I just launched Rewire Text, a Windows + macOS tool that transforms text in any app at the press of a hotkey. Sits in the menu bar / system tray until needed. Deterministic transforms (case changes, whitespace cleanup, Markdown fixes, encoding, etc.) instantly run on your machine. AI based transforms (style and tone rewrites, proofreading, bullets, summarization, translation, custom, etc.) either use a remote AI API (Gemini, Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, or OpenAI compatible APIs) with your own key (BYOK) or a local AI model via LM Studio, Ollama, or Llama.cpp.
The reason I built this as a single-purchase desktop app with BYOK is mainly because of subscription fatigue. I realize subscriptions make sense for many SaaS apps, but when it comes to desktop apps, I want to own them, not rent them. And with BYOK, you only pay for your actual usage (a free Gemini key or OpenRouter free model might even be sufficient for you - or a local model like Gemma 4). Fully functional 7-day trial, then a core set of transforms continues to function indefinitely. A $29 single purchase unlocks everything for up to two devices.
And building it as a cross-platform app was important to me, as I go back and forth between Windows and macOS throughout the day and want to use a consistent set of tools and workflows. I use Flutter and have been very happy with this choice; Flutter for desktop has come a long way. Happy to elaborate if folks have questions about the tech stack.
On the business side, not earning recurring revenue might not seem like a smart move, but that’s ok. I plan to make up for this by growing this into a suite of apps (Rewire Image is the next one I have planned). I may also charge for major new versions (think every few years), but old versions will continue to work.
I realize there are some existing text transform tools. But most of the ones I found either only support a single platform (Windows or macOS, but not both), or they only support deterministic or only AI transforms - not both. So I figured there’s plenty of room for Rewire Text.
Finally, a little bit about myself: I spent over a decade at Silicon Valley startups, followed by 13 years at Google (most recently as a Senior Engineering Manager on Google Drive). I left in late 2025 to focus on my own projects, and it’s been refreshing to build things end-to-end again.
Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817920](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48817920)
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