Prose

The markdown editor for the agentic era.

Prose is a minimal, distraction-free markdown editor for macOS. Think iA Writer meets Cursor: focus-first writing with an integrated AI chat sidebar, inline diff review, and an MCP server that lets Claude Desktop read and edit your active document directly.

Your files stay as plain .md. Your API keys stay yours. Your writing stays yours.

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Features

Editor

• Distraction-free TipTap editor with full markdown serialization
• YAML frontmatter support — parsed and preserved, never rendered
• Autosave with debounce
• Light and dark mode
• Standard markdown keyboard shortcuts

AI

• Integrated chat sidebar — bring your own Anthropic API key
• Add selected text or full document as chat context
• Inline diff review: AI suggestions shown as tracked changes, accept or reject individually
• API keys encrypted via Electron safeStorage (macOS Keychain, Windows DPAPI, or Linux libsecret)

MCP Server

• Prose ships an MCP server
• Connect Claude Desktop once; Claude can then open, read, and edit your active document without leaving your workflow
• Available tools: read_document, suggest_edit, open_file, create_and_open_file, get_outline

Sync

• reMarkable tablet sync via rmapi-js — handwritten notes → markdown via OCR
• Google Docs sync planned for v1.1

Philosophy

• Local-first — No required internet. Write on a plane, in a cabin, when the API is down. Your editor works when you do.
• Plain files — .md documents openable anywhere. They'll outlast this app.
• Open source — Read every line, fork it, build on it. MIT licensed. Prose exists to be useful — not to manufacture dependency.

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Getting Started

Free to build on. Beautiful on Mac.

Download

Mac App Store → — sandboxed, auto-updates, Keychain credential storage

GitHub Releases → — direct download, free

Build from source

Requires Node.js 20+.

git clone https://github.com/solo-ist/prose
cd prose
npm install
npm run dev

To build a distributable:

npm run build:mac

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Configuration

Prose stores settings at ~/.prose/settings.json (and uses macOS Keychain via Electron safeStorage for API credentials).

{
  "theme": "dark",
  "llm": {
    "provider": "anthropic",
    "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514"
  },
  "editor": {
    "fontSize": 16,
    "lineHeight": 1.65,
    "fontFamily": "iA Writer Mono, monospace"
  }
}

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MCP Server

Your editor has an API now.

Point Claude Desktop at Prose and your editor becomes an agent-accessible workspace — Claude can read your document, suggest edits, and apply them without a single copy-paste. To connect:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prose": {
      "command": "prose-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Available tools

Tool	Description
read_document	Returns the full markdown content of the active document
get_outline	Returns heading structure and node IDs
suggest_edit	Applies an edit to a specific node by ID
open_file	Opens a file by path
create_and_open_file	Creates a new .md file and opens it

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Toggle AI chat	⌘⇧L
Add selection to chat	⌘⇧K
Send message	⌘↵
Toggle source view	⌘⇧Y
Toggle file list	⌘⇧N
Accept all diffs	⌘⇧A
Copy markdown	⌘⇧T
Open file	⌘O
Save	⌘S
Settings	⌘,

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Stack

Layer	Technology
Desktop shell	Electron
Renderer	React + TypeScript
Editor	TipTap + ProseMirror
UI	Tailwind CSS + ShadCN/ui
LLM abstraction	Vercel AI SDK
reMarkable sync	rmapi-js
Packaging	electron-builder
Build tool	electron-vite

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Distribution

Prose ships two builds from one codebase:

Mac App Store — sandboxed, macOS Keychain for credentials, Apple's update mechanism, IS_MAS_BUILD flag excludes OSS-only features.

OSS / Direct — GitHub releases, electron-updater for auto-updates, full feature set including system audio capture (planned).

App Store: $0.99 · GitHub Release: Free · Source: MIT

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Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. For large changes, please open an issue first to discuss.

Commits generally follow Conventional Commits style.

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Roadmap

• Core markdown editor
• AI chat sidebar with BYOK
• Inline diff review
• MCP server
• reMarkable sync
• Google Docs sync (v1.1)
• Audio transcription (Phase 1: cloud + mic)
• Vector context for large documents
• Authorship annotations (human vs AI)

See open issues and the project board for current priorities.

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License

MIT — do whatever you want with it.

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Prose is part of solo.ist — tools for the personal software era.