WALT · Instruction Manual

Every screen, every button, and what it is for

Written 2026-09-07 against the shipped code. W (Writing) and A (Animation) are documented in full. L (Layout) and T (Toolkit) are listed with what each screen is for, and marked where they are still being finished.

The eight stages

Canon

Every screen belongs to one of these. Each stage has one job and hands a finished thing to the next.

Start	Projects	The root. Every screenplay, database and sequence belongs to exactly one project.
1	Writing	Write or import the screenplay. It is the source of truth everything else is built from.
2	Story Engine	Reads the approved screenplay and finds every character, prop, location and camera cue, traced to its scene.
3	Story Database	The complete inventory of what the film needs, each item carrying its digital DNA. The Bible is built inside here.
4	Production Requirements	Each scene gets a work folder, packed from the database with everything that scene needs.
5	Scene Builder	Scene folders become boards — first and last frame, seeds, camera notes.
6	Shot Builder	Each board goes to the engine that shoots it best. The engines change; the Bible doesn't.
7	Review	Approve, request a variation, retry, or lock. Approval is what turns a render into a shot.
8	Final Output	Approved clips, stills, audio and metadata, composited and exported clean.

Every item in the left menu

24 destinations

The menu groups tools by kind. The stage numbers below tell you the order.

Top

How WALT Works

The welcome page.

The eight stages end to end. Read it first; it is not a Writing feature.

Projects

Projects Home

Every project in the studio.

Stage Start. Create a production, add screenplays, open the one you're working on.

Writing — W

Script	The screenplay editor.	Stage 1. Writing only — no production planning lives here.
Story Database	The inventory of the whole film.	Stage 3. Where the Story Engine's findings land and where the Bible is built.

Animation — A

Character Bible

The approved production art.

Stage 3. Masters and sheets, built and locked here.

Layout — L

Active Window	See the scene you are making.	The location in frame, the camera on it, who is on stage, how it is lit.
Motion Engine	Film a performance, give it to a character.	One character per pass.
Scene	Script breakdown.	Marked "Legacy manual scene tools" on the page itself.
Sequence Engine	Build a sequence and render it.	Keyframes, prompts, camera, music, then the clips.
Scene Builder	Pack a scene's work folder.	Stage 5. Every asset traced to that scene, each by its Bible sheet.
Sync Engine	Musical numbers against the real track.	The song sets the length; the mouth is synced to the words.
Storyboard	The whole film as boards.	So a scene can be handed to one person and worked alone.
Shot Builder	Break a scene into shots.	Stage 6. Size, angle, move, lens — each routed to the right engine.

Toolkit — T

Compositing	Thread approved shots together.	The page says "Coming next in the build."
Upscaling	Approved clips to delivery resolution.	The page says "Coming next in the build."
Final Film	Export the finished film.	Stage 8. The screen exists; the export button is not yet wired.

Team

Team Brief	The one page everyone works from.	What the production is, in one place.
Cast	Who voices whom.	Cast a person once and every version of that character is covered.

Admin

Review	Approve or reject renders.	Stage 7. The screen exists; its buttons are not yet wired. Keyframe review lives inside the Sequence Engine today.
Sync	Performance lock check.	Not yet wired — the page says "Provider: Sync Labs later".
Admin Setup	Production identity, prompt library, asset intake.	Set once per production.
Recharge	Top up the render balance.	Also shows each engine's connection.
Engine Watch	Has an engine changed under us?	Checks every model WALT talks to against what the vendor publishes today. Applies nothing.
Settings	Your account and studio.	Who's on the team and who's online.

Two stages have no menu button. The Story Engine (stage 2) is run from a screenplay's Details page as Generate SIE, or from File ▸ Run Story Engine in the editor. Production Requirements (stage 4) is covered by Scene Builder.

W — Writing

BuiltStages 1 & 3

The Writing module writes. It does not plan production — that is what the Story Engine and the Story Database downstream are for.

Script — the toolbar, left to right

Control	What it does	Why it's there
Element menu	Sets what the current line is: Act ⌘0, Scene Heading ⌘1, Action ⌘2, Character ⌘3, Dialogue ⌘4, Parenthetical ⌘5, Transition ⌘6, Shot ⌘7, Text ⌘8.	The element is not decoration — it is the tag the Story Engine reads later. A character cue tagged as Action is a character WALT will never find.
B / I / U	Bold, italic, underline the selection.	Emphasis inside a line. Shortcuts ⌘B ⌘I ⇧⌘U.
CAPS	Sets the selection in capitals.	For a name or a sound cue you want shouted in the action. ⌘U.
SCRAP BOOK	Opens the scrap book beside the page.	Notes, images and fragments kept next to the script without living in it.
File ▾	New, open, import, export, title page. Broken out below.	Everything that moves a whole document in or out.
Edit ▾	Undo, redo, find and replace. Broken out below.	Everything that changes text you already wrote.
Drafts	Every saved draft of this screenplay. Any one can be restored.	The safety net. A draft is never overwritten — restoring one keeps the current version too.
Zoom	50% to 150%.	Page size on screen only. It changes nothing about the script or its page count.

