Discussion

Revise is an AI editor foryour documents

artursapek: I started building this 10 months ago, largely using agentic coding tools. I've stayed very involved in the code base and architecture, and have never moved faster in my life as a dev.The word processor engine and rendering layer are all built from scratch - the only 3rd party library I used was the excellent Y.js for the CRDT stack.Would love some feedback!

tyleo: This looks wonderful!I do a decent amount of writing on my blog and for work so I was thinking, "why doesn't this product appeal to me?"I think I'm hesitant to spent yet another monthly subscription on something. I get decent mileage just copying and pasting sections into Claude so it's hard to justify another $8 a month on another tool.I also do a decent amount of my editing in raw markdown files and apply styling almost as a post-process. Part of the problem is that I'm always pasting documents into corporate portals (Confluence, Wiki's, Google Docs) and they don't always copy formatting in the way I'd expect. So I just write raw text and format it after paste.

artursapek: Thanks for the feedback. The pitch with Revise is it's a fully integrated agent inside a word processor. The "copy and paste between ChatGPT and docs" is the workflow I set out to improve on a la PG's "find something people are doing and figure out a way to do it that doesn't suck." I think you'd find it's a much better user experience, especially when you're iterating a lot on something.I get that subscriptions turn some people off, and I'm open to other ideas of how to make a project like this financially sustainable. I don't want to do ads :)

tyleo: Can this be integrated inside of something like Google Docs or Microsoft Word? Or is that more of an aspiration at this point? The vibe I got from the landing page was that it's a standalone app.

artursapek: Not without having control over those products and their source code, which is why I built an alternative. From my testing, the Revise agent is more capable than Gemini+Docs and Copilot are right now.

rvz: This would really work well for teams. Are there any limits into how many people can collaborate on Revise?

artursapek: No enforced limits right now, but HN might find the performance bounds of my backend today. I am planning to add team/org accounts soon!

wellsjohnston: Wonderful product :)

washbasin: Er, is right click disabled on this page? Certainly seems to be in any browser I pick. If so, why?

lapalapa: Looks nice, very nice.Why don't you use your local open source llm, without the interaction of big models? I mean, more work, but you don't need to pay your cut to them. Just asking.

artursapek: Yes, an eventual goal is to let Revise use a local LLM.

the__alchemist: Anecdote from a frustrated typer. There are no good word processors. MS office and Libre/open-whatever-they-call-it-now-office are bloated mess. I did a deep dive on this a few months ago, and there are 0 light/good options. There are a few that show up in google searches, but they are all disappointing in one way or another.So, thoughts on a non-AI lightweight word processor.

shivenjoshi: AbiWordhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord

artursapek: Revise is that, actually. It's a free, lightweight, fast word processor at its core. It also has real-time collaboration, also free. You don't need to use the AI features.It even supports code blocks, LaTeX, and Mermaid diagrams.Also, the passive spelling/grammar checking in the editor is powered by LLMs and completely free. It will catch mistakes that other word processors won't, such as malapropisms.

nubg: What exactly would the perfect tool look like?

the__alchemist: Ty; will check it out. That wasn't one of the one I looked at.

codethief: What features would you expect from a good word processor? What features should it leave out, i.e. features make MS Office / OpenOffice / LibreOffice a bloated mess?

the__alchemist: Start fast (maybe <100ms), respond instantly, good UX.

dbacar: I am not a defender of Word (2024) but it starts in 1-2 seconds in my laptop.Actually the speed is a problem when you have hundreds of pages with track changes and comments.Maybe you should check Wordperfect or WordStar ;)

tomtomistaken: How do you make sure the LLM catches and reports all grammar mistakes if I ask for it?

artursapek: I've built an agent loop that has a self-review step, and it's pretty good at catching mistakes. It's able to scan the document in chunks and use tools to surgically change small parts.

shivenjoshi: It is absolutely crazy to me that this is criteria. Office 2003 checked those boxes in that era. This was a solved thing that somehow warrants further deliberation now. I believe it is The Great Moore's Law Compensator.