11 ms·

Scramble: Open-Source Alternative to Grammarly

416 points by zlwaterfield 2y ago

ziddoap 2y ago
Privacy.md needs to be updated. >If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at [your contact information].
zlwaterfield 2y ago
After years with Grammarly, I wanted a simpler, cheaper way to improve my writing. So I built Scramble, a Chrome extension that uses an LLM for writing enhancements. Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local) - Pre-defined prompts for various improvements - Highlight text and wait for suggestions - Currently fixed to GPT-4-turbo Future plans: add LLM provider/model choice, custom prompts, bug fixes, and improve default prompts. It's probably buggy, but I'll keep improving it. Feedback welcome. GitHub: https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble
- _HMCB_ 2y ago
  This is awesome. Can’t wait to install it and put it through its paces.
- compootr 2y ago
  how much does it cost in a normal day?
  - pkhamre 2y ago
    What is a normal day?
    - exe34 2y ago
      a day when nothing too unusual happens.
    - compootr 2y ago
      like what he's spending on average. Maybe sending some emails, writing or proofreading some docs -- what you'd do in a business day
  - Tepix 2y ago
    Don't think about money. Think about the cost in terms of forgone privacy.
    - compootr 2y ago
      to protect your privacy from grammarly you fork over your data to openai?
      - Tepix 2y ago
        Hopefully we soon get local llm support
- TheRealPomax 2y ago
  Does it work in "not a browser" though? Because that's the last place I need this, I really want this in Typora, VS Code, etc. instead.
  - zlwaterfield 2y ago
    Not right now. Looking into a mac app. This was just a quick and dirty first go at it.
    - TheRealPomax 2y ago
      Makes sense. Strongly hope it won't be a "mac app" but a cross-platform application instead though, nothing worse than having a great mac app that you can't use 50% of the time because your work computer's a mac and your personal computer's a windows machine because you like playing games.
- kylebenzle 2y ago
  Without marketing speak can I ask why anyone would have a need for a service like grammerly, I always thought it was odd trying to sell a subscription based spell checker (AI is just a REALLY good spell checker).
  - gazereth 2y ago
    Non-native speakers find it useful since it doesn't just fix spelling but also fixes correctness, directness, tone and tense. It gives you an indication of how your writing comes across, e.g. friendly, aggressive, assertive, polite. English can be a very nuanced language - easy to learn, difficult to master. Grammarly helps with that.
  - rlayton2 2y ago
    I'm a big fan of Grammarly and have been using it, and paying for it, for years. The advantage is not spell checking. It is grammar and style improvements. It tells you things like "this language is informal", or "this is a better word for that".
  - mhuffman 2y ago
    The "grammar" part, at least in a professional setting. You might be shocked at how many people will write an email pretty much like they would talk to friends at a club or send a text message (complete with emojis!) or just generally butcher professional correspondence.
    - dotancohen 2y ago
      So it may be more attractive to employers to check their employees' output, rather than an individual checking his own?
      - oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
        No, it's also useful to check your own writing. I've used it as both an Editor and a Writer.
  - 2y ago
- lhousa 2y ago
  Rookie question: the openAPI endpoint costs extra right? Not something that comes with chatGPT or chatGPT+.
  - paraknight 2y ago
    Yes
  - Szpadel 2y ago
    yes, but gpt-4o-mini costs very little so you probably will spend well under $1/month
    - miguelaeh 2y ago
      I don't think the point here should be the cost, but the fact that you are sending everything you write to OpenAI to train their models on your information. The option of a local model allows you to preserve the privacy of what you write. I like that.
      - nickthegreek 2y ago
        Openai does not train models on data that comes in from the API. https://openai.com/policies/business-terms/ https://openai.com/policies/business-terms/
        punchmesan 2y ago
        Assuming for the moment that they aren't saying that with their fingers crossed behind their back, that doesn't change the fact that they store the inputs they receive and swear they'll protect it (Paraphrasing from the Content section of the above link). Even if it's not fed back into the LLM, the fact that they store the inputs anywhere for a period of time is a huge privacy risk -- after all a breach is a matter of "when", not "if".
