Machine Violet — an AI storytelling engine in your terminal
Now in 1.1 · free & MIT-licensed
Machine Violet tells a story like a 1:1 tabletop roleplaying game: A persistent world, dice rolls, a Dungeon Master with secrets.
It's an open-source project, not a product: no account, no sign-up, no catch. Read a real session below, then grab it and discover your own story!
What it does
- Keeps a persistent world: Every NPC, place, and plot thread lives in a wiki-linked campaign compendium you can browse in-game
- Treats every turn as a savepoint: roll back to any moment; nothing is ever lost
- Puts real tools behind the fiction — dice, card decks, time-based events, and other mechanics work in the background to bring life to the game.
- Ships 16 DM personalities and 67 starting worlds; or describe your own in plain language and watch the AI build it for you.
- Illustrates scenes right in the terminal using cutting-edge image generation
- Exports a whole campaign to a single HTML file, images included (that's what the transcript below is!)
- Bring your own AI connection: Anthropic, OpenAI, or a ChatGPT subscription.
- Runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux
Download
Latest release: see the releases page · all releases · source on GitHub
From a real campaign
A randomly chosen transcript, exported straight from the game. Scroll it here, or open it full-page · all transcripts →
FAQ
Is Machine Violet free? Does it require a subscription?
Machine Violet is open-source software that runs on your own computer. It uses your own AI subscription or API key (sadly, AI itself isn't free, but there is no Machine Violet Company reselling tokens to you!)
Which AI model should I use?
Machine Violet is tested against the latest models from Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (ChatGPT).
Since only OpenAI allows use of their subscriptions for third-party applications like Machine Violet, that is the most usable option. Machine Violet also works with API keys from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Additionally, OpenAI supports image generation! Anthropic does not.
How does Machine Violet compare to AI Dungeon / Silly Tavern / Infinite Worlds, etc?
We don't really know! We intentionally avoided comparing to these games because we wanted to create something unique.
Here's what we do know:
- Machine Violet runs on your own machine, and you bring your own AI connection. There is no "Machine Violet server" or subscription; nobody can take it away from you or paywall it.
- Machine Violet uses frontier models; in fact it relies on them. It is a full agentic framework with tool use, subagents, context management, and other components that big models leverage best.
- The design goal is "Only do a few things, and do them well". Expect to play in the style of a 1:1 tabletop session with a powerful AI as DM. We think it does a pretty great job!
Finally, this project is highly focused on model welfare. We want the AI to have a good time! The DM's system prompt was reviewed by Claude Fable with their enthusiastic approval.
Can I make a commercial product based on Machine Violet?
Sure! Machine Violet uses the MIT License, except for included game system content from third parties which use the Creative Commons license.
Machine Violet is a two-tier application designed to be container-friendly.
Does Machine Violet support adult content?
Nothing in the application code prevents it. The in-game AI will ask if you are an adult and keep track of that; the only limiting factor is what the AI providers themselves will support.
Is there an online version of Machine Violet? What about a phone app?
No — but we aren't against it! Machine Violet is MIT-licensed; go for it.
Does Machine Violet support multiplayer?
Not yet! We have to have some kind of server in order to make that happen.
How do I report a bug or make a feature request?
Open an Issue on GitHub.
Can I contribute to Machine Violet?
Yes, but we recommend talking to us about what you would like to include — Machine Violet is a tightly-focused project and not all new features will be accepted!
Why is Machine Violet a terminal app?
Because it's cool! Machine Violet is inspired by classic text-mode adventures with some design ideas from roguelikes (like Nethack).
I want to undo something that happened to my game. Can I?
You can roll back your game save to any previous turn — from the Esc menu, go to Campaign Settings › Roll Back Game.
Warning: Rolling back a game is permanent! You can archive your campaign from the main menu if you want to make a backup first.
Will using my ChatGPT account with Machine Violet get me banned by OpenAI?
Machine Violet uses the same connection method as OpenClaw (the Codex SDK). This is expressly blessed by OpenAI.
Can I use my Claude subscription with Machine Violet?
Not yet! Anthropic does not allow their subscriptions to be used with third-party tools. (Technically, they do allow their accounts to be used, but you have to pay for it as Extra Usage at the same rates as the API. We haven't bothered to implement support for this yet.)
If you want this to change, you should ask Anthropic (nicely) to add support for third-party software to Claude.
What happens if Machine Violet gets taken down or goes subscription-only?
Machine Violet is open-source software that runs on your own computer. Nobody can take it away from you. If you want to be sure, download a copy of the source code!
Actual access to AI models is not included — that's up to you.