Script — the File menu

Save	Writes the screenplay now. ⌘S	WALT saves as you type; this is for when you want to be certain.
Run Story Engine ›	Hands this screenplay to stage 2.	The door from Writing to production. It proposes — nothing enters the database until you approve it.
Open Screenplay	Goes to Projects to pick a different script.	Scripts live in projects, not in the editor.
Export PDF	A properly formatted screenplay PDF.	WALT draws its own pages so the browser can't put its own headers in your margins.
Export Word (.doc)	A Word document.	For notes from people who mark up in Word.
Export Fountain	Plain-text screenplay format.	Opens in almost anything, and stays readable in fifty years.
Export Final Draft (.fdx)	Structured Final Draft file.	For a collaborator who works in Final Draft. Every element keeps its tag.
Print	Prints the script. ⌘P	Same pagination as the PDF and the editor — one page count everywhere.

Script — the Edit menu

Load Screenplay…	Imports a file into this screenplay.	PDF, Word or text. WALT tags the elements as it reads.
Undo / Redo	⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z	Snapshot-based, so it survives page breaks and formatting changes.
Cut / Copy / Paste	⌘X ⌘C ⌘V	Paste keeps the element tags of what you copied.
Find & Replace…	A bar at the top, not a box in the way. ⌘F	Match case, whole word, replace all.
Clean Up Character Names…	Finds cues that are the same person spelled differently.	DR GRAVES and DOCTOR are one man. Left alone, they become two records, two seeds and two faces.
Dual Dialogue	Two speeches side by side. ⌘D	For people talking over each other.
Bold / Italic / UPPERCASE / lowercase / Underline	Formatting, same as the toolbar.	Here so the menu is complete and every action has a key.

The one rule for a writer: tag every line correctly and the rest of the studio builds itself. Everything downstream — characters, props, locations, scene folders, cast, budget — is read from those tags.

Story Database — the top bar

Button	What it does	Why it's there
Search	Finds any item in the database.	With chips for the common searches. 500 rows is too many to scroll.
Sort	Switches between biggest-parts-first and A–Z.	Rank order tells you who matters; alphabetical tells you where things are.
Re-run the Story Engine	Reads the screenplay again and rebuilds the breakdown.	Safe on a curated bible. It clears only rows still Required with no artwork. Anything with a sheet, reference art, progress past Required, or in the [X] folder is kept.
Import bible	Drag in finished sheets from a hand-built bible.	WALT matches them to the rows and turns them green. You do not retype a bible you already own.
Describe from script	WALT reads how the screenplay portrays each un-described character and writes a description.	The from-scratch path — no artwork needed to start.
Draft prompts	Writes the render prompt for every asset that has a description but no prompt.	Rule #2 — never ask the user to do work the software can do.
Make masters	For every asset with a model sheet but no clean master, renders one full-body hero master.	Shows the cost before it spends anything.
Style Guard	Loads every master in a drawer side by side; you check the ones that are off-style and redo just those in the locked house style.	Consistency across hundreds of assets. Nothing changes until you approve each result.
Render costs	Real shared spend — total, today, by project and by person.	Counts every render across every browser, so the number is the truth.
Export	Downloads the database as a spreadsheet.	For anyone who wants it outside WALT.
Backup folder / Restore	Points WALT at a folder, or puts a backup back.	Restore saves a copy of what is here before it writes, and only writes what the file holds. Nothing you have done since is deleted.

