#What is Novel?

Novel, is an open-source WYSIWYG editor developed by Steven Tey, designed to mimic Notion’s intuitive interface with AI-powered autocompletion. Built with Next.js, TypeScript, Tiptap, Tailwind CSS, and OpenAI, it offers a rich text editing experience for developers, writers, and content creators. With 14.8k GitHub stars and 1.2k forks, Novel supports features like image uploads, Markdown export, and customizable extensions, making it ideal for blogs, CMS, or documentation. It’s MIT-licensed, actively maintained (latest release v1.0.2, February 2025), and deployable on Vercel with one click. Community packages extend support to Svelte and Vue, plus a VSCode extension.

#Features ⚡️

• AI Autocompletion: OpenAI-driven text suggestions for faster writing.

• Rich Text Editing: Tiptap-based editor with support for images, links, code blocks, and more.

• Markdown Support: Copy content as Markdown for easy pasting elsewhere.

• Image Uploads: Store images via Vercel Blob with planned UX improvements.

• Cross-Framework: React-based with Svelte and Vue packages.

• VSCode Extension: Edit within VSCode, thanks to contributor @bennykok.

• Customizable: Headless mode and extensible via Tiptap plugins.

#Pros and Cons

#Pros ✅

• Free and Open-Source: MIT license allows full customization.

• Active Community: 14.8k stars, 145+ merged PRs, and maintainer Andrew Doro.

• Modern Stack: Next.js, Tiptap, and Vercel AI SDK for scalability.

• Easy Deployment: One-click Vercel deploy or local setup with pnpm.

• Versatile: Supports blogging, CMS, and academic writing with Markdown and AI.

#Cons ⚠️

• React-Centric: Primarily for React; Svelte/Vue packages are community-maintained.

• API Dependency: Requires OpenAI API key and Vercel Blob token for full functionality.

• Image UX Issues: Image uploads lack smooth preview and link support.

• Learning Curve: Custom extensions need Tiptap and TypeScript knowledge.

#Included Components

• Editor Interface: Notion-style editor with toolbar for formatting, images, and AI completions.

• AI Autocomplete: Inline text suggestions powered by OpenAI.

• Image Uploader: Drag-and-drop or URL-based image insertion.

• Markdown Exporter: Converts content to Markdown via tiptap-markdown.

• Headless Components: Unstyled, composable components for custom builds.

#Pricing 💸

Novel operates on a Free model:

• Free Access: All features, including AI autocompletion and Markdown, are free under the MIT license.

• Requires OpenAI API key (user-provided) for AI features; no premium plans offered.

#Integrations 🧰

• Next.js: Framework for server-side rendering and deployment.

• Tiptap: Core text editor with extensions for rich formatting.

• OpenAI: Powers AI-driven autocompletion.

• Vercel AI SDK: Simplifies AI integration.

• Tailwind CSS: Utility-first styling for responsive design.

• Svelte/Vue: Community packages for non-React frameworks.

• Vercel: One-click deployment and Blob storage for images.

#Conclusion:

Novel is a powerful, Notion-like editor with AI autocompletion, ideal for developers building blogs, CMS, or documentation tools. Its modern stack, active community (14.8k stars), and cross-framework support make it versatile, though image UX and API dependencies need refinement.