🇫🇷 — 📖 Manual — 🌍 i18n Guide
WrithDeck is a distraction-free text editor designed for writers using a dedicated writerdeck — a DIY prototype or a computer configured specifically for writing. It runs as a graphical application (GUI) or directly in a terminal/TTY (TUI), all from a single executable file with no installation required.
Features:
- Inline syntax highlighting with support for markdown and txt2tags markers
- File browser with favorites, recent files, and subfolder navigation
- Split view editing, customise margins size (GUI and TUI)
- Second workspace (F10) for side-by-side editing of two independent files (GUI and TUI)
- Table of contents with heading navigation
- Fully themeable interface (dark/light mode, 6 built-in color schemes)
- ANSI color support in TUI (16-color and 256-color, TTY-compatible, configurable in INI)
- Multi-language support (English, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Norwegian)
- Clickable toolbar shortcuts
- Document analysis tools: structure outline, word occurrences, repetition detection, and spell checking
- Writing statistics and daily progress tracking, with a configurable daily word goal
- Configurable timer (countdown) and stopwatch with visual alerts and audio notifications
- Modal command mode (ESC key) for quick access to timer, stats, and word occurrences
- ~5,000 lines of Tcl/Tk, generated from modular source files
Whether you're writing on a Raspberry Pi Zero with an E-ink screen, on an Android tablet, over SSH, on your desktop or from a browser, WrithDeck stays lightweight and lets you focus on your text.
Requires Tcl/Tk 8.6+ on your system:
| Platform | Command |
|---|---|
| Debian/Ubuntu | apt install tk |
| Mac OS | brew install tcl-tk |
| Windows | tcl-lang.org/software/tcltk/bindist.html |
| Haiku OS | pkgman install tcl tk |
You can also get bundles for Windows, Linux and Mac OS on https://farvardin.itch.io/writhdeck
wish writhdeck.tcl # GUI, file browser
wish writhdeck.tcl file.txt # GUI, open file directly
tclsh writhdeck.tcl --tui # TUI, file browser (--no-gui, --cli aliases)
tclsh writhdeck.tcl --cli file.txt # TUI, open file directly
./writhdeck.tcl --tui # Direct execution, TUI modeYou can also copy writhdeck.tcl or writhdeck-cli.tcl to your PATH (e.g. /usr/local/bin/) for direct access from anywhere. The writhdeck-cli.tcl version is TUI-only and doesn't require Tk.
📖 See the manual for configuration, keyboard shortcuts, and all features.
WrithDeck bundles a set of tools to review work in progress, available in both the GUI and the TUI (from the browser via a / w / s, or from the modal command mode while editing):
- Structure outline (
a) — a chapter/section overview built from your headings, with total word and section counts. Pick a heading to jump straight to it. - Word occurrences (
w) — a frequency list of every word in the document, sorted by count, to spot overused terms. - Repetition detection — flags the same word (or lemma) repeated within a configurable range and, optionally, hidden repetitions such as "tour" inside "alentours". Scope and minimum length are configurable.
- Spell checking — checks the whole document through Hunspell and lists each misspelling with suggestions; jump to any occurrence directly.
- Daily statistics (
s) — per-file daily word counts (high-water mark), plus a configurable daily word goal shown live in the status bar.
These analysis tools are optional at build time (make ANALYSIS_TOOLS=no to exclude them).
WrithDeck is deliberately platform-agnostic — same shortcuts, same generous margins, whether you write in a terminal, on the desktop, on Android, or in a browser. A single file can therefore follow you across every device. One possible Git-based workflow:
- Create a private Git repository on GitHub (or elsewhere).
- Create a new file on your PC with the Tcl version.
- Stage it:
git add file.txt. - Commit and push.
- Clone the repository on an Android phone using GitNote.
- Edit the file in distraction-free mode from the Android app (or from Termux).
- Sync your changes back with GitNote.
- Pull the file back to your PC with
git pull. - Copy the file onto a USB stick.
