What is a PWA, and why it suits a novel-planning app
The short version. A PWA is a website that behaves like an app: you install it from your browser, it opens in its own window, and it keeps working without a connection. For a novel-planning tool that means no download page, no app store and no waiting on a server to open your own outline. Threadbound is a PWA, and this is why we built it that way.
What a PWA actually is
PWA stands for progressive web app. It is an ordinary website, built with web technology, with a few extra pieces that let your browser treat it like installed software. A small file tells the browser the app's name and icon. A background script called a service worker saves the app's files on your device, so it can start without the internet.
The result is something you can pin to your taskbar or dock, open in its own window with no address bar, and use on a train or in a cabin with no signal. You have probably used one already without noticing.
How to install one
In Chrome and Edge, open the site and look for an install icon at the right of the address bar, or choose Install from the browser menu. Threadbound also shows its own small install prompt. On an iPhone or iPad, open the site in Safari, tap Share and choose Add to Home Screen. Firefox on desktop does not install web apps, but the site works there as a normal tab.
Why that suits a novel-planning tool
Your work stays on your device
A PWA can store data in the browser itself, on your own machine. Threadbound keeps your threads, timeline, notes and manuscript there, and nothing is sent to our servers. There is no account to lose access to and no subscription that decides whether you can open your own book.
It works offline
Writers work in odd places: planes, cafes with bad wifi, a shed at the bottom of the garden. Because the app and your data are both on your device, Threadbound opens and saves with no connection at all.
One app on every device
The same app runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Chromebooks, tablets and phones. There is nothing to build separately for each system, which is how a small team can keep one tool working everywhere without charging a subscription to fund it.
Updates without surprises
Desktop software asks you to download and run installers. A PWA can update itself in the background. Threadbound goes one step further: when a new version is ready, it shows a banner and waits for you to choose the moment, so an update never reloads the page while you are in the middle of a sentence.
Lighter and safer than a download
A PWA runs inside the browser's security sandbox, so it cannot read the rest of your files. There is no installer to trust and nothing left behind if you remove it.
The honest trade-offs
- Browser storage is not a vault. Clearing your site data or wiping your browser can remove the app's local database. That is why Threadbound offers plain-text backups and optional automatic backup to your own Google Drive. Use one of them.
- No live sync yet. Local-first means each device keeps its own copy. Moving between devices is done with a backup file or Drive.
- It is not in the app stores. You install it from the website, which some people find unfamiliar the first time.
- Browser support varies. Chrome and Edge give the smoothest install. Safari works but handles storage and installs differently.
Why we chose this over a desktop app
We could have built a desktop program. For a small, independent tool, a PWA gives us the things writers care about, which are speed, privacy, offline use and a fair one-time price, without separate builds and update systems for each platform. It keeps Threadbound a small writing tool that stays out of your way.
Try it in your browser, then install it if you like it. The sample project is the quickest way to look around.
Try the sample project