  - zlwaterfield 2y ago
    Correct but I'm going to loom into a locally running LLM so it would be free.
- xdennis 2y ago
  > Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local) Sorry, but we have a fundamental disagreement on terms here. Sending requests to OpenAI is not 100% local. The OpenAI API is not free or open source. By your definition, if you used the Grammarly API for this extension it would be a 100% local, open source alternative to Grammarly too.
  - zlwaterfield 2y ago
    Agree, I want to add a local LLM set up. The wording there isn't great.
reynaldi 2y ago
Awesome, I was just about to look for something like this and it showed up on HN!
vunderba 2y ago
Nice job—I'm always a fan of 'bring your own key' (BYOK) approaches. I think there's a lot of potential in using LLMs as virtual copy editors. I do a fair amount of writing and have actually put together several custom GPTs, each with varying degrees of freedom to rewrite the text. The first one acts strictly as a professional editor—it's allowed to fix spelling errors, grammatical issues, word repetition, etc., but it has to preserve the original writing style. I do a lot of dictation while I walk my husky, so when I get back home, I can run whisper, convert the audio to text, and throw it at the GPT. It cleans it up, structures it into paragraphs, etc. Between whisper/GPT, it saves me hours of busy work. The other one is allowed to restructure the text, fix continuity errors, replace words to ensure a more professional tone, and improve the overall flow. This one is more reserved for public communique such as business related emails.
- thankyoufriend 2y ago
  Very cool! I'd be interested in reading more about your dictation-to-text process if you documented it somewhere, thanks. My partner and I were just talking about how useful that would be, especially driving in the car when all of the "we should..." thoughts come out of hiding. Capturing those action items more organically without destroying the flow of the conversation would be heavenly.
- copperx 2y ago
  I do something similar. I have a custom Gemini Gem that critiques my writing and points out how I can better my paragraphs, but I do the bulk of the rewriting myself. I'm not a native speaker, and the nice thing about this approach is that I seem to be learning to write better instead of just delegating the task to the machine.
- edweis 2y ago
  > I'm always a fan of 'bring your own key' (BYOK) approaches. "Bring your own key" has the same amount of syllables as "BYOK"
  - closetkantian 2y ago
halJordan 2y ago
Seems like it just has some prebaked prompts right now. FF's AI integration does this much already with custom prompts and custom providers. Pls let me set my own base url. So many tools already support the openai api. All of that to say, this is of course a great addition to the ecosystem.
ofou 2y ago
Loved it. I'd love to use something like "right-click, fix grammar" under iOS—not just rewrite. I want to keep my own voice, just with minimal conformant grammar as a second-language speaker.
- rafram 2y ago
  AFAIK Apple Intelligence will include essentially that.
  - ofou 2y ago
    let's hope the rumors are real
rafram 2y ago
Grammarly grammar checking predates modern LLMs by many years, so I assume they’re actually using some kind of rule-based engine internally.
- keiran_cull 2y ago
  From what I understand, they've used a whole bunch of different kinds of AI models over the years. They've been reasonably transparent about how things work, e.g. this blog post from 2018: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/transforming-writing-style-with-ai/ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/transforming-writing-style-wi...
- TheRealPomax 2y ago
  This pretends that LLMs aren't just "more machine leearning", which they simply are.
- tiew9Vii 2y ago
  I was a big fan of Grammarly, as dyslexic, so often write the wrong word then ten minutes later when re-reading spot i used the wrong word/spelling etc. It worked extremely well, as you say I think by using basic rules engines. I’ve canceled my subscription recently as found it getting worse, not better, I suspect because they are now applying LLMs. The suggestions started to make less sense and the problem with LLM suggestions is all your writing takes the tone of the LLM, you loose your personality/style in what you write. The basic rules approach worked much better for me.
mobscenez 2y ago
That's awesome, Grammarly is good but not as good as large language models such as GPT-4. I have been waiting for a tool that incorporates LLMs into grammar checks for a long time and here it comes! Hope it can integrate Anthropic API in the near future.
peterweyand38 2y ago
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peterweyand38 2y ago
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raverbashing 2y ago
> open-source Chrome extension > It's designed to be a more customizable and privacy-respecting alternative to Grammarly. > This extension requires an OpenAI API key to function I disagree with this description of the service No, it's not an "Open Source alternative to grammarly", it's an OpenAI wrapper
- 8f2ab37a-ed6c 2y ago
  Wonder if there's an option to somehow pipe the prompting to a local ollama instead.
