Show HN: Revise – An AI Editor for Documents

3/22/2026 at 6:14:28 PM

This looks really nice! Congratulations on building something awesome, especially in a space that's "crowded" with the big players.

I want to give kudos to two things:

1. It took you 10 months to build this. This is focused product development and craftsmanship which is very different from Vibe coding something. So let this be a reminder to all the "I can vibe code this or that in a weekend". Good products / experiences take time.

2. You've pursued building something in a space that anyone would normally dismiss right away: "Why would anyone use this? Google Docs/ Word etc already does this" or "MSFT / GOOG will destroy you". Good on you for picking something that is hard and building it well. I actually had this idea and almost built it but dismissed it myself for the same reasons as above. So reminder again for the builders in the back: Doesn't matter if there is a 800lb gorilla building this, if you can execute it better go for it.

Kudos!

by arrsingh

3/22/2026 at 6:58:43 PM

Thanks, that's nice. Yeah it's been 10 months, and 7 of them completely full time... living off savings. I think there's plenty of room for innovation with word processors now that we have LLMs and the big players are unlikely to go far outside the box.

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 6:26:31 PM

I'm building a similar project, and I may open-source it. I'm using OnlyOffice and a coding agent that modifies the files with Python libraries in a sandbox (e.g. python-pptx for PowerPoint files).

Have you also considered using a solution like OnlyOffice for your product? Or a "Notion-like" lib such as Tiptap or PlateJS?

by patate007

3/22/2026 at 7:07:34 PM

I definitely looked at TipTap and ended up building off their Y.js backend, which is great: https://tiptap.dev/docs/hocuspocus/getting-started/overview

I wanted to build something canvas-based, so that eliminated most of these options. I also just wanted full control of that part of my stack... it's the core product after all. There are several TipTap/ProseMirror wrappers out there already.

You should share yours though, would be interested to see

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 7:10:39 PM

Subsciption and Online means not for me

by Surac

3/22/2026 at 2:51:46 PM

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

by washbasin

3/22/2026 at 2:59:34 PM

Unintended, thanks. fixed

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 2:57:39 PM

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.

by the__alchemist

3/22/2026 at 3:50:01 PM

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 ;)

by dbacar

3/22/2026 at 3:05:15 PM

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?

by codethief

3/22/2026 at 3:33:44 PM

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

by the__alchemist

3/22/2026 at 3:48:49 PM

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.

by shivenjoshi

3/22/2026 at 3:03:31 PM

AbiWord

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbiWord

by shivenjoshi

3/22/2026 at 3:37:53 PM

Ty. I looked at that, and unfortunately cannot recall why I rejected it.

by the__alchemist

3/22/2026 at 3:03:27 PM

What exactly would the perfect tool look like?

by nubg

3/22/2026 at 3:36:58 PM

Perfect isn't the goal. But something on the tier of KiCad, Blender, Zed, Sublime, etc.

by the__alchemist

3/22/2026 at 3:03:30 PM

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.

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 3:34:20 PM

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

Edit: Ah I see, from the OP. Unfortunately, I think Subscription-based, web-app, and vibe-coded would individually be deal breakers. Combined indicates it's not the sort of tool I seek.

by the__alchemist

3/22/2026 at 3:44:40 PM

lol, ok bro

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 7:10:27 PM

Thanks for the feedback. It seems my post got flag-bombed at some point. I can't reply to takahitoyoneda anvevoice techpulse_x or Remi_Etien. feel free to email me art@art.cx

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 3:16:11 PM

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

by tomtomistaken

3/22/2026 at 3:49:43 PM

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.

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 1:52:58 PM

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.

by tyleo

3/22/2026 at 2:00:25 PM

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 :)

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 2:04:37 PM

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.

by tyleo

3/22/2026 at 2:06:54 PM

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.

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 2:19:19 PM

Wonderful product :)

by wellsjohnston

3/22/2026 at 2:25:01 PM

Looks really cool!

by bartlomein

3/22/2026 at 2:21:19 PM

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

by rvz

3/22/2026 at 2:23:18 PM

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!

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 2:48:26 PM

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.

by lapalapa

3/22/2026 at 3:04:05 PM

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

by artursapek

3/22/2026 at 6:55:29 PM

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by takahitoyoneda

3/22/2026 at 5:47:22 PM

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by anvevoice

3/22/2026 at 6:01:44 PM

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by Remi_Etien

3/22/2026 at 3:01:03 PM

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by techpulse_x