Write the cue
where the idea
happens.

Secuens is a shared notation, plain text, open standard, that lets everyone in the production work the same way across roles, tools, and disciplines.

0.9.1 Public Draft CC BY-ND 4.0

Write it the way
you think it.

It lives in your mind first.
Then in the margin, in a note, in an email...

Secuens is just a shared way to write it.
Plain text, in the script itself, in whatever tool you already use.

How Secuens
writes the cue.

LX (cue 5) on "Places" [fade=3s] : Stage wash up

Margin note

Secuens

Smoke, when she enters.

SQ (cue 5) on "she enters": Smoke effect

Lightning. Fast.

LX (cue 3) [fade=0.5s]: Lightning flash

That metallic sound.

SQ (cue 6) [file="metal.wav"]: Metallic impact

Camera close, on her eyes.

CAMERA (shot 4) [frame=CU, lens=85mm]: ECU — her eyes

Music swells here.

MQ (cue 8) [fade=4s, level=100%]: Theme swells to full

theatre_scene.secuens

INT. STAGE - NIGHT

The doors open. The orchestra swells from the pit.

LX (cue 12) on "The doors open" [fade=3s, intensity=80%]: Fade up to full stage wash
SQ (cue 5) with door slam [file="thunder.wav", level=90%]: Thunder rumble

ANNA steps into the light, centre stage.

LX (cue 12a) after 2s: Tighten spot on Anna
SQ (cue 6) on "Juliet" [fade=1s]: Music swell out

She crosses downstage. The lights shift.

LX (cue 13) [fade=8s, intensity=40%]: Slow fade to cold blue
FLY (cue 4): Fly out upstage gauze
LX (cue 14) after 4s: Blackout

ballroom.secuens

INT. STAGE - THE BALLROOM - NIGHT

The band strikes up. Couples begin to fill the floor.

LX (cue 20) [fade=2s, intensity=full]: Warm amber wash, full stage
MQ (cue 8) [file="waltz.wav", level=85%]: Waltz begins — live band in
SQ (cue 9) with first chord: Crowd ambience under

ELEANOR and THOMAS move to centre. The crowd parts.

ELEANOR
          May I have this dance?

LX (cue 20a) on "dance" [fade=3s]: Isolate couple, drop surrounds to 30%
SPOT (cue 3) on "dance": Pick up Eleanor, centre stage

Thomas takes her hand. They begin to turn.

MQ (cue 8a) [fade=4s, level=100%]: Waltz swells to full
LX (cue 21) after 8s [fade=6s]: Slow fade, keep spot
SPOT (cue 3a) after 8s: Tighten to two-shot

rooftop.secuens

EXT. ROOFTOP - NIGHT

A city skyline. MARCO stands at the edge, back to us.

CAMERA (shot 14) [frame=WS, lens=35mm, movement=static]: Wide — Marco against skyline
LIGHT (setup 6) [type=key, angle=low, intensity=30%]: Practical streetlight, motivated left
SOUND (take 1) [source=boom]: Production dialogue — city ambience under

Marco turns. He sees her.

CAMERA (shot 14a) [frame=MCU, lens=50mm]: Push in on Marco's face
CAMERA (shot 15) [frame=POV, lens=35mm]: His POV — SARA across the roof

MARCO
          You came.

SOUND (take 2) [source=boom, prewait=0.5s]: Overlap — Sara's footsteps approach
CAMERA (shot 16) [frame=CU, lens=85mm, movement=handheld]: Close on Sara — slightly unstable

conference.secuens

INT. CONFERENCE HALL - DAY

The house lights are up. Delegates take their seats.

LX (cue 1) [fade=3s, intensity=60%]: Dim house to presentation level
VIDEO (cue 1) [source="opener.mp4", level=100%]: Play opening titles on main screen
AUDIO (cue 1) [file="intro_music.wav", level=75%, fade=2s]: Music under titles

The MC takes the stage.

LX (cue 2) on "Good morning" [fade=1s]: Bring up podium spot
VIDEO (cue 2) on "Good morning": Cut to live camera — wide stage
AUDIO (cue 2) [source="mic_podium", level=0dB]: Open podium mic

MC
          Good morning, and welcome.

GRAPHICS (cue 1) after 4s [duration=6s]: Lower third — MC name and title
VIDEO (cue 3) after 10s: Confidence monitor — presentation slides
LX (cue 3) after 10s [fade=4s, intensity=40%]: Drop house further for slides

For developers

Secuens is plain UTF-8 text. It sits naturally inside Fountain scripts, but the notation is tool-agnostic. Any parser can read it from any text source that contains it.

Write in whatever tool you already use: Final Draft, Word, Pages, Google Docs, any text editor. The notation travels with the text.

Plain text means you already have everything you need.

designed to be parsed

Secuens is designed to be parsed. The syntax is unambiguous, the spec is exhaustive, the format is stable enough to build on.

A compliant parser reads plain text and can output whatever the production needs. Cue sheets, prompt books, show control files, breakdowns. Any domain, any toolchain.

The specification is open and published on GitHub under CC BY-ND 4.0.

CUETYPE (label NUMBER) [TRIGGER] [metadata] : Desc

Pattern A — letter suffix

[0-9]+[a-zA-Z]* 1 · 5a · 23b · 5A

Standard numbering. Insert 5a between 5 and 6.

Pattern B — decimal insertion

[0-9]+\.[0-9]+ 1.5 · 5.5 · 10.5

Alternative insertion. Insert 5.5 between 5 and 6.

Pattern C — prefixed

[a-zA-Z]+[0-9]+[a-zA-Z0-9]* A5 · CA32 · LX1a

QLab groups, broadcast and cart workflows.

Built on Secuens

Secuens is an independent open standard, created and maintained by its author. The specification is open, freely implementable, and not tied to any product or platform.

Anyone can build on it. Commercial tools, open source parsers, integrations, plugins.

Read the spec, implement it, ship it.

Building a tool?

If you're building a tool, integration, or parser, we'd love to hear about it and help amplify your implementation.

Get Involved

Known implementations

QBook
First app built on Secuens by meikr, the team behind the format.
macOS onlyBetaInvite-only
Website