  - raverbashing 2y ago
    That would be an interesting possibility
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Agree, wording could be improved. I'm gonna add local LLM support.
polemic 2y ago
Seems a stretch to call it open source.
- insane_dreamer 2y ago
  Disagree. The fact that it can call another closed-source service doesn't mean that this tool itself is not open source.
- WA 2y ago
  Seems a stretch to call it "more privacy-friendly" if it talks to OpenAI.
- senko 2y ago
  The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch?
  - trog 2y ago
    > The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch? Speaking for myself, I clicked on this thinking it might be open source in the sense of something I can run fully locally, like with a small grammar-only model.
    - n_plus_1_acc 2y ago
      Check out languagetool, as mentioned in other comments. It isbtruly open source
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    The MIT licensed code is a wrapper for the OpenAI API. That OpenAI API provides the core functionality, and it is not open source.
  - TheDong 2y ago
    Code is only copyrightable if it has any element of creativity. This repo is _only_ really 7 sentences, like "Please correct spelling mistakes in the following text: " (these https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b9359737836c5cf96a4d87ef76f992/background.js#L3-L9 https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b935...) Everything else is uncreative, and possibly un-copyrightable, boilerplate to send those sentences to OpenAI. All of the creative software happens on OpenAI's servers using proprietary code.
Alex4386 2y ago
People really should stop calling a glorified openAI API as an open-source software.
- jillesvangurp 2y ago
  There are several free alternatives to OpenAI that use the same API; which would make it possible to substitute OpenAI for one of those models in this extension. At least on paper. There is an open issue on the github repository requesting something like that. So, it's not as clear cut. The general approach of using LLMs for this is not a bad one; LLMs are pretty good at this stuff.
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    Yes, but the API at the end is providing the core functionality. Simply swapping out one LLM model for another - let alone by a different company altogether - will completely change the effectiveness and usefulness of the application.
    - JCharante 2y ago
      everyone stands on the shoulders of giants.
      - sham1 2y ago
        Things standing on the shoulders of proprietary giants shouldn't claim to be free software/open source.
        t-writescode 2y ago
        Their interfacing software __is__ open source; and, they're asking for your OpenAI api key to operate. I would expect / desire open source code if I were to use that, so I could be sure my api key was only being used for my work, so it's only my work that I'm paying for and it's not been stolen in some way.
conradklnspl 2y ago
How does this compare to https://languagetool.org https://languagetool.org, which is also open source? I'm not sure what kind of AI Languagetool uses but it works really well!
- patrakov 2y ago
  LanguageTool is not open source; it is open core. There are proprietary "premium rules," and you won't get them in a self-hosted version.
  - conradklnspl 2y ago
    They use the LGPL license for a lot of their work. https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/blob/master/COPYING.txt https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/blob/master...
  - dns_snek 2y ago
    Self hosted & open core seems distinctly better than an open wrapper around a black box core that's hosted by a 3rd party.
slg 2y ago
I have been using LanguageTool[1] for years as "an open source alternative to [old school] Grammarly". It doesn't do that fancy "make this text more professional" AI stuff like this or Grammarly can now do, but they offer a self-hosted version so you don't need to send everything you write to OpenAI. If all you want is a better spelling/grammar checker, I highly recommend it. [1] - https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool
- weinzierl 2y ago
  It's great. I had a subscription for Grammarly for a couple of years and used both tools in parallel, but found myself mostly using languagetool increasingly. It is strictly better, I'd say even for English but certainly if you need other languages or deal with multilingual documents. So I canceled Grammarly and didn't miss it since. You also can self-host and we do that at my workplace, because we deal with sensitive documents.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- isaacfrond 2y ago
  And you can write your own custom rules. It's great as a reward for spotting an error in your writing you get to write a tiny little bit of code to spot it automatically next time. I've collected hundreds.
