VS Code for writers — a live WYSIWYG editor, multi-language spell check, thesaurus, AI-assisted prose checks (tense, passive voice & continuity), and publisher-ready DOCX/PDF manuscript export.
Proser turns VS Code into a calm, capable studio for prose: a live page you can
write on, the proofreading and reference tools writers actually need, and one-click
manuscript export — all scoped to Markdown so it never gets in the way of code.
Everything works offline. AI is entirely optional, and can run locally.
✨ The Pretty editor
A live WYSIWYG view backed by the real .md file — your edits are real edits
(undo, git diff, save all work the same as ever).
- A clean, book-width centered page with adjustable font size.
- Right-click anything: definition (the book icon), synonyms / antonyms,
Revise with AI, and inline formatting (bold, italic, underline, ~~strike~~) — or
just right-click a word, no selecting required.
- Live writing checks as you type — color-coded underlines, each fixable in one
right-click: spelling (red), grammar (blue, offline via
Harper), passive voice (purple), tense slips
(orange, local AI in the background), sentence spacing (yellow), and quotation
punctuation (teal). Turn each on or off in Settings → Live Style Checks.
- Find (
Ctrl/Cmd+F), live word-count footer, and a one-tap Markdown toggle when
you want the raw source.
Open it from the editor title bar (the book icon), or Reopen Editor With… → Proser.
✓ Spell check that understands prose
- Built on a real dictionary with compound-word smarts (it won't flag rearview,
seatbelt, floorboards) and skips proper nouns, code, URLs, and frontmatter.
- A dedicated Spelling sidebar lists every misspelling with one-click fixes,
Add to dictionary, and Ignore (suppress without changing your dictionary) —
plus the inline squiggles in the Pretty view.
- Multiple languages: English is built in; Spanish, French, German, Italian,
Portuguese, Dutch, and Russian download once and then work offline. Switch with
Proser: Select Spell Check Language.
📖 Thesaurus & Dictionary
Right-click a word for synonyms or antonyms — online (Datamuse) with an offline
WordNet fallback, or context-aware suggestions when AI is enabled.
Click the book icon in the same menu to open the word's full definition in a side
panel — pronunciation, meanings grouped by part of speech, and example sentences. It uses
the free online dictionary with an offline WordNet fallback, so it still works without a
connection; choose the source with proser.dictionary.source (auto / online / offline).
🔍 Editor checks
Catch the things drafts hide:
- Grammar — subject–verb agreement, swapped homophones (their/there), repeated words,
and more, via the offline Harper engine.
- Tense consistency — flags narration that drifts from your narrative tense (dialogue,
which may speak in any tense, is left alone).
- Passive voice — finds passive constructions (works offline; sharper with AI).
- Continuity — AI scan for contradictions in names, details, timeline, and facts.
Grammar, tense, and passive voice also run automatically in the background as you write,
shown as live underlines in the Pretty editor (grammar is offline via Harper; tense uses your
local AI model; passive is instant). Right-click any underline to fix it in one click —
or Dismiss it, and that sentence won't be flagged again. A fixed sentence clears
immediately and never comes back.
For a full pass, the Proser sidebar → Editor tab runs any check on demand (or Scan
continuously); each finding has Go / Fix / Ignore, and Go jumps right to the passage.
- New Chapter — creates a new file ordered right after the current one.
- Add Divider / Add Scene Break — inserted at your cursor.
- Title & Author — your manuscript's title page.
- Export to DOCX or PDF in Standard Manuscript Format (Courier 12pt,
double-spaced, 1″ margins) — for this file or the whole folder. Also on the
Pretty toolbar's Export menu, alongside a quick PDF of the current view.
🤖 Optional AI assistant
- Revise with AI on any selection, with reusable saved prompts.
- Powers context-aware synonyms, the tense and continuity checks, and Story Memory.
- Choose your engine: OpenRouter (cloud) or Ollama (fully local & private).
Pick, switch, or delete local models from the status-bar Model indicator. Your
API key lives in the OS keychain — never in settings.
- Use the cloud only where it counts. Pick Cloud (OpenRouter) as your editor model
and you're prompted for the key right away — but that key powers only Brainstorm &
Revise. Spell check, synonyms, and the tense/passive checks always run on your local
model, so the everyday checks stay private and free.
📊 Word count & goals
Live word count, character count, and reading time in the status bar, with an
optional per-document word goal. Select several .md files in the Explorer →
Count Words in Selection for a combined total.
🎯 And the rest
Document outline, focus mode and typewriter mode, and writing-quality
lint (weasel words / passive voice / filler).
Requirements
- VS Code 1.90+.
- AI features are optional: the cloud path needs an OpenRouter API key and internet;
the local path needs Ollama installed. Everything else —
spell check, thesaurus (offline), word count, the Pretty editor, and export — works
with no account and no network.
Support
If Proser makes your writing better, you can buy me a coffee ☕ — it keeps the project going.
License
MIT
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