Arqo

co-founder · sole engineer · 2025–present · soft-launched Sep 2026

An AI screenwriting app whose AI analyzes your script and never writes it. Native iOS and macOS, Android, desktop and web.

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The Arqo ad, 30 seconds. Sound starts off; turn it on with the control on the slide.

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Impact

467monthly actives, month one
~150weekly actives
1,045on the waitlist
62writers who imported scripts

problem

Screenwriting tools are desktop-bound, closed-format and weak on mobile. Writers' rooms need real collaboration, and craft writers don't want a machine writing their scenes.

approach

A cross-platform native suite (iOS, macOS, Android, desktop and web) with the script as the single source of truth and AI as staff, not author. I build it solo, directing Claude Code agent fleets.

outcome

Soft-launched with no marketing: and in the first month, , and who moved an existing script in, with on the waitlist.

How it ships

One engineer, agent fleets. Every agent change clears the same gate.

4,700commits on the Arqo repo
  1. 01own worktreeeach agent works in an isolated git worktree, so parallel agents never collide
  2. 02pull requestevery change arrives as a PR, never a direct push
  3. 03verify renderuser-facing changes are screenshotted on a preview before anyone calls them done
  4. 04CItypecheck · row-level security · FDX conformance · golden PDFs · iOS build
  5. 05I mergenothing merges on an agent's word
commits per week, Arqo repohover or focus a week
Commits per week, Arqo repo
Week ofCommits
Apr 1337
Apr 20501
Apr 27183
May 4307
May 11238
May 18177
May 25307
Jun 1674
Jun 8209
Jun 15171
Jun 22145
Jun 29135
Jul 692
Jul 13131
Jul 2040
Jul 27101
Aug 36
Aug 1071
Aug 17255
Aug 2459
Aug 31206
Sep 796
Sep 14112
Sep 21183
Sep 28147
Oct 5117

How it's built

6 components · ← → to step through
  • U13 native editors, one speceditor
  • U2Yjs CRDT via Liveblockscollab
  • U3deterministic, shared paginatorpaginator
  • U4analysis, never ghostwritingAI staff
  • U5verified before mergeship gate
  • PWRthe stackstack
U1 · editor1 / 6

3 native editors, one spec

The script editor exists three times: ProseMirror on the web, TextKit on macOS, native on iOS. Instead of hoping they agree, one behavior spec (every keystroke, Tab/Enter cycle and page break) runs as a test suite against all three. The web editor started hand-rolled; after regressions I moved it to ProseMirror and wrote down why in an ADR.

receipt
executable behavior spec · ADR on the editor rewrite
bunty · my friend from back home · receipts keep him honest