miniword 0.1.0

A minimal word processor in Python

MiniWord

A minimal word processor in python. In development but already great.

Key Aspects

• Real WYSIWYG editing (no HTML layer, no embedded browser)
• Lightweight and fast startup
• Clean, simple file format (human-readable, diff-friendly, git-friendly, AI-friendly)
• Good Markdown support
• Extensible via Python-plugins

Download

Pre-built installers for Windows (.exe) and macOS (.dmg) are published on the Releases page for each tagged version. On Linux, install from source via pip (see below) — no separate installer is provided there.

Dependencies

Miniword is developed under Linux. In principle it should run under Windows and Mac as well.

Dependencies vary between platforms and prefered features. You always need Python >= 3.9 and wxPython >= 4.0.

Dependency	Linux	Windows	macOS	Notes
cairocffi	required	required	required	pulled in automatically by pip install .
fontconfig	required	—	required	system CLI-tool
uharfbuzz	optional	optional	optional	needed for ligatures and non-Latin scripts
fonttools	—	optional	—	needed for non-Latin scripts on Windows
mistune	optional	optional	optional	richer Markdown import; falls back to a built-in parser

Running without installation

python miniword.py

Alternatively, double-click miniword.py in your file explorer.

Install (Linux)

Install system dependencies:

sudo apt install python3-wxgtk4.0 fontconfig

For ligature support, non-Latin scripts, and richer Markdown import, install the optional extras:

pip install uharfbuzz mistune

Then install miniword (this also pulls in cairocffi):

cd miniword
pip install .

If you want to register MiniWord to the desktop (you probably will):

cp miniword/icons/miniword.svg ~/.local/share/icons/
cp miniword.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

Install (Windows)

Prefer a ready-made installer? Download the .exe from the Releases page instead of building from source.

No separate Cairo installation is needed — wxPython already bundles libcairo-2.dll, and pip install . pulls in cairocffi to bind to it.

cd miniword
pip install .
pip install uharfbuzz fonttools mistune   # optional: ligatures, non-Latin scripts, richer Markdown import

MiniWord stores its configuration and plugins in %APPDATA%\miniword\ (e.g. C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\miniword\).

Note that MiniWord is not yet optimised for Windows. While it mostly works, the GUI is less polished and startup takes a bit longer.

Install (macOS)

Prefer a ready-made installer? Download the .dmg from the Releases page instead of building from source.

On macOS, fontconfig must be installed via Homebrew:

brew install fontconfig

Then install miniword (this also pulls in cairocffi):

cd miniword
pip install .
pip install uharfbuzz mistune   # optional: ligatures, non-Latin scripts, richer Markdown import

MiniWord stores its configuration and plugins in ~/Library/Application Support/miniword/.

Note that MiniWord has not been tested on macOS.

Hacking

Run the full test suite:

python test_all.py

Run tests for a single module:

python runtests.py miniword/layout/pagegen.py

Run a specific test or demo:

python runtests.py miniword/ui/searchtool.py test_00
python runtests.py miniword/texteditor/textcanvas.py demo_00

Plugins

MiniWord is extensible via Python plugins. To install a plugin, copy the .py file into the plugins directory for your platform:

Platform	Plugins directory
Linux	~/.config/miniword/plugins/
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/miniword/plugins/
Windows	%APPDATA%\miniword\plugins\

Example plugins are provided in the examples/ directory:

File	Description
wordcount.py	Shows a live word count
txtfilter.py	Filter for importing plain text files

To install all example plugins on Linux:

mkdir -p ~/.config/miniword/plugins
cp examples/*.py ~/.config/miniword/plugins

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see LICENSE for details. Contact me if you need something else.