WrithDeck

🇫🇷 — 📖 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 markers
• File browser with favorites and recent files
• Split view editing (GUI only)
• Table of contents with heading navigation
• Fully themeable interface (dark/light mode, 6 built-in color schemes)
• Multi-language support (English, French, German, Spanish, Korean, Norwegian)
• Clickable toolbar shortcuts
• Writing statistics and daily progress tracking
• 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, or on your desktop, WrithDeck stays lightweight and lets you focus on your text.

Installation

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

Quick Start

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 mode

You 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.

Building from Source

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 languages
• writhdeck-cli.tcl — TUI-only version (no Tk dependency)

Both files are executable and can be distributed as-is.

Internationalization

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.

Code Structure

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

Testing

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 combinations

Tests automatically detect:

• Missing or incomplete translations
• Format string mismatches
• Tcl syntax errors
• Build failures with different language combinations

See tests/README.md for details.

Development

The project uses Claude Code for development:

# Run interactive editor
claude-code .

# Run with fast mode (faster output)
/fast

See CLAUDE.md for coding guidelines and conventions.

Configuration

WrithDeck stores configuration in ~/.writhdeck.ini:

[editor]
profile = default
scheme = dark
lang = en

[behaviour]
line_numbers = true
cursor_restore = true
dark_mode = true

[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.

Performance

• 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

Compatibility

• 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 stty command)
• macOS < 10.14

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Credits

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!

License

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.