One desk for everything you write.
Carrel is an open-source writing app you run on Cloudflare. Write and publish posts for several websites from one place, keep your books in a Git repository, and work with AI that drafts beside you and never over you.
Desk is the signed-in app, where you write. This instance is Dustin Edwards's; to use Carrel, run your own.
Post · ChecksAs you type
How AI changed peer review
- Search title64 of 60 characters
- Description142 of 155
- Image alt text1 image has none
- Share cardSet
An example post. Two flags, and Publish still works: checks flag, the writer decides.
- Sites on this Desk
- 6
- Roles
- 3
- AI tools
- 16
- License
- MIT
1.1What it does
A carrel is a library study desk. Carrel is one place to write for every site you run and every book you are working on.
Each site's posts in one list, with search and filters. Write in a prose editor that saves as you type, and preview in the site's own design.
- Books in GitBooks
Chapters, scenes, outlines and the story bible in a private Git repository. Export to ePub and Word, or print to PDF.
- Checks that flagChecks
Search and sharing checks on every post; continuity, timeline and voice checks on every scene. They flag. You decide.
16 tools for Claude and other MCP clients: read, search, preview, draft and flag. An AI draft never replaces your text.
- Who wrote whatRecord
Every change is recorded as yours or an AI's, and a book's record exports as a report.
- Manuscripts in Google DriveDrive
An index and search of your manuscripts, read-only, with Send to Docs and Import.
1.2From draft to live
Each site keeps its own content and design. Carrel reaches it through one shared API, so a post looks the same in the preview as on the site.
- 1
Draft. You write in the editor. Every keystroke is saved to the database, and saving never publishes.
- 2
Check. The search title, description, image alt text and share card are checked as you type.
- 3
Preview. The site renders the post itself, in a sandbox, so you see what readers will see.
- 4
Publish. The Owner publishes; an Author publishes the posts they wrote. Editors write and save; Readers read and comment.
- 5
Announce. Once a post is live, a queued note can go out to your social accounts.
1.3Checks that flag
A check points at a problem and leaves the choice to you. Nothing holds a save.
- Search title
- Empty or over 60 characters
- Description
- Missing, under 50 or over 155 characters
- Images
- No alt text, or no share card
- Scenes
- Continuity, timeline and world rules against the story bible
- Voice
- Habits of AI-written text, measured against your own published writing
- Sources
- Names and numbers with no source behind them
1.4AI that stays beside you
Connect Claude or any MCP client. It can read, search, preview and draft, under the same roles as a person.
Your prose is yours. An AI never rewrites your text unless you ask. Its draft is saved next to yours, and you choose what to use.
Flags, not verdicts. AI reviewers and checks raise flags. A post with an open flag cannot be published by an AI.
Publishing is yours. An AI publishes only when the Owner tells it to in that session, and every publish is emailed with a link to undo it.
A record of who wrote what. Each change is marked as yours or an AI's, kept with the book.
1.5Run your own
Carrel is one Cloudflare Worker with a D1 database, behind Cloudflare Access. Each site connects through site-api.
- 1Create the database and add yourself as OwnerD1
- 2Deploy with no public addressWorkers
- 3Turn on Access for the WorkerAccess
- 4Add your domain and connect your sitessite-api