How it works Learns your voice Collection memory Local-first Download for macOS EN ZH

SmartWriter

Your writing copilot, learning your voice as you revise

Stay in the flow while you write. Type “/” whenever you need AI to research, fact-check, or refine. SmartWriter learns from the edits you make, so its next suggestion feels more like you.

Download for macOS See how it works

Local desktop app · DMG installer · Works with Claude or DeepSeek

SmartWriter three-pane workspace with drafts, AI collaboration, and the active document
Real product interface · macOS Drafts → AI workspace → Your document

A copilot, not a ghostwriter

A good writing tool should never take over or break your flow. It steps in when needed, leaves every decision to you, then gets out of the way.

AI can suggest It can ask questions It can spot what you missed But it never decides for you

An agent built into your writing process

From first draft to publication, AI stays where you write

It starts by learning from your past work, then brings your writing profile, writing skills, and specialist workflows into every draft. You stay in the same workspace through research, revision, export, and publishing.

01 / LEARN

Start with a few samples, so it can learn your voice

Paste or upload a few representative pieces. SmartWriter turns them into an initial writing profile and genre profiles. Review and correct them first, then carry this writer-approved understanding of your voice into future work.

Samples → Writing profile → Your approval
Analyze more writing Up to 10 pieces

Add a few pieces you have written

Learn from real work, not an abstract questionnaire.

Paste textChoose files
01 · A product retrospective Analyzed

“What matters is which step this change removes for real users.”

02 · On writing for the long term Analyzed

“A conclusion can take time, but readers should still see the evidence and reasoning behind it.”

03 · A tool migration Analyzed

“Explain the pitfalls first, then say who this approach is actually for.”

04 · Notes on writing Analyzed

“Get the facts right, make the reasoning clear, and leave a method you can reuse next time.”

Initial writing profile

✓ Ready for review
Global writing profileProduct & tech
# Global writing profile
## Avoid

Avoid absolute claims; leave room for nuance in important judgments. Skip empty slogans and preachy endings. Never turn a single experience into a universal rule.

## Preferences

Start with a concrete experience, then draw the conclusion. Support ideas with first-hand examples or relevant comparisons. Show the evidence and reasoning behind key claims.

## Voice

Open in the first person with a lived experience. Be candid about uncertainty. Sound sincere and relaxed, never all-knowing.

## Language

Keep established technical terms in English. Use metaphors and analogies to explain abstract ideas.

## Sentence style

Vary sentence length. Keep narrative paragraphs short and analytical passages denser. Use occasional questions to move the argument forward.

02 / UNDERSTAND

Every new draft starts with your voice

SmartWriter automatically loads your approved writing profile, detects the genre, and adds the right writing skill.


Your writing profile captures how you write. A writing skill captures how this kind of piece should be written. You decide which writing skills are active and what they contain.

Profiles load automatically · Skills stay editable
Product & technology Back to writing
Loaded: Writing profile + Genre profile + Writing skill

Context for this draft

Writing profileSkip generic openings; show your reasoningAuto
Product & tech genre profileLead with user impact, then explain how it worksAuto
Product & tech writing skillStructure, evidence standards, and constraintsOn
✓ Product & tech⌄
Auto-detect topic Personal essay Product & tech ✓ Opinion Work & career

Product & technology

Enabled
---
name: genre-product_tech
description: A practical method for product and technology writing
---

# Product and technology writing

## Genre definition
Explain what you built, why you made those choices, and what happened in practice.

## Structural conventions
- Problem / context → Approach / implementation → Outcome / reflection
- Start with an observable effect, then explain the underlying mechanism
- Make key steps reproducible in the smallest useful unit
- Close with limitations and where the approach does or does not apply

## Voice and style
- Professional, not academic; plainspoken first
- Preserve a first-hand, practitioner perspective
- Ground claims in facts and data

## Common pitfalls
- Explaining what without explaining why
- Showing only the happy path and hiding troubleshooting
- Publishing commands, paths, or version numbers without verification

## Best Practices
- State the problem, approach, and conclusion in the opening paragraph
- Include copy-ready commands or code for critical steps
- Say clearly where the approach does not apply
- Run every documented step before publishing
Genre profiles and writing skills are fully editable
03 / WRITE

Your writing stays at the center

Write in a live-rendering Markdown editor. When you need help, enter a request or type “/” to call on AI.


No separate chatbot. No shuttling half-finished drafts and context between tools.

Write in place · Call AI in place · Stay in flow
What changed in Gemini 3.6 Flash Draft · 4,916 words
IR · Write and see the result

04 / COLLABORATE

Handle complex writing tasks with a single command

Research, fact-checking, and final review return structured reports you can inspect. Plan Mode shows the goal and steps before any work begins.


AI handles the process. You decide what makes it into the draft.

Review the plan and evidence before editing
What changed in Gemini 3.6 Flash AI workspace
/ Open command menu
Workflows
/co-authorTurn an idea into a complete draft
Research and review
Does the Python SDK really lack PostCompact?Conclusive
Official docs, source definitions, and release notes cross-checked; support status is clear, while the reason for the gap remains undocumented
VerifiedPreCompact works in both SDKs; PostCompact is currently available only in TypeScript
SourceThe Python SDK event type definitions do not include PostCompact, so it cannot be registered as a callback
HistoryRecent CHANGELOG entries add several hooks, but still do not mention PostCompact
AlternativeCombine PreCompact, UserPromptSubmit, and session-level memory as a fallback
Caveat“The release schedules have not aligned” is only a hypothesis, not an official explanation
Official support matrixSDK sourceCHANGELOG
1 of 1 selected
05 / PUBLISH

Publish without reformatting everything

Save Markdown and PDF files locally, or publish a private note to Mowen after one clear confirmation.


