SMF·ULYSSES
Can a prompt replace Ulysses?
AI writing — grammar, editing and long-form writing
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Verdict
Ulysses has no model, no service and no network dependency: it is a well-made writing environment over a library of Markdown sheets, with filters, goals and export. Every one of those parts is buildable in a sitting, and the result is genuinely usable. What you are not buying back is the craftsmanship — iCloud sync that never loses a sheet, an iPad app, and export through templates that produce a book-quality PDF.
Exhibit A — The prompt
Received on31.07.2026Build a Markdown writing environment organised as one library of sheets. No AI, no network calls, no account.
Library model: a sheet is a Markdown file. Sheets live in groups, and groups nest. There is no separate document-open step — the library is always the left column, and clicking a sheet edits it. A sheet's title is its first heading, not a filename.
Filters, which replace folders: a saved filter is a query over the library (contains text, has tag, modified within N days, word count above or below a threshold, in group X including subgroups). Filters appear in the sidebar alongside groups and update live. This is what makes a flat library scale past a few hundred sheets.
Editor: Markdown with inline styling shown rather than raw syntax where possible — bold renders bold while the asterisks stay editable. Typewriter scrolling, a focus mode that dims everything except the current paragraph or sentence, and a full-screen mode with no interface at all. Keyboard shortcuts for every navigation action; the mouse should be optional.
Goals: a per-sheet or per-group target in words, characters or pages, with a deadline. Show a ring that fills as you write and a session count of words added today. Store a daily writing history so a streak and a chart are possible.
Attachments per sheet: notes, keywords, and images, held in a right-hand column that can be hidden.
Export: compile a selection of sheets, in library order, into a single output. Support Markdown, DOCX, HTML, EPUB and PDF. Export runs through a style file the user can edit — fonts, margins, heading treatment, first-line indents, page numbering — because export quality is most of what a writing app is judged on. Ship two styles, a manuscript format and a book format.
Storage: plain Markdown files in a folder the user chooses, plus a rebuildable SQLite index for search and filters. External edits are detected and re-indexed. Never store the only copy of anything in a database.
Version history: snapshot each sheet on a timer and on export, kept in a sidecar directory, restorable from inside the app.
Out of scope: sync of any kind, mobile apps, collaboration, publishing integrations, and any AI feature.Opening prefills the prompt — press enter to run it.
Exhibit B — What you lose
- B.1 iCloud sync and the iPad and iPhone apps
- B.2 the export style system that produces publication-ready documents
- B.3 direct publishing to WordPress, Ghost and Medium
- B.4 a decade of small interactions being exactly right
Prior art
Exhibit C — Why people still pay: polish, integrations, and proprietary language models
Because a writing app is judged on the thousandth hour, not the first. Six dollars a month for something that has never lost a sheet is a rational trade for anyone who writes for a living.
Questions
Can I get my Ulysses library out?
Yes, completely. Ulysses exports the whole library as Markdown files preserving the group structure, and this build reads exactly that. Keywords and goals do not come across and have to be re-applied, which for a large library is the tedious part.
Why no AI at all?
Because Ulysses has none, and adding one would be reviewing a different product. The catalogue has several entries where an AI writing loop is the point; this is the one where the answer is a quiet editor and a good export pipeline.
What does it cost to run?
Nothing. Local files, a local index, no keys, no server. Your writing never leaves the machine, which for some people is the entire argument.
What is the one thing that does not survive the rebuild?
Sync you can trust. Ulysses moves a library between a Mac, an iPad and an iPhone without you thinking about it. Putting a Markdown folder in a sync service mostly works and occasionally produces conflict copies mid-chapter, which is a bad day for a writer.
Related tools
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