry View.
Timeline search
Section titled “Timeline search”Opens the timeline search bar.
Choose Timeline fields, Scene body, or both in Search options. Press Enter for text search, or enable Local LLM assist for concept matching with verified evidence quotes. See Search for scope, highlighting, and local AI setup.
Related: How to → Search.
Gossamer analysis
Section titled “Gossamer analysis”Runs the built-in AI scoring workflow for the active Gossamer signal. Appears only when AI LLM features are on; to score by hand, use Gossamer score manager.
Works against the active beat system and the active signal — Momentum, Tension, Activity, or Interiority. AI scores the supplied manuscript material independently of your visual Momentum ranges.
Related: Gossamer Mode → AI Analysis.
Runtime estimator
Section titled “Runtime estimator”Opens the runtime estimation panel.
Used for novels, audiobooks, and screenplays. The panel works with runtime profiles and can estimate duration across different scopes and filters.
Related: Settings → Core → Runtime estimation, Narrative Runtime view.
Inquiry omnibus (in testing — not yet released)
Section titled “Inquiry omnibus (in testing — not yet released)”Runs all enabled Inquiry questions in one batch.
Executes enabled questions across the Inquiry zones and returns a combined set of findings for the current corpus. Works with the active scope (Book or Saga). Depending on provider and engine path, the run may execute as a combined omnibus flow or as sequential provider calls behind the scenes.
Related: Inquiry View, Running an Inquiry.
Gossamer score manager
Section titled “Gossamer score manager”Opens the manual score-entry panel for the active signal.
Supports manual score entry, score justifications, run history cleanup and normalization, and working with saved beat runs. Create beat notes for the active beat system before opening the panel.
Related: Gossamer Mode → Manual Entry.
Planetary time calculator
Section titled “Planetary time calculator”Opens the planetary conversion panel.
Uses the active planetary profile from Settings → Core and lets you select a date and time, convert that Earth timestamp to local planetary time, and copy a YAML-friendly result block. The panel is designed for quick planet calendar checks while writing. Select an active planetary profile in Settings → Core before converting dates.
Related: Planetary Calendar.
Scene pulse analysis (subplot order)
Section titled “Scene pulse analysis (subplot order)”Opens the subplot pulse selector first, then runs pulse analysis for a selected subplot.
The subplot selector shows flagged scenes, processable scenes, and total scenes. From there you can choose Process flagged scenes, Process entire subplot, or Purge all pulse for that subplot.
Related: AI Pulse Triplet Analysis, Subplot manager.
Scene pulse analysis (manuscript order)
Section titled “Scene pulse analysis (manuscript order)”Opens the pulse command panel for manuscript-order analysis.
Run modes: process open scenes, process flagged scenes, process unprocessed scenes, or reprocess all scenes.
Related: AI Pulse Triplet Analysis, Summary scene refresh.
Community timeline share export
Section titled “Community timeline share export”Writes a timeline file you can upload on your Community My Share page. To share without a file and keep the timeline updated automatically, turn on Share timeline in Settings → Community. Exporting shares nothing: the file is written to Radial Timeline/Community/ in your vault and stays there until you upload it and activate the share.
Before anything is written, a dialog lists what the file contains:
- Shared when you activate: scene numbers, acts, subplot names, status, publish stage, book title, and author.
- Held for per-scene reveal: scene titles, synopses, characters, narration, and story dates. They stay hidden on your public timeline until you reveal each scene from My Share.
If your subplot names could themselves reveal plot, turn on Generic ring names in the dialog to export them as “Subplot 1, Subplot 2…”.
Related: Settings → Community.
Timetable open
Section titled “Timetable open”Radial timeline: Timetable open opens or focuses the Bases view for the timeline’s current book or saga. Enable the Bases core plugin first. See Timetable.
Timetable reset columns to recommended
Section titled “Timetable reset columns to recommended”Radial timeline: Timetable reset columns to recommended gives the active Timetable view the recommended columns for its scenes, after a confirm, and clears its saved column widths. Filters, sorts, grouping, and the file’s other views stay as they are. The same action is in the column header menu. See Columns.
Timetable restore a Radial Timetable view
Section titled “Timetable restore a Radial Timetable view”Radial timeline: Timetable restore a Radial Timetable view adds a fresh Radial Timetable view to the open .base file with the recommended settings, for when you have deleted or reshaped yours. Your other views, the Base filters and your notes stay as they are. The same action is in the .base file’s menu and under the ? beside Saved views. See Saved views.
Scene promote note
Section titled “Scene promote note”Radial timeline: Scene promote note reviews a sketch or unclassified note for conversion to a scene, preserving its text and existing properties. See Promoting notes.
Canvas create subplot map
Section titled “Canvas create subplot map”Radial timeline: Canvas create subplot map builds a new Canvas of the book’s scenes, one lane per subplot. The same dialog opens from the timeline title bar and the Timetable’s Canvas map button. See Canvas story maps.
Canvas convert cards to scenes or sketches
Section titled “Canvas convert cards to scenes or sketches”Radial timeline: Canvas convert cards to scenes or sketches turns text cards on the open Canvas into scenes or sketches in a book. See Bring ideas from Canvas.
Headings set in Kalice, Claude Type, designed by Margot Lévêque.