- On any outside computer (a library, a friend's place), open the web version and edit the file directly from the USB stick.
The repository contains modular source files in src/:
make # Build with all available languages
make LANGUAGES="en" # Build English only (~95KB)
make LANGUAGES="en fr de es" # Build specific languages
make clean # Remove generated files
make test # Run regression tests (i18n, syntax, builds)Output files:
writhdeck.tcl— Full GUI+TUI version with all selected languageswrithdeck-cli.tcl— TUI-only version (no Tk dependency)
Both files are executable and can be distributed as-is.
WrithDeck supports 6 languages out of the box:
- 🇬🇧 English
- 🇫🇷 French
- 🇩🇪 German
- 🇪🇸 Spanish
- 🇰🇷 Korean
- 🇳🇴 Norwegian
Each language can be independently selected via ~/.writhdeck.ini. To add a new language, see src/i18n/README.md.
src/
├── boot.tcl # Polyglot sh/Tcl bootstrap
├── boot-cli.tcl # TUI-only bootstrap
├── state.tcl # JSON state persistence (cursors, favorites, stats)
├── config.tcl # INI file loading, theme system, i18n
├── common.tcl # Shared utilities (backup, inline parsing)
├── gui.tcl # GUI (Tk) implementation
├── tui.tcl # Terminal UI implementation
├── main.tcl # GUI/TUI dispatch
├── main-cli.tcl # CLI entry point
└── i18n/
├── en.tcl # English translations
├── fr.tcl, de.tcl, es.tcl, ko.tcl, no.tcl
└── README.md # i18n guide
tests/
├── test-i18n.tcl # Translation validation
├── test-syntax.tcl # Tcl syntax checking
└── README.md # Test suite documentation
Makefile # Build system, test targets
Comprehensive regression tests prevent bugs and ensure code quality:
make test # Run all tests
make test-i18n # Test translations
make test-syntax # Test Tcl syntax
make test-gui # Test GUI build
make test-cli # Test CLI build
make test-langs # Test language combinationsTests automatically detect:
- Missing or incomplete translations
- Format string mismatches
- Tcl syntax errors
- Build failures with different language combinations
See tests/README.md for details.
The project uses Claude Code for development:
# Run interactive editor
claude-code .
# Run with fast mode (faster output)
/fastSee CLAUDE.md for coding guidelines and conventions.
WrithDeck stores configuration in ~/.writhdeck.ini:
[editor]
profile = default
scheme = dark
lang = en
[behaviour]
line_numbers = yes # inline comments are supported
cursor_restore = yes
dark_mode = yes
[tui_colors]
tui_colors = yes # enable ANSI colors in TUI/TTY
tui_256colors = yes # 256-color mode (numeric 0-255 accepted)
tui_col_heading = 214
tui_col_bar_bg = 94
[keys]
key_save = Control-s
key_open = Control-o
# ... (all shortcuts configurable)Full documentation: See the in-app help (Ctrl+H) or writhdeck_MANUAL.md.
- Size: 95KB (English only) to 280KB (all 6 languages)
- Memory: Minimal footprint, suitable for Raspberry Pi and embedded systems
- Startup: <1 second on modern hardware
- Syntax highlighting: Real-time, with zero lag even on 100KB+ files
- Tcl/Tk: 8.6+ (all platforms)
- GUI (wish): X11 (Linux), Aqua (macOS), Win32 (Windows)
- TUI (tclsh): All platforms, works over SSH
- Tested on: Debian, Ubuntu, macOS 12+, Windows 10+, Raspberry Pi OS
Not supported:
- Windows TUI (no
sttycommand) - macOS < 10.14
Based on writerdeckForCMD, itself based on bee-write-back.
Designed to run in Tcl/Tk with the help of an LLM (Claude Code). Tcl is a remarkable language!
Copyright (C) 2026 by Luginfo — Zero-Clause BSD License
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted. The software is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.