Show HN: I'm building an app to replace Overleaf and Notion
26 comments
·June 19, 2025prezjordan
Looks good! Did you build your own text editor? The markup doesn't look familiar. (Would recommend grabbing one off-the-shelf that handles cross-paragraph selections and concurrent edits, will save you a world of pain)
rishabhdev2700
Looks nice and clean. Good work.
GlacierFox
Is this actually a one time purchase or are you doing the "Actually if you read the small print I actually mean until I reach version 2.0, then you have to pay again" approach?
evv
Developers are entitled to earn more money when they continue working. On the other hand, it is unfair how consumers have frequently needed to re-purchase products that they bought with the impression it would last a long time.
At least, the developer should specify how long the product will be supported for security and bug fixes.
A great solution, if you can pull it off: You continue maintaining the base product indefinitely, but "v2" features are disabled until the user pays more. And if you buy v2 in full you get the full feature set.
jeremywho
Are you saying you expect to pay one time and never again and want continued support for the lifetime of the app?
sokoloff
Not GP, but I do want to know that I have a path to having ongoing access to my data (which could include a fair and usable export process into a format that’s at least readable [PDF, docx, tex, other]) without a permanent on-going expense.
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johnecheck
Looks cool, though it sadly isn't the open-source notion/obsidian competitor I've been waiting for.
Also, your images and carousel element don't look right on android Firefox
earth2mars
Logseq is the answer
megaloblasto
An amazing open source obsidian competitor is org-roam for emacs.
yapyap
I dislike the inherent massive learning curve that comes with emacs but if you got it you got it
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jkhdigital
I started a PhD in 2020 and I know exactly why you created this app because I tried like half a dozen different tools that didn’t fit. I needed a workflow to
1. collect and prioritize relevant research papers
2. make notes and synthesize ideas across my reading
3. use the notes to assemble draft of original writing
4. seamlessly move my own writings into LaTeX documents along with citation details
and ended up in Obsidian where I basically had to build my own tool anyway. Which I never did, because I just wanted to focus on research without fooling around with tools.
hoosieree
I ended up with Emacs and org-mode. One of my friends used Vim and Pandoc to the same effect. I didn't quite have to write my own tool but each new LaTeX template foisted on me was hours of work that could have been spent doing research. My impression after seeing my peers work with Mendeley, Notion, Overleaf, etc. was they looked prettier at first glance but didn't solve my problem.
Over time I developed the opinion that LaTeX is an unnecessary tax on scientific progress. It's insanity to keep using it when HTML exists.
k2enemy
Just curious what field you are in? I've noticed that in latex and "latex alternative" discussions the problem of journal templates/styles often comes up. However, every journal I've submitted to (dozens of different ones (with lots of rejects!)) just require vanilla latex and the editorial office does the work of getting it into their format. Clearly this isn't the case for everyone though!
al_borland
While I haven’t had a need to use it, this sounds like what Ulysses[0] was built for. I saw a writer talking about it years ago, and how they liked it because it allowed them to organize and keep their research right alongside their document in the same app.
user_7832
Just thinking out loud as someone who's been in a similar situation...
There are a ton of tools that claim to be one stop shops, but of course, almost none have all the features you would want.
Hence it makes sense to separate the different parts (to use tools that are excellent/powerful at any one task), and use some intermediary in the middle. Of course this isn't as efficient and frictionless as possible, but it allows compatibility.
I suppose in today's "everything is a file" computing paradigm, files (or folders) with data are probably the closest? It is far from perfect, but it's possible to integrate with a bit of legwork with scripts and the like.
That way you can import from your browser/extension of choice, save it in a form (.md? .odt/docx?) of choice, and export it as you please (ppts or pdfs? webpages?).
prox
I am using Scrivener right now, since it’s superlocal and interfaces well enough with other apps.
finiteparadox
This sort of flow works well for me with obsidian+paperpile+latex
exceptione
Any reason why paperpile instead of Zotero? It seems obsidian has great interop with Zotero.
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codingdave
[flagged]
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WolfOliver
you can also download it from the mac app store: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/monsterwriter-thesis-papers/id...
codingdave
Right, I should have mentioned that I run a Windows PC.
WolfOliver
currently the window binary is not code signed. This is a major problem and a lot of users complain. Even thought the code signing certificates are quite expensive I'm aiming to have this done sometime soon.
Hi HN,
Since 2019, I’ve been working on a writing platform designed for creating complex documents (e.g., theses). I personally use it for everything as it also allows to classify documents in categories so you can organize them efficiently. As of a few months ago, the app is also available in the browser, and you can now invite coworkers to collaborate on a document in real time.
The app is somewhat inspired by LyX. It offers an intuitive, modern editor, but users don’t need to know any LaTeX. When it’s time to export, they can choose from a range of templates (IEEE paper, thesis, etc.).
A few highlights:
- It uses a custom-built block editor that performs well with large documents. Each block is its own contenteditable element (instead of having one massive contenteditable for the whole document)
- If you prefer plain text - you can insert a Markdown block and write using Markdown instead
- Built-in citation management
- Support for cross-references and footnotes
- Mermaid diagrams, inline LaTeX equations, and display math are all supported
- "To-do" sections help you stay organized while writing
You can try it out here: https://www.monsterwriter.com/