The writing studio for exacting minds
A desktop Markdown editor for researchers, novelists and journalists — with generative AI that respects your voice: local if you want it, in your language, with no credit-based subscription.
IYour voice, not the model's
Palimpseste's AI is a tool you choose — never a tollbooth. Anthropic or OpenAI with your own key, Ollama or LM Studio on your machine, or your team's server: all three setups, interchangeable. The entire studio also works without any AI at all. And before every operation, the estimated cost is shown — locally, it is zero.
IIProof by construction
Every passage written by the AI is marked in the file itself — visible in the source, in a Git diff, to any third party. The status bar displays at all times “100% human” or the AI's exact share. AI detectors guess after the fact, with the false positives we all know about; Palimpseste captures the proof at the moment of writing, on your machine — capturing that proof sends nothing anywhere. Something you can show a thesis committee, an editorial board, a newsroom.
IIIThree professions, for real
- Researcher — Zotero and citations, academic compliance, LaTeX and JATS exports, thematic index, field notebook. The researcher profile →
- Novelist — character bible, plot threads, corkboard, twenty narrative structure templates, multi-volume series that never contradict themselves, Story Engine.
- Journalist — article templates, editorial compliance, deadlines, source management with three confidentiality levels.
These are not three themes: the vocabulary, the panels, the AI prompts and the exports all change with the profile.
IVYour writing, defended in depth
Backup versions on by default (a dated copy every five minutes), reversible deletion through the system trash, a snapshot before every destructive operation, monitoring of external overwrites (Git, iCloud), open formats exclusively — Markdown, YAML, JSON, readable in ten years without us. All our proof →
VA pack installs an expert
A project template gives you a structured blank page; a pack installs an expert: a persona that keeps you honest, an indexed method the AI actually consults, a sample project ready to fill in. Seventeen packs in the catalogue — humanities dissertation, crime fiction, investigative reporting, CSRD, white paper, legal… — as a one-time purchase, re-downloadable for life.
Start for free
The free version is permanent — no time limit, no credit card. The Pro plan (€6.99/month, €59.99/year, students €29.99/year, labs per seat) unlocks WYSIWYG editing, the AI assistant, professional exports and the profession-specific panels — and after 48 cumulative months, your license becomes perpetual.