Building mrkdwn
Why we're building a local-first, cross-platform markdown editor with AI-native writing assistance and encrypted web publishing.
We’re building mrkdwn because writing tools keep getting worse in ways that matter.
Cloud-only editors lose your work when the server goes down. Proprietary formats make it impossible to switch tools. And most “AI writing” features feel like autocomplete — useful for filling space, not for thinking clearly.
Local-first, plain Markdown
Your notes are plain .md files on your device. Not a database. Not a proprietary format. Not a sync service you can’t opt out of. Files you can open in any text editor, move between machines, and back up however you want.
iCloud handles sync for Apple devices. On Android and Windows, your files are just files — put them in whatever sync service you prefer.
AI as a writing tool, not a writing replacement
mrkdwn supports 17 AI providers — from OpenAI and Anthropic to local models running on your machine. You bring your own API key. We never see your prompts or your writing.
The AI features are designed for the hard parts of writing: restructuring an argument, finding the right word, checking tone, translating between languages. Not for generating filler.
Encrypted web publishing
Sometimes you need to share a note as a link. mrkdwn lets you publish any document to a URL with end-to-end encryption. The decryption key lives in the URL fragment — our server never sees your content.
Cross-platform
We’re building for macOS, iOS, Android, Windows, and watchOS. Plus a CLI and a browser extension. Same files, same features, everywhere you write.
The stack: Swift for Apple platforms, Flutter for Android and Windows, Rust for the core engine, TypeScript for the web layer, Python for the CLI.
What’s next
mrkdwn is in active development. The macOS release is coming first, with iOS and Android following shortly after. If you want to know when it’s ready, keep an eye on mrkdwn.buenalabs.io.