SmallDocs
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 13 markdown editors
A browser-based, Markdown-first document tool that works offline and suits giving AI agents a format to write in. Critics object to its license and that it is not open source.
A browser-based, Markdown-first document tool that works offline and suits giving AI agents a format to write in. Critics object to its license and that it is not open source.
24 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 88%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Gives AI agents a format to express themselves
“It's an office suite for AI agents - but my main use case is giving a cli based LLM the canvas to express itself”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Microsoft releases Flint, a visualization language for AI agents” “it's good for creating (and optionally sharing) agent created analysis”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)” “an office suite AI agents (and humans - including SWEs!) like to use.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “OfficeCLI: Office suite for AI agents to read and edit Microsoft Office files” - Comment from 29 Jul 2026 in “Hubbele: Open-source notetaking app for you and your agents”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Show HN: Docx-CLI: agents read/edit Word docs using 1/2 the time and tokens”
Markdown editing with rendered slides
“I like it a lot, only feedback is it should be a bit more intuitive on how to start the slides”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Google's Beyond Zero: Enterprise Security for the AI Era” “It's all Markdown, but it always renders (100% privately) on the SmallDocs site.”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “The ChatGPT/Codex app bundles a full copy of LibreOffice” “converted it into a slideshow which serves it to you in bitesized ideas”
Comment from 28 Jul 2026 in “Google's Beyond Zero: Enterprise Security for the AI Era” - Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: SmallDocs – A Markdown-first CLI-native replacement for Word and GDocs”
Browser-based, no install, works offline
“Going browser first means you’re not required to install anything to get a great experience.”
Comment from 11 May 2026 in “Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)” “The offline service worker part is great.”
Comment from 16 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: SmallDocs – A Markdown-first CLI-native replacement for Word and GDocs” Helps stay in touch with LLM code
“It's actually very useful if you develop with a terminal based coding agent and sometimes want to get out of the terminal view”
Comment from 9 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)” “I use this a lot to stay in touch with the code the LLM is producing.”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
License is restrictive and not open source
“Your project looks cool and you've clearly put a lot of thought into making it useful, but the license makes it a non-starter for me.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “OfficeCLI: Office suite for AI agents to read and edit Microsoft Office files” “It is not open source unfortunately.”
Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “OfficeCLI: Office suite for AI agents to read and edit Microsoft Office files”
Other markdown editors people recommend
The four most recommended other markdown editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SmallDocsThis page | 21 | 3 | 88% | 6 | — | Approved |
| OpenKnowledge | 20 | 10 | 67% | 2 | — | — |
| Typora | 19 | 6 | 76% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Margin Markdown editor | 15 | 2 | 88% | 3 | — | — |
| iA Writer | 14 | 0 | 100% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
37 of the 42 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“building my own tooling really helped”
“it's good for creating (and optionally sharing) agent created analysis”
“It's all Markdown, but it always renders (100% privately) on the SmallDocs site.”
“I find that combining formats quickens the speed I can understand a topic.”
“You might find my open source project SmallDocs useful.”
“Which is pretty useful when you want to find local Markdown files.”
“this is very cool nice idea!”
“It's actually very useful if you develop with a terminal based coding agent and sometimes want to get out of the terminal view”
“This is really cool, ty for posting it. Gonna try it out”
“I use this a lot to stay in touch with the code the LLM is producing.”
“It gives your agent a good selection of formats to express itself”
“I like it a lot, only feedback is it should be a bit more intuitive on how to start the slides”
“converted it into a slideshow which serves it to you in bitesized ideas”
“It's an office suite for AI agents - but my main use case is giving a cli based LLM the canvas to express itself”
“it handles it nicely (imo!)”
“Claude Code & Microsoft Office had a baby”
“This is so cool! Loved your agent instruction snippet too.”
“It is not open source unfortunately.”
“yeh a trillion dollar company can't figure out what copilot is to their ecosystem”
“Your project looks cool and you've clearly put a lot of thought into making it useful, but the license makes it a non-starter for me.”
“This is super cool - so many uses.”
“This is really neat! I have been thinking about similar problems.”
“I think you're mostly on the right track”
“I don't see any examples of the format on the webpage”
“I think something like small docs is the future.”
“an office suite AI agents (and humans - including SWEs!) like to use.”
“Going browser first means you’re not required to install anything to get a great experience.”
“Ah its a reader, okay, great tool!”
“My browser is like a junk drawer, can't be bothered to go hunting in there.”
“There's no security here, just theater.”
“I am excited about this really cool idea.”
“the "launch a CLI to urlencode your file" flow is such a messy way of doing this”
“I fail to see how any of these problems are even partially solved by a web app”
“We encrypt your document client side.”
“The offline service worker part is great.”
“One potential use case I have for it is being able to make "branded" markdown”
“Markdown style editing looks very easy and convenient”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.