Story Database — a row, left to right

ON / OFF	Whether this item counts.	Off never deletes. It just drops out of the totals.
Status	Required → Prompt drafted → Generated → Complete → Locked.	A progress readout, not a row of buttons. WALT sets the first three itself as it works. The only human decision is Complete — the "yes, that's him" on finished art — and Complete locks the whole sheet set at once.
💬 Prompt	Opens the full prompt in Prompt Master.	The prompt, the description and the scrapbook are three windows on one field.
◱ Sheet	Opens this item's bible sheet.	The turnaround and views built from the approved master.
⧉ Versions	Every master this row has ever had.	Nothing is thrown away. On a locked row this is the only door back in — ⤒ Reload master, which confirms, names the lock and keeps the outgoing image.
✂ Crop	Cuts the hero view out of the bible sheet and uses it as the master.	Free — no render, nothing spent, and it is art you already approved. The sheet is not changed.
⌖ Camera rig	Eight positions around a room at three heights — 24 ways in, with the move built in.	Locations only. North is the view the location art already shows.
Story Lab	Drop or paste reference images for this asset.	Reference is not the Bible. These inform the render; they are never the approved art.
⧉ Duplicate	Copies the row.	A rank is a variant — Captain Callahan needs his own sheet, not a note on the sergeant's.
✕ Delete	Removes the row.	Recoverable — see Restore all in the deleted list. Delete forever is the separate, final one.

Story Database — the review banner (Story Engine proposals)

✓ Approve these	Accepts the proposals in this drawer.	Approval is what puts a row on the bottom rung of the ladder. Until then it is invisible to every downstream stage.
✓ Approve all	Accepts every proposal at once.	For when the engine got a whole pass right.
✕ (on a proposal)	Drops that one proposal.	A false positive costs one click. A missed character is a hole you don't find until scene 400 — which is why the engine casts a wide net on purpose.
Discard proposals	Clears all pending proposals.	Removes proposals only. It can never touch a real row.
↺ Restore all	Brings back proposals you dropped.	Nothing in WALT is destroyed by a click.

Story Database — name grouping

Three different relationships hide in one surname, and only a showrunner can tell them apart.

Same man · different look	Links the rows as variants.	GSGT Callahan and Captain Callahan are one man in two uniforms — and two sheets. Both rows must live, or Scene Builder packs the wrong uniform.
Same man · written twice	Folds them into one row.	DOCTOR and DR GRAVES. Two rows here means two seeds and two faces for one man.
Different men · done	Leaves them separate.	Seaman Callahan is the sergeant's son. In episode 5 the cue is bare CALLAHAN and both are in it — no engine will ever resolve that.
↺ Undo	Reverses the last grouping operation.	Every operation records how to reverse itself. Folding hides a row, it never deletes it.
✓ Finalize grouping	Locks the decisions in.	Then Unlock to correct if you were wrong. Re-open all starts the pass again.

A — Animation

BuiltStage 3

The Character Bible is where a database row becomes production art. Nothing here invents a style — the look comes from the locked project style, and if it can't be reached, WALT refuses to render rather than substituting its own.

The order of work

Pick the character. The row comes from the Story Database, with its description and prompt already written.
Choose a look. WALT offers looks in the locked house style; you pick, or compare two engines side by side.
Get the master. One clean full-body hero image. This is the character.
Build the sheet. The turnaround and views, built from the approved master — never re-invented.
Save to Bible and Lock. This is the step that puts it where the render engines can reach it.

Every button

Button	What it does	Why it's there
🎨 Character Sheets	Opens the sheet view for this project.	The board of everyone who has art.
＋ Reference Image	Adds a reference for this character.	Reference guides a render. It is never the approved art — imported Character Sheets are reference only, and are never locked as Bible art.
＋ this character's prompt	Adds this character's own prompt to the render.	What makes him him.
＋ the master prompt (all)	Adds the production-wide prompt.	What makes the whole film look like one film.
⚖ Compare Gemini vs ChatGPT	Renders the same thing on both engines, side by side.	ChatGPT is the default for all solo image creation, but the choice is always yours. Changing the default is a canon decision; removing the choice is never allowed.
✓ Use [this one]	Picks that result.	You choose the picture. WALT does the labour.
✕ Close comparison	Closes the side-by-side.	Nothing is chosen by closing.
Continue →	Moves to the next step of the build.	The build is a fixed order so it comes out the same every time.
→ Build sheet / Build sheet ›	Builds the model sheet from the approved master.	The sheet is derived from art you already approved — the master is used, never remade.
Complete the Sheet →	Fills in the remaining views.	Hands in the approved master and returns it verbatim. It does not re-render your character.
↻ Re-render sheet with notes	Rebuilds the sheet with your written notes applied.	"Shorter coat, same face." The master is untouched.
↻ Try the sheet again / Try again	Another attempt at the same step.	Each attempt is a new file. A render is never written over.
‹ Back to looks / ‹ Choose another look	Steps back to the look choice.	Going back costs nothing and loses nothing.
↻ Replace master	Puts a different image in as the master.	On an unlocked row. On a locked row this is impossible by design — see below.
⤴ Upscale master → 4K	Takes the approved master to 4K.	Approved art is upscaled, never re-rendered. Re-rendering gives you a different character.
⤴ Restore 4K masters	Re-links 4K masters held in studio storage.	The files were always safe; this repairs the pointer to them.
⤴ Re-lift master (imports only)	Re-extracts the master from an imported sheet.	Only for bibles that came in from outside.
↺ Keep as Character	Keeps this item filed as a character.	When WALT has guessed it is a prop or a creature and it isn't.
Save to Bible ✓	Writes the sheet and its frames onto the record.	This is the step that makes it real. Renders reach the database and the engines only through Save to Bible & Lock — until then they are on screen and nowhere else.
Lock ✓	Marks the sheet Complete and Locked.	Complete auto-locks the whole sheet set, including every variant linked to the same identity.
⤓ Export sheet	Downloads the sheet.	The image file is the deliverable. The HTML sheet is a derived reference.
Recharge →	Goes to the render balance.	Appears when there isn't enough balance to finish.
Clear	Empties the current field.	Local to the box you are in.
‹ Back to Dashboard / ‹ Back to Character Bible	Leaves without choosing.	Nothing is saved by leaving.

