After nearly two years of development, I have finally decided to open-source Typstify.

Typstify was born from a sudden spark of inspiration. The moment I first encountered Typst, I knew it was the ideal language and tool I had been searching for. I was used to writing in Markdown and using markup languages like PlantUML for diagrams, but those tools never felt quite right. I wanted something that allowed for truly free expression. While existing tools are great, LaTeX never clicked for me; the user experience felt cumbersome, making it hard to stick with. Almost immediately, I decided to build an editor for Typst. It was a reckless move—I didn’t even know if anyone else was working on something similar—but that’s how it all started.

Early on, I built a very basic demo to validate the concept. The results were promising, but I realized I needed more components to make it a reality. Since I was exploring Gioui at the time, I thought it would be a good fit. However, the ecosystem was lean; the essential components I needed, like a robust code editor or a file browser, simply didn’t exist. I didn’t have the courage to build them from scratch right away, so the project went on hiatus.

Months later, I finally dove back in and produced the first version. Seeking some financial sustainability, I released it as closed-source software and began selling licenses. When I shared the project on the Typst subreddit, I received a mix of encouragement and valid questions about why it wasn’t open source. I told them I wanted the project to be sustainable. Looking back, I was quite naive. I have to admit that the first version was incredibly rough: the editor struggled to display code properly, the preview had major performance issues, and file management was primitive. Yet, people actually tried it out, and their engagement deeply encouraged me.

However, a poor product experience is hard to sustain. Interest in Typstify began to wane, and I found myself bogged down in development hurdles, feeling my passion slowly drain. I asked myself if I should just give up. During that period of uncertainty, I received a few paid orders. It was a moment of pure joy; I knew those users weren’t just buying software—they were encouraging me to keep going.

Over the past year, updates have been sparse. Between tackling “thorny” technical bugs and balancing other work commitments, development sometimes came to a standstill. I felt a deep sense of guilt over the long gaps between releases; version 1.5.0, for instance, was delayed for over six months. But I knew I couldn’t stop. I knew Typstify users were still waiting.

Today, with the release of v1.7.0, Typstify’s core features have stabilized, finally giving me the breathing room to add smaller requested features. I’ve realized that my individual energy is no longer enough to take this project where it needs to go. It is time to embrace the power of the community. This transition has been months in the making, and now that everything is ready, I want to give my users the transparency they deserve.

To my early paid users: I am profoundly grateful. Without you, this project would have folded long ago. I hope to provide compensation through future services once your current licenses conclude. To those who patiently reported bugs and offered feedback: thank you for showing me that Typstify is something people truly need.

To everyone following this journey: if you want to help improve Typstify, the best way is to follow the new GitHub repository, submit issues, and let me know which features you want to see next.

Thank you all!