How it works
How First Mate works.
Five steps, from the first typo to the last beta reader. Everything up to step five happens on your device.
Step 1
Write. The page stays quiet.
Draft the way you always do. The only thing that changes while you type is an obvious slip like teh, fixed with a chip and an Undo. No red lines, no pop-ups over the text, unless you switch marks on.
Undo a fix and First Mate never touches that word again in this book.
Step 2
Run a pass when you’re ready.
Open First Mate with the button, the pelican in the dock, or Ctrl/⌘ Shift K. Pick this chapter, a run of chapters or the whole book, and work through it one pass at a time: spelling and typos, grammar, consistency, style, fiction craft, dialogue, then AI proofread.
About 120,000 words are reviewed in about 5 seconds the first time. Each card shows the sentence, a before and after, and one line saying why.
- ↓ ↑next / previous card
- Enteraccept
- Iignore
- Nintentional
- Kkeep the passage
- Ffix everywhere
- Escback to the page
- Spelling and typos6 of 6
- Grammar3 of 11
- Consistency0 of 4
- Style0 of 18
- Fiction craft0 of 7
- Dialogue0 of 5
- AI proofreadwith your AI
GrammarChapter 3
The gulls circled and there their cries carried over the harbour.
Use “their” for something that belongs to them.
Step 3
Decide once. It stays decided.
Accept, Fix everywhere, Word is fine, Ignore, Intentional with a note, Keep this passage as is, or turn the rule off in this book. Whatever you choose goes in the Captain’s Log and is remembered for good. Nearby edits don’t bring a flag back.
Rewrite the flagged words themselves and the entry shows as stale, with a button to clear it.
Captain’s LogFirst Mate remembers 42 decisions in this book.
- Ignored here“sea-plane”Chapter 4 · hyphenation
- Intentional“Silence. Then the bell.”Chapter 7 · fragment · “on purpose, it’s the cliffhanger”
- Kept as isThe letter from Ruth’s motherChapter 12 · no check touches it
- Rule off in this bookLong sentencesWhole book
- Word is fine“Caloosa”Added to the book’s dictionary
- Never auto-fix“Ruthe”You pressed Undo in chapter 2
Step 4
Read the reports.
Reading grade, average sentence, dialogue share, sentence variety, a sentence-length chart, pacing by chapter, the five senses, dialogue tags, overused words and repeated three-word phrases. Each one compared with your book’s own average, for a chapter or the whole book, on your device.
Reading grade
Average sentence
Dialogue share
Sentence variety
Sentence-length chart
Pacing by chapter
Step 5, optional
Bring your own AI, if you like.
Connect the AI you already use and First Mate can proofread (three reads, only agreed fixes shown), critique this chapter (strengths and problems tied to exact quotes) and ask the beta readers (four readers, a reader map).
Before anything is sent, First Mate shows exactly what will go, and nothing goes until you press Send. You pay your AI company directly, by the request. See what each request costs.
About to send
- Chapter 74,210 words
- Source of Truth12 entries named in this chapter
- Captain’s Log3 decisions that apply here
- Reads3 (Careful mode: 5)
SendCancel
Where it runs
Aboard today, standalone soon.
Today
Inside Salt of the Page
First Mate ships with Salt of the Page 6.0 on Mac, Windows, Linux and the web. Open it with the First Mate button, the pelican in the dock, or Ctrl/⌘ Shift K. Everything is included for anyone who owns the app.
First Mate inside Salt of the PageComing soon
A standalone First Mate
Placeholder: say here whether the standalone edition is a browser extension, a desktop app, a paste-in web editor or a Word and Google Docs add-on, and when it lands.
Tell us which you’d useFive steps. One pelican.
Run First Mate on the whole book as often as you like. No credits, no limits.