"I kept trying every new project/notes tool (Notion, Asana, Trello, etc.) and always ended up back in a plain text file. I wanted something that felt like a text editor on first touch but could grow into real structure when you needed it."
"The tech stack is Laravel, MySQL, Redis, and hand-rolled JavaScript on the client. No frameworks like React/Vue/etc. ~270 lines of jQuery (out of 80k+ total LOC) for a few legacy DOM utilities, plus IndexedDB for local persistence. Real-time collaboration uses a hybrid approach: HTTP/2 POST for resilient ops + WebSockets via Laravel Reverb for live cursors, presence, and edits."
"Paste markdown in, get native blocks. Copy blocks out, get markdown back. Hierarchical document structure. Hierarchical file manager. Live collab with shared cursors, selection, and presence. Code blocks with syntax highlighting. LaTeX math blocks. Full data export: markdown, JSON, and attachments. No lock-in. Full undo/redo with cursor restoration."
Lightwave is a desktop-only notes and project management tool built over three and a half years by a solo developer. It combines the simplicity of plain text editing with optional structural features that emerge when needed. The application uses Laravel, MySQL, Redis, and vanilla JavaScript without React or Vue frameworks. Real-time collaboration is powered by HTTP/2 POST operations for resilience and WebSockets via Laravel Reverb for live cursors, presence, and edits. Key features include markdown import/export, hierarchical document structure, syntax-highlighted code blocks, LaTeX math support, and full undo/redo functionality. The current release is a pre-launch stress test to identify issues through real-world usage before the paid product launch.
#note-taking-application #real-time-collaboration #text-editor #markdown-support #web-application-architecture
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