Smaragd

A native desktop authoring tool for writers

Built in Rust with egui — no Electron, no Chromium. Your manuscript stays plain markdown files in plain folders; Smaragd adds the binder, the metadata, and the typesetting on top.

Everything a manuscript needs, one dockable workspace

Binder, editor, preview, corkboard, metadata, backlinks, and tags are all tabs in one shared layout — drag, split, float, or dock any of them, and it persists across restarts.

Plain files, no lock-in

A project is just a folder of .md files. A small .smaragd/project.json stores ordering and folder roles — delete it and it's still a perfectly readable folder of markdown.

Scrivener-style structure

Research/Trash/Templates folder roles, built-in Blank/Novel/Nonfiction/Screenplay templates, and Story Genius–style corkboard cards with Alpha Point, Cause, Effect, and Why It Matters.

Wikilinks, backlinks & tags

Obsidian-style [[links]] with autocomplete, a full backlinks panel, and frontmatter + inline #tags — all resolved live across the project.

Real typeset export

DOCX, EPUB, and print-ready PDF from one shared Style. PDF is genuine typesetting via the embedded Typst compiler — running headers, drop caps, widow/orphan control, no LaTeX install, no network.

Focus Mode

Maximizes the window, hides every other tab, and dims every paragraph but the one you're writing — a typewriter, distraction-free view one keypress away (F9).

15 themes, fully custom

Gruvbox, Dracula, Nord, Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, and more built in — or drop a .toml file into the config directory for your own theme, style, or template.

Scriptable with Rhai

Plugins in the embedded Rhai language add custom : commands, keyboard shortcuts, and save-time text transforms — project-local plugins stay opt-in.

Git-aware

Commit, push, and pull from the Versions menu, modeled on the Obsidian Git plugin — network operations run in the background so the UI never freezes.

Built-in Pomodoro timer

Work/break cadence with a status-bar countdown that keeps ticking whether or not its tab is open — configurable durations and session count.

Download

Native builds for Linux, Windows, and macOS — see the latest release for exact filenames.

Linux

x86_64 AppImage — runs on most distributions without installation.

Get the AppImage →

Windows

x86_64 zip containing the executable.

Get the Windows build →

macOS

Universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel), ad-hoc signed Smaragd.app.

Get the macOS build →

Open source

Smaragd is licensed under the GNU GPL-3.0-or-later — free to use, study, modify, and redistribute.

Contributions are welcome and go through a short Contributor License Agreement — see CONTRIBUTING.md for how to get started. You keep copyright over what you write.