# What is Arcweave?

Source: https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/what-is-arcweave
Section: Introduction
Description: What Arcweave is, its design philosophy, why teams use it, and how it works for interactive stories and games

Arcweave is a collaborative narrative engine for designing and prototyping immersive interactive experiences. It enables writers and designers to create complex projects intuitively, collaborate synchronously, and maintain a healthy and liberating distance from the development side.

Arcweave is a cloud-based app. You only need a browser and an internet connection to create and manage your projects.

## Arcweave's philosophy

Context: Arcweave docs > Introduction > What is Arcweave? > Arcweave's philosophy

Arcweave separates **design** from **development**.

- [Writers & Designers](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/whom-is-it-for/writers-designers) should be free to focus on story, without worrying about code.
- [Developers](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/whom-is-it-for/developers) should get clean, structured data ready for integration.
- [Team Leaders](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/whom-is-it-for/team-leaders) should have a clear overview, leave comments, and delegate.

Arcweave enables parallel workflows with live collaboration, reusable components, and export formats ready for engines like Unity, Godot, or Unreal.

## Why use Arcweave?

Context: Arcweave docs > Introduction > What is Arcweave? > Why use Arcweave?

Tools like spreadsheets or flowchart apps can help get ideas and dialogue lines down, but they quickly become cluttered, error-prone, and hard to manage as complexity grows.

Arcweave is purpose-built for interactive narrative design. It allows you to:

- 🗺️ Map out complex story structures visually and intuitively.
- 🧊 Keep your story segments (be they chapters, scenes, or dialogue trees) organized in small, easy-to-read boards.
- 📋 Assign attributes to characters, items, and locations.
- 🔀 Link logic and conditions directly into your story flow.
- 📽️ Preview and test your project in Arcweave's integrated Play Mode or your game engine's build.
- 🚀 Export structured data to your development environment.

> ✅ No more struggling to trace story flow in a tangle of cells or... spaghetti megagraphs.

## How Arcweave works

Context: Arcweave docs > Introduction > What is Arcweave? > How Arcweave works

Arcweave runs entirely in your browser, offering a cross-platform, consistent environment for you to design, collaborate, and manage your **projects** efficiently in your teams' **workspaces**.

### Projects

Context: Arcweave docs > Introduction > What is Arcweave? > How Arcweave works > Projects

A [project](https://docs.arcweave.com/workspaces/projects) is where you design your interactive experiences. Each story or game you create lives in its own project.

![The Arcweave window showing an open project.](https://docs.arcweave.com/assets/project-general.Cw-i8z_y.png)

Within a project, you can do the following:

- Design your [story flow](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/quick-tour/flowchart), plot, and dialogue trees.
- Store your [story objects](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/quick-tour/flowchart#attached-components).
- [Play-test and debug](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/quick-tour/play-mode) your creation—immediately.
- [Collaborate](https://docs.arcweave.com/introduction/quick-tour/collaboration) with teammates in real time.
- Export your project for [integration](https://docs.arcweave.com/integrations/overview) with your platform or game engine.

### Workspaces

Context: Arcweave docs > Introduction > What is Arcweave? > How Arcweave works > Workspaces

A [workspace](https://docs.arcweave.com/workspaces/overview) is your team's collaborative environment. Each workspace can contain multiple projects and its own set of collaborators.

![The Arcweave window showing the Roles section of a workspace.](https://docs.arcweave.com/assets/workspace-roles.C7SNZ55t.png)

In a workspace, you can do the following:

- Manage your team's projects.
- Invite collaborators as workspace members.
- Manage the members' permission roles.
- Create custom roles (Team workspaces only).
- Manage your workspace's settings and billing preferences.

> 💬 Need help or want to connect? Join our [Discord community](https://discord.gg/atVXxAK)—we'd love to hear from you!