Supported Markdown formatting is converted for Mowen automatically.

Local exports save directly · External publishing always asks first
Export / Publish ×

Choose a destination

Markdown
PDF
Mowen
Markdown and PDF save locally. Publishing to Mowen sends content externally and requires confirmation.

Confirm before publishing

Publish to Mowen as a private note

Publishing currently supports Mowen. More platforms are coming later.

Learns your voice as you write

Every edit teaches SmartWriter how to make the next draft sound more like you

Your initial writing profile is only a starting point. The real learning happens when you turn an AI draft into your own words.

Every revision closes the loop—and teaches SmartWriter what makes your voice yours.

SEED / ONE-TIME SETUP

Writing samples

Identify consistent habits in a few representative pieces and build the first writing profile.

01 / DRAFT

Write together

Load the approved writing profile so AI can collaborate using what it already knows about your voice.

02 / EDIT

Learn from your edits

Compare the AI draft with your revisions, filtering out factual fixes, typos, and one-off changes.

03 / REVIEW

You review

Review each suggested update. Accept it, rewrite it, or reject it outright.

AcceptReject
04 / NEXT

Carry it forward

Approved preferences shape the next draft. Rejected suggestions do not keep coming back.

Learned preferencesshape the very next draft
More than short-term chat memory

Your writing decisions carry into the next draft

Recurring choices become a reviewable writing profile you can inspect, edit, and reuse whenever you write.

No silent background changes

Nothing joins your writing profile until you approve it

Writing profiles, writing skills, and collection memory stay separate, keeping each source of context clear and predictable.

Collection memory

By article N, the context from article one is still there

SmartWriter keeps the context that matters across a collection: its purpose, topics already covered, key positions and conclusions, relevant background, and your explicit requirements.

It does not store every word. It keeps only what could prevent the next piece from repeating itself, contradicting earlier work, or drifting off course.

Why this is different A general-purpose agent usually remembers the current conversation. SmartWriter also remembers what this collection has already established.
COLLECTION 01 · ARTICLE 01

The real tradeoff behind local-first software

Remember: local-first does not reject model services. It keeps long-term data, credentials, and workspace control on the device.

COLLECTION 01 · ARTICLE 03

An agent’s product value lives in its control layer

Remember: model capability is only the starting point. Reliable boundaries, memory, and workflows make the product.

COLLECTION 01 · ARTICLE 08 · CURRENT

When an agent starts making decisions for you

This paragraph assumes “a stronger model makes a better product,” which conflicts with the argument in article 3.

Heads up: article 3 argued the opposite. Resolve that tension before continuing.

Local-first, with clear boundaries

Your drafts stay on your Mac. Only the context AI needs is sent.

Your writing history stays on your device. The model receives only the context required for the task at hand.

01 / LOCAL Drafts and memory stay local Your work, writing profiles, collection memory, and complete activity history remain on this Mac.
02 / MODEL AI sees only what this task needs SmartWriter is not fully offline. When it calls a model, it sends only the context needed to complete the current task.
03 / SIGN-IN Credentials stay secure on your Mac Local tools and macOS security manage model and third-party sign-in credentials. Anthropic authentication stays with the local Claude CLI.
04 / PUBLISH External publishing always asks first Markdown and PDF exports save locally. SmartWriter asks for explicit confirmation before publishing to Mowen or another external service.

Build notes

What does it take to build a writing agent?

From reading a draft continuously and retaining context to invoking writing methods, enforcing permissions, and connecting the whole workflow, I documented SmartWriter’s key design decisions, failed experiments, and tradeoffs in a 16-part build journal.

Read the complete build journal
5 selected entries16 in total
01
The Agent's Heartbeat: What Really Happens Inside "One Conversation"

Pulling apart the Agent Loop to understand what's actually happening inside "one conversation"

 04
Getting It to Actually Know You Better Over Time: Memory Isn't One Big Pot, It's Three Drawers

Taking apart "gets better the more you write" — how long-term, cross-article memory is actually built

 06
Skills Are the Manual: Where Concrete Best Practices Live

Where does genre-specific writing methodology actually live? The answer is Skills, loaded on demand

 09
An Agent Can't Touch the World Directly: The Six-Step Permission Chain and Deleting Bash

Tools are a double-edged sword — a six-step evaluation chain, and deleting Bash outright, frame every call

 13
Not "Just Another Generic Agent": Product Flow Design Built for Writing

Product design that bridges standard agent capabilities, one at a time, to real writing tasks

Your writing decisions should not disappear when you publish

Carry every revision into the next draft

If an AI draft does not sound like you, you should not have to retrain it from scratch every time. SmartWriter learns preferences from past work and your revisions, then waits for your approval before using them in the next draft.

Choose your model setup: use a DeepSeek API Key, or sign in to Claude Code CLI to share your existing subscription.

Download for macOS
macOS · DMG installer