The World's First AI-Powered Markdown Editor Named Stylish

It may not be the first AI-powered markdown editor, but this artisinal application coded in Python, Flask, JavaScript, and CSS/HTML definitely exists. This is a local web application that uses OpenAI to process and improve markdown articles according to user-defined custom style guides.

Features

• AI-Powered Processing: Stylish uses OpenAI's GPT models to process markdown content
• Custom Style Guides: You can create and manage multiple style guides for different content types
• Content Analysis: Analyze content for style guide compliance without making changes
• Validation: Built-in markdown validation and issue detection finds common issues

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+
• OpenAI API key

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/KristopherLeads/stylish
cd stylish
# If using MacOS Github desktop, a better command is likely: cd Documents/Github/Stylish

2. Create a virtual environment:

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
# On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate - but this was developed on a Mac so caveat emptor

3. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set up environment variables:

cp env-example.md .env
nano .env
# Edit .env and add your OpenAI API key and Flask string

5. Run the application:

python3 stylish.py

6. Open your browser of choice and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:5000

Shutting Down

To turn off the Stylish service, follow these steps:

Ctrl+C # This shuts down the web server
deactivate # This shuts of the emulated environment

Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

• OPENAI_API_KEY: Your OpenAI API key (required)
• OPENAI_MODEL: OpenAI model to use (default: gpt-3.5-turbo)
• SECRET_KEY: Flask secret key for session security
• FLASK_CONFIG: Set to 'production' for deployment (default: development)

Style Guides

Style guides are stored in the style_guides/ directory as markdown files. You can:

1. Create new style guides through the web interface
2. Manually add .md files to the style_guides/ directory
3. Import existing style guides from other projects

Usage

Creating a Style Guide

Example style guide structure:

# Technical Writing Style Guide

## Voice and Tone
- Use active voice
- Write clearly and concisely
- Maintain a professional tone

## Formatting
- Use ## for main sections
- Use bullet points for lists
- Include code examples in backticks

Processing Content

1. Paste your markdown content in the input area
2. Select a style guide from the dropdown

API Endpoints

The application provides REST API endpoints:

• GET /health - Health check
• GET /api/style-guides - List available style guides
• GET /api/style-guides/<name> - Get specific style guide
• POST /api/style-guides - Create new style guide
• POST /api/process - Process markdown content

Development

Project Structure

stylish/
├── .env-example
├── README.md
├── stylish.py
├── config.py
├── requirements.txt
├── test_openai.py
├── static/
│   ├── css/
│   │   └── style.css
│   └── js/
│       └── main.js
│   └── images/
│       └── stylish-light.png
├── style_guides/
│   └── default.md
├── templates/
│   ├── base.html
│   └── index.html
└── utils/
    ├── markdown_processor.py
    └── openai_client.py

Testing

# Run health check
curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/health

# Test API endpoints
curl -X POST http://127.0.0.1:5000/api/process \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"markdown_content": "# Test", "style_guide_name": "default", "action": "analyze"}'

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

OpenAI API Key Not Working

• Verify your API key is correct and has sufficient credits
• Check that the key is properly set in your .env file
• Ensure that in the process of setting up your .env file, you correctly copied it and changed the name from .example-env to .env

OpenAI Issue with Keyword, e.g. Proxies

• This is a known issue - 1.55.3 was tested to work fine and was the version I used for all testing.
• To install 1.55.3, use this command:

pip install openai==1.55.3

Style Guide Not Found

• Ensure the style guide file exists in the style_guides/ directory
• Check that the filename matches exactly

Processing Takes Too Long

• Large content may take longer to process via OpenAI - if you keep failing processing, consider breaking large documents into smaller sections

Memory Issues

• Restart the application if you encounter memory issues