Persistent living worlds
Worlds that exist outside the conversation.
Canonvale keeps authoritative world state in the project — characters, locations, factions, events, secrets, rumors, and conditions — so the model narrates inside constructed boundaries instead of owning reality.
The world knows what is true. NPCs only know what they could know. Players only see what they should see. The AI narrates inside those boundaries.
Play in immersive Player Mode. Switch to GM Mode to inspect world truth, hidden state, and simulation surfaces.
Bring your own model key. Own your world projects. Share a Copy when you want portability.
The archive remembers.
Rain ticks against the sealed glass while the party studies the city map. Sera points to the old transit tunnels, careful not to say what she knows about the locked station below.
Ask Sera what she is hiding about the tunnels...
The problem
When the model owns reality, long worlds break.
In most AI roleplay, the LLM is treated as the source of truth. That works for short chats — not for worlds that need continuity, secrecy, and a record outside the transcript.
How Canonvale protects your world
The LLM does not own reality. Your project does.
Canonvale is a persistent living-world platform. Authoritative state lives in the project. The model narrates inside those boundaries — it is not the canonical source of what is true.
Keep world state
Lore, characters, locations, factions, events, conditions, secrets, and rumors live in the project — not only in chat memory.
Scope knowledge
NPCs do not automatically know what the GM or world knows. Claims and rumors are not treated as truth by default.
Bound the living world
World state can change beyond the immediate exchange. Offscreen events can persist and later shape narration, without every subsystem moving every turn.
Narrate inside bounds
Player Mode presents what the player should perceive. Hidden GM state is kept out of that immersive view.
The workspace
A persistent world engine, not a disposable chat.
Each world lives inside a project with lore, structured state, branches, and tools — so continuity can survive long sessions.
Player Mode
Immersive presentation of what the player should perceive — without file trees, hidden state, or GM spoilers in the play view.
GM Mode
Inspection and management surfaces for world truth, hidden state, files, and simulation state.
Living-world state
Persistent characters, locations, factions, events, and conditions — independent of the current reply.
Rewind
Return the primary timeline to an earlier turn without destroying the project. Advanced branching is available where enabled.
BYOK
Bring OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or OpenRouter. The model is interchangeable; the workspace is the product.
Share a Copy
Cloud workspace with user-owned data. Share a Copy to give another Canonvale user an independent world. Provider keys are not included.
Player Mode / GM Mode
Perception when you play. Inspection when you look behind the story.
Player Mode and GM Mode are presentation and inspection choices. They separate what the player should experience from what the world contains. They are not a permission system.
Player Mode
- Player-visible narration only
- Immersive reading layout
- IC/OOC input separation
- Dice and tool requests through natural language
- Bookmarks and rewind
- Hidden GM details kept out of the play view
GM Mode
- File tree and markdown lore
- NPC, PC, location, and faction state
- Hidden GM notes and world truth
- Simulation state inspection
- Optional staged-change review
- Advanced timeline branching where enabled
Living world
The world can continue beyond the immediate exchange.
Canonvale includes a bounded living-world layer. Persistent events, conditions, and offscreen state can advance independently of the current reply, then inform later narration. That is not a promise that markets, relationships, or rumors move on every turn.
When staged review is enabled, proposed file or world changes can be inspected before they land. Ordinary play can still apply world updates without a manual Accept click.
Event The archive lamps dim on the night rotation.
Hidden Sera still withholds the older gate maps.
Rumor Dockhands claim the tunnels were sealed by the Watch — unconfirmed.
Long-running worlds
Built for serious long-running worlds.
Bring your own model
Bring your own model. Keep the world engine.
Use Canonvale as the persistent living-world layer while your chosen provider handles inference. You pay for model usage separately. The workspace owns structure, continuity, and scoped truth — not the LLM vendor.
Who it is for
Built for people who care about continuity and inspectable worlds.
Canonvale is built for serious long-running worlds. It is not a casual AI companion app, and it is not trying to replace your imagination. It is for users who care about continuity, hidden truth, and a record outside the chat.
Access and pricing
Closed alpha is free. Commercial pricing comes later.
Current access
Closed Alpha
FREE
For current closed-alpha participants. Requesting access does not guarantee an invitation.
- Closed-alpha participants are not charged
- BYOK model support
- Player Mode and GM Mode
- Projects, lore, and living-world state
- Rewind and bookmarks
- Hidden GM state and scoped narration
- Share a Copy invites
Commercial price
After closed alpha
$15 / month
or $150 / year
- Listed for later paid access
- Not billed to closed-alpha participants
- No checkout on this page
- Inference remains billed by your provider
Commercial pricing does not apply to the current closed alpha.
FAQ
Common questions
Is this another AI chatbot?
No. Canonvale is a persistent living-world platform — not a companion app and not a disposable chat session. Projects hold authoritative world state, scoped knowledge, and mode-separated narration.
Do you provide the AI model?
Canonvale is BYOK. Bring your own API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, or OpenRouter. The workspace engine stays the same regardless of which of those providers you use.
Can I share my worlds?
Yes. Project owners can Share a Copy with another Canonvale user. The recipient gets an independent owned copy; provider keys are not included.
Is Player Mode different from GM Mode?
Yes. Player Mode is immersive and spoiler-safe — it shows what the player should perceive. GM Mode exposes inspection surfaces for world truth, hidden state, files, and simulation state. Switching modes does not change backend permissions.
Does every world change wait for my approval?
No. Ordinary play can apply world updates as they happen. Optional review workflows exist for staged file or world changes when those workflows are enabled.
Do NPCs automatically know everything in the world?
No. NPC knowledge is scoped separately from world truth and hidden GM state. The model is asked to narrate inside those boundaries instead of treating itself as omniscient.
Is closed alpha free?
Yes. Current closed-alpha participants are not charged. Commercial pricing is $15/month or $150/year for later paid access. Submitting the access form does not guarantee an invitation.
Closed alpha