# mortenjust/cleartext-mac

A text editor that will help you write clearer and simpler

Repository: https://github.com/mortenjust/cleartext-mac
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/cleartext-mac
Language: Swift
License: GPL-3.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2022-09-15T16:26:46+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3937, "days_push": 1448, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3254, forks 114 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:52.196255+00:00)

## What it is
Cleartext is a macOS text editor that restricts writing to the 1,000 most common English words, inspired by Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer. It highlights uncommon words as you type and includes a simpler thesaurus to suggest easier alternatives.

## Use cases
- write text using only the 1,000 most common English words
- simplify jargon-heavy writing for general audiences
- get simpler word suggestions while writing
- write explanations that anyone can understand
- practice plain-language writing

## When to choose
- you want a fun tool to enforce simple vocabulary on macOS
- you're writing for readers with limited English or plain-language requirements

## When to avoid
- you need a maintained or updated editor (the author recommends Textato instead)
- you need full-featured editing or non-macOS platforms

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: abandoned
- function: editor, nlp
- domain: text-editors, developer-tools
- platform: -
- tags: text-editor, plain-language, vocabulary-limiter, writing-tool, swift, natural-language-processing, macos

## Member repositories
- mortenjust/cleartext-mac (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:52.196255+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:24:23.972282+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/mortenjust/cleartext-mac (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:52.196255+00:00, sha 9763ef539db3)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.