0.10Open spec · Public domain
Write it once.Share it many times.
ChartDown puts your whole band on the same page: the Nashville Number System in plain text, with the music director's cues for every player. Think Markdown, for band charts.
Every player hears the song differently.
One chart can answer all of them.
1Write
Plain text in. A band chart out.
2Read
Every player reads their part.
Showing the chart for
Write > MD drums: and only the drummer has to read it. A note with no instrument, > MD:, is for the whole band.
3Transpose
The key changes. The chart doesn't.
Reading it in
Numbers stay put when a different voice leads this Sunday. Each player picks the key when they read it. Need a lift for the last chorus? Write @key A.
4Build
Open, all the way down.
ChartDown is a specification, not one app's file format. Anyone can build a reader, an editor or a converter, and your charts stay plain text you own.
- 142conformance cases, one rule each, to check any parser
- CC0the spec, the guides and the examples are public domain
- EN·ESguides in English and Spanish, written side by side
npm i chartdownnode conformance/run.mjs ./my-adapter.mjsThe ChartDown parser for JavaScript is on npm. Building your own? Run every case in the suite with Node.js 18, nothing to install.
5Join
It's everyone's. Come play.
ChartDown grows with every band that uses it and every person who improves it.
- 1
Write a chart
Open the playground, paste your song and see how each player reads it. Nothing to install.
Open the playground - 2
Print it
Print each player's page, in their key and with only their notes. Or save it as a PDF.
Print a chart - 3
Propose a change
Does your band write something ChartDown can't say yet? Tell us. Every rule starts as a conversation.
Start a discussion