Write in a rich editor. Edit with AI agents you already use. Everything stays on your Mac.
Compose is a local-first writing app that combines a rich markdown editor — where you see headings, bullets, and images instead of raw syntax — with AI assistants that read and rewrite your documents directly. No cloud account, no proprietary format: your files are plain .md in a folder you choose, editable in any other app.
The AI doesn't live in a separate window. It sees the document you're working on, edits it in place, and every change goes through a review step with full version history — so an AI edit is always one click from being undone.
Status: early alpha, macOS — Apple Silicon and Intel. Download below.
Most markdown editors bolt on a chatbot. Most AI writing tools lock you into their format. Compose is neither:
- Rich editor, plain files. You write in a clean visual view — headings render as headings, bullets as bullets, images inline — but the file on disk is always standard markdown. Switch to raw mode anytime. No lock-in, no export step.
- Your AI tools, not ours. Compose works with the agents you choose — Claude Code, Codex, bob, or a local model via Ollama. You pick the model, provider, and plan. Compose discovers what's on your system, and — because it bundles its own Node + uv runtime — can install an agent for you with nothing to set up first.
- AI edits your real files — safely. The assistant writes directly into your documents, but every edit is gated: review and accept/reject per file, or let edits apply with automatic snapshots for one-click undo. The AI can never quietly lose your work.
- Local-first, private by default. Your writing never leaves your device — no account, no sync, and your notes are never uploaded anywhere. The editor works fully offline; the AI uses whatever agent you've connected.
- Visual editor powered by CodeMirror 6 — headings, bold, italic, strikethrough, inline code, and block code render in place
- Bullet lists, ordered lists, task lists (checkboxes), tables, horizontal rules
- Inline images with drag-and-drop and paste support
- LaTeX math rendering (inline
$...$and block$$...$$) - Footnotes with inline preview
- YAML frontmatter preserved (never stripped, never corrupted)
- Toggle between Rich and Raw mode per document
- Autosave as you type — edits hit disk within ~1.5 seconds
- Live streaming chat — ask the AI to draft, rewrite, summarize, restructure, or answer questions about your writing
- Multi-agent support: Claude Code, Codex, bob, and local models via Ollama — auto-discovered on your system
- The assistant sees your full workspace — it follows
[[wiki-links]]between notes and understands your file structure - Cancel a run mid-stream, adjust model/effort/turn limits per session
- Tool and file-operation cards show exactly what the agent is doing
- Review mode: AI edits land in a sandbox — diff each file, accept or reject individually, then apply
- Direct mode: edits apply immediately with automatic version snapshots
- Stale-edit detection — if the source changed since the AI read it, the edit is flagged
- Full version history per file: browse past revisions, restore any version with one click
- Open any folder as a workspace — multi-workspace with tabs
- File tree with create, rename, move, and soft-delete (recoverable trash, 30-day retention)
- Full-text search powered by a Rust/WASM index — instant results across thousands of files
[[Wiki-links]]and backlinks — click to navigate in the editor or chat- Standard
[markdown links](./path.md)navigate between files (⌘-click in the editor)
- Select any passage and leave a comment — the composer anchors to your selection
- Turn a comment into an AI request: send it to the chat and the assistant responds
- Queue multiple comments to batch-send later
- Comments panel with open/resolved sections per file
- PDF — native macOS WebKit rendering, Computer Modern typeset, multi-page with images and tables
- HTML — self-contained single file with inlined images and print CSS
- Markdown — download the raw
.mdfile
Compose is in active development. Here's what's next:
- Code signing and notarization — signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple; installs with no Gatekeeper warning
- Auto-updater — ships updates that download and apply in the background
- Intel support — a universal build runs on any Mac; Apple Silicon gets a leaner arm64 download
- Canvas documents — a Mural/Miro-style infinite canvas with sticky notes, text, and images
- HTML documents — create and edit rich HTML alongside markdown
- Editor as a standalone package — the rich markdown editor extracted as
ai-editor(decoupled, builds todist/, npm-publishable) - Accessibility pass — VoiceOver, keyboard-only navigation, and IME support
- Cross-platform — Linux and Windows support via Tauri
Compose is signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple — it installs like any other Mac app, and updates itself after that.
- Download the latest
.dmgfrom the Releases page:- Apple Silicon (M1 or newer):
Compose_…_aarch64.dmg— the smaller download. - Any Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon):
Compose_…_universal.dmg.
- Apple Silicon (M1 or newer):
- Open it, drag Compose into your Applications folder, and double-click to launch.
New versions then download and apply in the background — no need to come back here.
Requirements: macOS, Apple Silicon or Intel. For the AI features you'll connect an agent — Claude Code, Codex, bob, or a local model via Ollama — and Compose's setup walks you through it (Node + uv ship inside the app, so there's nothing to install first).
pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev # the full desktop app (real filesystem + AI agent)
pnpm tauri build # a packaged .app / .dmgPrerequisites: Node.js + pnpm, Rust + the Tauri 2 prerequisites, and wasm-pack for the search index. Built with Tauri 2 (Rust + native WebView), React, TypeScript, CodeMirror 6, and Zustand.
MIT © Tosin Amuda