Cognitience WP

The VS Code of word processors.

An open-source, extensible word processor built on Electron and TypeScript. Cognitience WP brings the power and flexibility of VS Code's extension ecosystem to the world of document editing.

Download & Install

Download from the releases page:

• Cognitience WP Setup 1.1.0.exe — One-click NSIS installer (desktop + Start Menu shortcuts)
• Cognitience-WP-Portable-1.1.0.exe — Single portable EXE (no install needed, just run)

Features

Core Editor

• Rich text editing with full formatting toolbar
• Headings (H1-H6), bold, italic, underline, strikethrough
• Subscript, superscript, and text highlighting
• Bullet lists, numbered lists, and checklists
• Tables, code blocks, quote blocks, horizontal rules
• Links and images
• Text and background color selection
• Font size control
• Paragraph alignment (left, center, right, justify)
• Spell check (SymSpell-based, offline, custom dictionary), auto-save, find and replace

Document Templates

• arXiv Research Paper — Academic paper format with two-column layout, abstract, sections, equations, tables, and references
• Outline — Hierarchical numbered outline with sections, subsections, and bullets
• Email — Formal email with To/From/Subject headers, greeting, body, and signature block
• Book Manuscript — Novel/nonfiction format with title page, copyright page, chapter headings, and scene breaks

Access via Insert → Templates, or the Command Palette.

Export Formats

• .cog — Cognitience WP native format (v3.0.0: Markdown body + YAML frontmatter, human & AI readable)
• .md — Markdown (headings, lists, tables, code blocks, links, images, checklists)
• .txt — Plain text
• .html — Standalone HTML with embedded CSS
• .pdf — PDF via Electron printToPDF (A4)
• .docx — Microsoft Word (Office Open XML, built from scratch)
• .doc — Word 97-2003 (RTF format)

User Interface

• VS Code-inspired layout: activity bar, sidebar, editor area, status bar
• Command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) with 60+ commands
• 4 themes: Dark, Light, Sepia, High Contrast
• Focus mode for distraction-free writing
• Document outline (auto-generated from headings)
• Context menu, notification system
• Custom title bar with window controls
• Status bar (word count, reading time, cursor position, theme, spellcheck)
• In-app settings with Updates, Templates, and Plugin Development panels

Auto-Update

• Check for updates from GitHub Releases directly in Settings
• One-click download and install

Extension System (VS Code-style)

• package.json manifest with contributes
• Extension API: commands, editor, documents, notifications, statusBar, toolbar (SVG buttons), config, fs, logger
• Activation events: onStartup, onCommand, onLanguage, onDocumentOpen, etc.
• Install/uninstall/enable/disable/reload from Extensions sidebar
• Plugin format: .cogwp (ZIP archives, like .vsix for VS Code)
• SVG toolbar buttons — plugins can add buttons to the toolbar with SVG icons
• Plugin scaffold wizard — Help → Developer: Create New Plugin auto-generates the boilerplate
• Plugin documentation built into the Settings panel

Plugin Compatibility (External Tools)

• JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio protocol
• External tools (Claude Code, Codex, etc.) can plug in
• Full editor access: get/set content, selection, insertion
• Language-agnostic (Node.js, Python, anything that speaks JSON-RPC)
• See Plugin Protocol

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Shortcut | Action | |----------|--------| | Ctrl+N | New Document | | Ctrl+O | Open File | | Ctrl+S | Save | | Ctrl+Shift+S | Save As | | Ctrl+F | Find | | Ctrl+H | Replace | | Ctrl+B | Bold | | Ctrl+I | Italic | | Ctrl+U | Underline | | Ctrl+K | Insert Link | | Ctrl+1-6 | Headings | | Ctrl+Shift+P | Command Palette | | Ctrl+Shift+F | Focus Mode | | Ctrl+Shift+O | Toggle Outline | | Ctrl+, | Settings | | F11 | Full Screen |

Build from Source

npm install
npm run build
npm start          # Run in dev
npm run package:win  # Build installer + portable EXE (Windows)

Creating an Extension

See Extension API Guide.

1. Use Help → Developer: Create New Plugin to scaffold a new plugin
2. Edit the generated package.json, main.js, and icon.svg
3. Zip the folder and rename to .cogwp
4. Install via Extensions → Install from .cogwp...

Or manually:

1. Create a directory in %APPDATA%/cognitience-wp/extensions/my-extension/
2. Add a package.json with manifest
3. Create main.js with exports.activate = function(ctx) { ... }
4. Restart Cognitience WP

Architecture

• Main Process: WindowManager, MenuBuilder, IPCRegistry, ExtensionHost, PluginHost, ExportManager, ConfigStore, UpdateChecker
• Preload: Secure contextBridge (contextIsolation, no nodeIntegration, sandboxed)
• Renderer: HTML/CSS/JS editor with full formatting toolbar, templates, spellcheck
• Declared runtime dependencies — js-yaml (.cog), jszip/jsdom (docx export), adm-zip (.cogwp install), marked/mammoth (import); config stored as plain JSON

License

MIT — © wailonbrowngh