Show HN: Aurelius – a local-first, distraction-free writing app

[ilangorajagopal]

https://aurelius.ink/

Hey HN! I've been working on yet another writing app called Aurelius (https://aurelius.ink). I built Aurelius primarily for myself and I've been writing with it everyday. I thought I'll share this here.

Here are the features:

- Local-first, but can sync data between different browsers or devices without signup. Sync is also end-to-end encrypted.

- Progressive web app and offline functionality.

- Rich-text editing with support for Markdown shortcuts.

- Keyboard shortcuts for most actions in the app.

- Writing sessions timer for tracking your daily writing.

- Focus-mode which hides almost everything except the editor.

- Music player that plays focus music like lofi, chillhop, etc. You can also use a Youtube video or playlist of your choice.

Give it a try and let me know your thoughts.

Thank you!

[gagik_co]

I was impressed when I realized that I was already "signed in" without doing anything. evolu seems like a great tech choice and excellent implementation with this, has all the right things I'd want in a private writing app, especially E2EE!

Honestly maybe the anonymous instant login feels too magical where I do not feel like I have a permanent account. How are you going to deal with random users signing in, writing a lot of notes and then disappearing for months?

[ilangorajagopal → gagik_co]

Well, there is no sign up or login. The app is completely open for anyone to use. There is also no central database where everyone's writing is saved. All your data is saved to a SQLite database that lives in your browser. So users can save as much as they want. Browsers today can handle saving few gigabytes of data. That's a lot of text.

There is a server but that's only used during sync to temporarily store the encrypted data before passing it on to the destination device. It's basically a buffer. After sync completes, the data is deleted.

[brody_slade_ai]

I'm loving the minimalistic interface and the focus mode! I would love to know if there are any plans with other tools that might help writers stay organized or motivated? For example, integration with a task list or a habit tracker?

[ilangorajagopal → brody_slade_ai]

Glad you like it. One thing I have planned is a content calendar/kanban board so users can organize their writings. This could either be inside the app or integrate with other tools like Todoist or Trello. Do you have a favorite app that you use regularly?

Few other ideas I'm thinking about: - Show a recap of how much writing you did in the past week - time spent, number of words written etc. - Organizing by type of content. Right now it's only posts/articles but I'm planning journals, essays, and even books.