Show HN: Tomoshibi – A writing app where your words fade by firelight

Source: Hacker News

Overview

I spent ten years trying to write a novel. Every time I sat down, I’d write a sentence, decide it wasn’t good enough, and rewrite it. The problem wasn’t discipline—it was that I could always see what I’d written and go back to change it.

The Idea Behind Tomoshibi

“Tomoshibi” is Japanese for a small light in the dark—just enough to see what’s in front of you. The app lets you write on a dark screen where older lines fade, but only when you start writing again. If you pause, the text stays visible. You can edit the current line and the line immediately before it—enough to fix a typo, but not enough to spiral into endless revisions. This “one‑line‑back” rule also helps with a practical issue: Japanese IMEs often insert an accidental newline when confirming kanji.

Features

• Fading text: Older lines disappear gradually as you continue typing.
• Limited editing: Only the current line and the previous line are editable.
• Reader view: A separate mode lets you scroll back through everything you’ve written.
• Persistence: All content is saved locally in the browser; you can export at any time as a .txt file.
• No accounts or servers: Everything runs client‑side with vanilla HTML, CSS, and ES modules.
• Cross‑platform: A native macOS app built with Tauri (with file‑system integration) is forthcoming.

Technical Details

• Storage: Uses the browser’s local storage for persistence.
• Export: Simple text export (.txt).
• Implementation: Pure HTML/CSS/JavaScript (ES modules), no build step required.

Availability

Try it directly in your browser:

A native macOS version is coming to the store.

Personal Experience

I’ve been using Tomoshibi for two months and find that the fading‑by‑firelight approach gives me permission to write without the fear of endless editing. The subtle visual cue of disappearing text encourages forward momentum while still allowing quick fixes for minor mistakes.