macOS · Offline · Private

Lekhanam.
Your story lives here.
Only here.

Name: Lekhanam
Author: Lekhanam

Lekhanam is a complete book writing studio for macOS — with local AI, offline dictation, deep character tools, and print-ready export. No cloud. No subscriptions. No one reading your drafts.

Download on the Mac App Store

Direct Download

v1.3.2 · Apple Silicon · macOS 14+

Free for lifetime for early adopters

macOS 14+ required Apple Silicon only No subscription ever

Dashboard Characters Storyboard Cover Design Content Snapshots

Write Plan

The rain had been falling since before dawn, and by the time Miriam reached the house on Aldgate Lane the gutters were running fast with dark water, carrying leaves and cigarette ends toward the storm drain at the corner.

She stood on the pavement and looked up at the Georgian facade — four floors of blackened London brick, the windows dark except for a single light on the second storey, amber-coloured and still.

AI Writing

RAM

8.2 GB free

Assist Ghostwriter Interview

Sensory Boost

The rain tasted of iron and cold stone. Each drop struck the back of her neck like a reproach, soaking through her collar before she had time to pull it up.

Ghostwriter writing…

Everything a serious author needs

Every tool in one place.
Nothing you don't need.

Lekhanam replaces a dozen writing apps with one coherent studio — built for the entire journey from first idea to print-ready manuscript.

AI Writing

Three AI Tools, One Side Panel

Every AI feature lives in a single panel that slides open beside your writing. Assist edits your selected text on the spot, Ghostwriter turns bullet beats into polished prose, and Interview lets you have a live conversation with your own character — all running locally, no internet required.

Local · No API key Lekha AI 2B · Qwen 2.5

Assist — expand, shorten, or enrich selected text

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Ghostwriter — beats → vivid prose, split-screen

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Interview — chat with your character in their voice

Magic Wand Assist

Select any text and instantly Expand, Shorten, or add Sensory Boost from a floating menu — AI suggestions appear in a side panel for you to accept or discard.

Character Interview Mode

Have a multi-turn conversation with your own character. The AI responds using their voice profile, Ghost wound, and Lie — staying in character to help you discover authentic dialogue.

Ghostwriter Mode

Enter bullet-point story beats and watch the AI convert them into polished, vivid prose in a split-screen view — ready to copy to your clipboard and paste into your chapter.

4 Writing Styles

Choose your AI's voice: Cinematic (sharp, visual), Introspective (psychological depth), Minimalist (Hemingway-spare), or Poetic (lyrical and metaphorical). Switchable at any time.

Lekha AI 2B — Our Own Model for Writers

Lekha AI 2B is Lekhanam's own language model — built, fine-tuned, and shipped by us for one purpose: helping you write longer, richer fiction. At just ~1.5 GB it loads in seconds, runs entirely on your Mac's Metal GPU, and understands story structure, character voice, and prose rhythm out of the box. It's the default model every new book opens with, and it never sends a single word to a server.

Default · ~1.5 GB Tuned for fiction

Purpose-built — fine-tuned on long-form prose and dialogue

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Fast and compact — ~1.5 GB on disk, runs on 8 GB RAM

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Private by default — no cloud, no accounts, no telemetry

Qwen 2.5 — Swap In More Horsepower

Need a bigger brain for complex scenes? The unified catalog lets you download Qwen 2.5 Micro (1.5B), Lite (3B), or Standard (7B) — Alibaba's world-class open-weight models — and switch between them in one tap. Same offline privacy, same Metal GPU speed, four quality tiers.

Writing & Editing

Rich Text Editor

A Palatino-serif writing canvas with tables, footnotes, inline annotations, and configurable auto-save. Write and Plan sub-tabs keep your chapter organised.

Scene Beat Planner

Plan each chapter with a goal, POV character, and interactive markdown scene beat checklists. Tick off beats as you write them — all auto-saved.

Spell & Grammar Check

Red wavy underlines for spelling errors, amber for grammar — powered by harper.js running locally. No text leaves your Mac for checking.

Chapter Notes

A sliding Notes panel per chapter for research links, timeline reminders, and rough ideas — always one click away, never exported.

Offline Dictation

Dictate chapters hands-free. Vosk shows real-time partial text as you speak; Whisper.cpp delivers high-accuracy final transcription — both entirely offline.

Four Chapter Views

Switch between List, Corkboard, Outliner, and Read (Lekhanam) view from the Chapters tab. Plan visually on the corkboard, map hierarchy in the outliner, and read your full manuscript as flowing continuous prose.

Global Find & Replace

Search and replace text across every chapter at once (⌘H). Fix a character name change or repeated phrase across your entire manuscript in seconds — with results showing which chapters match.

DOCX Import

Bring in a Word document and Lekhanam splits it into chapters at Heading 1 boundaries, preserving bold, italic, tables, and images. Batch-import multiple files at once to migrate an existing manuscript.

Focus & Typewriter Mode

Toggle focus mode (⌘⇧F) to hide everything except your writing. Typewriter mode keeps the active line centred, and non-active paragraphs gently dim so you stay in the flow.

Chapter Status Tracking

Mark each chapter as Draft, Revised, or Final. Status badges appear on the storyboard so you can see at a glance which chapters still need work.

Live Word Count & Reading Time

A quiet counter in the toolbar shows live words, characters, and estimated reading time per chapter — plus a running total across your whole manuscript. Set a chapter target and watch progress fill as you write.

Markdown Shortcuts

Type naturally — # for headings, **bold**, *italic*, > for blockquotes, - for lists. The editor converts them in place, so your hands never leave the keyboard.

Characters & Story Structure

Deep Character Profiles

Five-tab character sheets covering Physical appearance, Personality (Ghost / Lie / Truth), Traits & Voice, Story Role, and a photo Gallery for visual reference.

Focus & Storyboard Mode

The Storyboard organises chapters into Acts with synopsis cards, status badges, and drag-to-reorder. Focus View lets you write one chapter at a time with its beats visible alongside. The Chapters tab also offers Corkboard, Outliner, and Read views.

Writing Goals & Stats

Set daily, weekly, or monthly word count goals. The dashboard shows session words, writing streaks, and a 7-day or 30-day activity chart — so you always know where you stand.

Cover Design, Export & Data

Cover Designer

Design your front and back cover with a Konva canvas — drag text and image layers, apply filters, and export at 300 DPI, print-ready for any publisher.

PDF, DOCX & ePub Export

Export your entire manuscript as a print-ready PDF (free), Word DOCX, or reflowable ePub. Supports footnotes, tables, images, page numbers, front/back matter, and all 8 industry book formats. Word and ePub export available with Lekhanam Pro.

Version Snapshots

Save a named snapshot of your entire book at any point. Browse old versions in read-only mode, or restore a snapshot with one click — full version history without Git.

Touch ID Lock

Enable biometric app lock on any Mac with Touch ID. Step away from your desk and your draft stays private — unlocks instantly with your fingerprint.

Recycle Bin & Recovery

Deleted books, chapters, and characters go to a trash bin — never lost permanently. Recover anything at any time, with Touch ID confirmation for safety.

8 Book Formats

From Mass Market (4.25×6.87") to Trade Paperback (6×9") to US Letter — set your page format at creation and all exports honour the exact dimensions.