What is Twine used for?

Twine is an open-source tool for creating interactive, nonlinear stories that can be published directly to HTML without coding, but supports variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript. It is a good fit for telling interactive, nonlinear stories; and publishing stories to the web.

Is Twine open source?

Yes. Twine is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at tweecode/twine and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Twine is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host Twine?

Yes. Twine can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Twine an alternative to?

Twine is an open-source alternative to GameMaker. Other open-source alternatives to GameMaker include Godot, GDevelop and Renpy.

Is Twine actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Twine was on 31 March 2022, and the latest release is v1.4.3, published on 1 January 2022. The project has 679 stars on GitHub.

Twine: open-source alternative to GameMaker

About Twine

Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories. It allows users to create simple stories without writing code, and can be extended with variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript. Twine publishes directly to HTML, so stories can be posted nearly anywhere, and anything created with it is free to use in any way, including for commercial purposes.

Twine is available as a desktop app and in a browser. The latest version is 2.12.1, released 6 October 2026. It includes built-in story formats such as Chapbook, Harlowe, Snowman, and SugarCube, each with online guides. The Twine Reference provides a guide to the user interface, and the Twine Cookbook offers advice on choosing a story format and examples of common tasks.

Key features

Create interactive, nonlinear stories without writing code
Extend stories with variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript
Publish directly to HTML
Available as a desktop app and in a browser
Built-in story formats: Chapbook, Harlowe, Snowman, SugarCube
Free to use for any purpose, including commercial

Good fit for

Telling interactive, nonlinear stories
Publishing stories to the web

Built with: Python tools
Tags: interactive fiction; nonlinear stories; hypertext; open-source; storytelling

Twine: questions and answers

What is Twine used for?: Twine is an open-source tool for creating interactive, nonlinear stories that can be published directly to HTML without coding, but supports variables, conditional logic, images, CSS, and JavaScript. It is a good fit for telling interactive, nonlinear stories; and publishing stories to the web.
Is Twine open source?: Yes. Twine is open source. Its source code is on GitHub at tweecode/twine and is written mainly in Python.
Is Twine free?: Yes. Twine is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host Twine?: Yes. Twine can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Twine an alternative to?: Twine is an open-source alternative to GameMaker. Other open-source alternatives to GameMaker include Godot, GDevelop and Renpy.
Is Twine actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Twine was on 31 March 2022, and the latest release is v1.4.3, published on 1 January 2022. The project has 679 stars on GitHub.