the justtype project

slate by alfaoz

the justtype project

### WHAT IS JUSTTYPE?
justtype is a minimalist writing app that puts your privacy first. write, save, and share your work, all while keeping your content encrypted and under your control.

### HOW DID I GET HERE?
hi, i'm alfa. and i'm the creator of justtype. justtype exists as a way of catering my needs, and a frustration towards tools that already exist.

some of you may be familiar with blankslate.io. it's a really simple, clean, perfect way of writing things quickly in your browser. i've used blankslate for years. until it became undermaintained, increasingly unreliable, closed source (it used to be open!), and hopelessly outdated.

so i looked for alternatives. i tried lots of tools;

google docs can read anything you write, and is probably training AI on your content. notion made me spend more time organizing my workspace than actually writing. lunette was beautiful but limited, and still someone else's closed box.
i even tried vim & git tracked text files.

every option i had was a trade-off. it was either privacy OR convenience. features OR simplicity. open source OR reliable.

i wanted something that didn't make me choose. something that gets out of the way like blankslate used to, actually privacy minded, open-source, and lets you write anywhere without friction.

and as far as i could see, nothing existed. thats when i started building justtype.

### WHAT MAKES JUSTTYPE DIFFERENT?
justtype is pretty easy to use, and can be stupidly simple to operate if you wish, but it can fit most workflows pretty easily. you can just use it to draft a couple emails without ever creating an account, or you can collaboratively work on a top-secret research project about 'how birds are government drones' with a friend

justtype is privacy-first. justtype servers never sees your slate content. ever. this means if you forget your password, we can't help you gain access to your slates. we also have no analytics following you around and we are not selling your data.

want to run your own justtype instance? go ahead. the code is yours to use. we don't optimize for self-hosting, but it should be fairly simple to get it going!

### HOW WE STAY SUSTAINABLE
open source doesn't mean free to run. storage and bandwidth cost money. we support justtype through optional storage upgrades for heavy users, and donations from supporters who value our cause.

and don't worry, the free tier is pretty generous. i can get around 4 thousand slates with my usage habits. limits exist to keep the project sustainable, not as a source of income.

### WHO JUSTTYPE IS FOR AND NOT
if you are someone who value privacy, someone who is tired of bloated writing apps, someone who have used blankslate.io, someone who appreciate focused, minimal tools, someone who has tried notion and thought "i just want to f*cking write", justtype may fit you.

if you are someone who need heavy rich formatting, who prefer micro-managing their workflow, or heavily rely on ai reading/writing assistants, justtype is deliberately not for you.. there are plenty of other apps that are great for these usecases.

### CONTRIBUTING TO JUSTTYPE
found a bug? want to improve the UX? send us a [feedback](justtype.io/feedback), or shoot us a pull request! we're particularly interested in security reliability improvements, performance optimizations, accessibility enhancements, and thoughtful UX refinements.

### TL;DR
i built justtype because i needed it. a writing app that respects privacy, stays simple, and just works. if justtype falls short of your needs, that's okay! there are plenty of apps for a plethora of needs.

thanks for reading :) it means a lot to me that you did!

-alfa

just start typing at https://justtype.io,
read the code & give us a star at https://github.com/alfaoz/justtype,
questions? security issue? email us at hi@justtype.io,
reach out to me personally at alfa.ozaltin@gmail.com.