A fully WYSIWYG documentation editor, in the browser and now a native Windows app, that exports a whole document as a single self contained HTML file, with no server or account needed.
Overview
Documinter is a fully WYSIWYG editor for writing documentation, available both in the browser and now as a native Windows app, and it exports a document as a single self contained HTML file, or as a paged PDF on the desktop, with no platform, server, or account involved. The document on your screen already looks like the one you will share, which keeps editing quick and direct. It started with basic blocks like paragraphs, headings, and lists, and it now covers code blocks, tables, full markdown, a custom format I call Mintdown, and a Binder for keeping documents organized in one place.
Why it exists
I built it in my free time to make writing documentation for the non technical people at my job quicker. I wanted something they could open in a browser and use without a manual, that still produced a clean result worth sharing. It stayed deliberately simple at first, and only grew once other people started using it too.
How it grew
- It began with the basics, paragraphs, headings, and lists, which was enough to put together a straightforward document.
- Then colleagues saw me using it and asked what the tool was, so I kept adding to it. Code blocks came in for the developers, tables for organizing information, full markdown support, and a custom format I call Mintdown for the things markdown leaves out, like containers and colors.
- Once I had a pile of documents made in the app, I wanted to keep them in order there too. So I brought over what I had learned building Campaigns of the Mist and added the Binder, a file system for saving, organizing, and sorting documents.
- The most recent step took it native. I migrated the whole app to Tauri, giving it a Rust core and a proper Windows desktop build while the web version stays live. On the desktop the Binder becomes a real folder of files on your disk, documents can export straight to a paged PDF, and everything runs fully offline, with no account, cloud, or telemetry.
Under the hood
Everything is composed from a flexible block system, while the exported HTML stays completely standalone, so a finished document is a single file that opens anywhere. Inline images are compressed as they come in, so a document can carry visuals without the file growing out of hand. Mintdown sits on top of markdown to add the richer pieces, containers, colors, and more, without losing the plain text feel. The native build keeps that same React frontend over a Rust core, backing the Binder with real files on disk and a rebuildable search index, and it even reuses two of my own npm packages, react-piqua-color and react-pop-a-window, for its color picker and floating windows.
Where it stands
Documinter is live on the web and now ships as a native Windows app too, and I still reach for it whenever I need to write documentation. What started as a small tool to solve my own problem at work became something my colleagues use too. That is the part I am proud of, it grew because people found it genuinely useful, not because I set out to make it big.