A locked master is concrete. Once a row is Complete/Locked, no render, no batch, no import and no restyle can write over its master. An incoming image is filed as an alternate instead. The only door is ⤒ Reload master in the versions picker — it confirms, names the lock, says what it will replace, and keeps the outgoing image so it is reversible.

L — Layout

Being finishedStages 4–6

This is where a scene is actually made. Eight screens; the per-button pages come once the section settles.

Screen	What it is for	State
Active Window	See what you are making: the location in frame, the camera on it, who is on stage, how it is lit, and the shots it breaks into.	Built in additive passes — nothing else is retired while it grows.
Scene Builder	Pick a scene; every asset traced to it arrives from the Story Database, each by its Bible sheet. The checklist you clear before storyboarding.	Built.
Sequence Engine	Describe a scene in one line; WALT splits it into opening, middle and end frame prompts that inherit the style and continue from each other. Then renders.	Built. This is where clips actually render.
Sync Engine	Build a musical number against the real track. The music comes first and everything answers to it.	Built. The track is never trimmed or altered.
Shot Builder	The shot list. One row per shot with every property as a menu — size, angle, move, lens — routed to the engine that shoots it best.	Built.
Motion Engine	Film a performance and give it to a character. One character per pass.	Built.
Storyboard	The whole film as boards, so a scene can be handed to one person.	Built.
Scene	Script breakdown and scene folders.	Labelled "Legacy manual scene tools" on the page itself. Superseded by Scene Builder.

T — Toolkit

Not yet wiredStage 8

Finishing and delivery. These screens exist and say so on the page.

Compositing	Thread approved shots together — last frame of one becomes the start frame of the next — and layer effects, titles and audio.	"Coming next in the build."
Upscaling	Take approved clips to final delivery resolution before assembly.	"Coming next in the build." Single-image upscaling to 4K does work today, inside the Character Bible.
Final Film	Approved clips, stills, audio, prompts and metadata, exported clean.	The screen is laid out; the export button has no code behind it yet.

What this means today: finishing still happens in Premiere or After Effects. Everything up to the approved clip is WALT's; assembling them is not, yet.

Team & Admin

Built

Screen	What it does	Why it's there
Cast	Holds the people who voice the film and which character each one plays. The roster is built, not typed — one unit per identity, weighted by the dialogue the Story Engine already counted.	You cast a person, not a uniform. Cast Callahan once and both his sheets are covered. Tiers come from word count so nobody counts lines by hand.
Team Brief	The one-page brief everyone works from.	So a new person can read one page instead of asking six questions.
Admin Setup	Production identity, prompt library, asset intake, safety checks.	Set once per production.
Recharge	Top up the render balance; check each engine's connection.	A render that fails for balance says so here.
Engine Watch	Checks every model WALT talks to against what the vendor publishes today.	Applies nothing. A protocol update must never change the look of a project that didn't ask for it — each project is pinned to a pack date, so scene 4 matches scene 400 forever.
Settings	Your account, your studio, who's on the team, who's online.	Where a new person is added.

Every button listed here was read out of the shipped code on 2026-09-07 — index.html, writer-file.js, writer-edit.js, story-database.js, style-bible-frame.js and the module files named above. Where a screen is marked not wired, it means the panel contains no code behind its controls — checked, not assumed. L and T get the same button-by-button treatment once those sections settle.