  - divan 2y ago
    Is there a way to add and use niche custom terminology?
    - herrherrmann 2y ago
      You can add your own words to your account, if that’s what you mean!
    - 2y ago
remoquete 2y ago
In the same space, I recommend checking out the Vale linter. Fairly powerful and open source, too. And doesn't rely on a backend. https://vale.sh https://vale.sh
- loughnane 2y ago
  I love vale. I’ve been using it for years. I branched rules from someone trying to emulate the economist style guide and kept tweaking. I like this approach so much better than leaning on AI because it’s more my “voice”. https://github.com/loughnane/style https://github.com/loughnane/style
037 2y ago
An alternative from the developer of Coolify. It’s no longer for sale, but the page mentions he’ll open-source it: https://safetyper.com/ https://safetyper.com/
reify 2y ago
I also use LanguageTool easy to install in LibreOffice
isaacfrond 2y ago
Nowadays I just load the whole thing in to chatgpt and it checks the whole thing better than I ever could. You got to be clear what you want do in the prompt. Don't change my writing! only correct errors.
nucleartux 2y ago
I made the same thing, but it works without ChatGPT key: https://github.com/nucleartux/ai-grammar/ https://github.com/nucleartux/ai-grammar/
- creesch 2y ago
  That looks pretty neat, how well does the gemini nano model work for this? Is it just picking up spelling errors or also looking things like punctuation?
  - nucleartux 2y ago
    It actually works pretty well. It fixes all grammar mistakes and punctuation and changes words if they don’t fit. The only downside is that, because it’s a very small model, it sometimes produces completely nonsensical or incomplete responses. I haven’t figured out how to fix this yet. You can have a look at the screenshots in the repository or on the store page.
- Tepix 2y ago
  Nice. Can you please add support for contacting your own private OpenAI compatible server (like ollama)?
  - nucleartux 2y ago
    Yes, it's on my roadmap!
bartread 2y ago
> It's designed to be a more customizable and privacy-respecting alternative to Grammarly. Kind of a shame it says it’s specifically for Chrome then. Where’s the love for Firefox?
- daef 2y ago
  upping this - I won't install chrome :)
shahzaibmushtaq 2y ago
Grammarly was here before the AI boom, so Grammarly isn't just dependent on AI, but also heavily on HI.
nik736 2y ago
How is it more privacy respecting when it's sending stuff to OpenAI servers?
lccerina 2y ago
It uses OpenAI, so it's not open source. Keep this shit away from me.
Festro 2y ago
So it doesn't provide realtime feedback on your writing within a dialog box like Grammarly does? It's just a (non-open source) OpenAI set of pre-written prompts? Come on. Pitch this honestly. It'll save me clicks if I'm using an LLM to checker grammar already, but if I use Grammarly it's not an alternative at all. Not by a long way.
ichik 2y ago
For me the huge part of Grammarly's magic is that it's not just in the browser, but in any text input on desktop with their desktop app (with some exceptions). Having it only in only in one application just doesn't cut it, especially since it's not my browser of choice. Are there any plans regarding desktop integration. Linux is woefully underserved in this space with all major offerings (Grammarly, Languagetool) having only macOS/Windows versions.
- bukacdan 2y ago
  I have developed a system-wide writing assistant like you're describing. By design, it has no exceptions to where it works. Currently, it's only for Mac, but I'm working on an Electron version too (though it's quite challenging). Check out https://steerapp.ai/ https://steerapp.ai/
  - ichik 2y ago
    Is the Electron version supposed to be available on Linux? I see only mentions of Windows on the website.
HL33tibCe7 2y ago
This is exactly as open source as a Chrome extension wrapping Grammarly’s API would be, i.e. not at all.
gaiagraphia 2y ago
>Important: This extension requires an OpenAI API key to function. You need to provide your own API key in the extension settings. Please visit OpenAI to obtain an API key. Obviously not important enough to put in the title, or a submission statement here, though. Curious.
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Honestly just an oversight. I want to remove that dependancy anyways with an open source model.
janandonly 2y ago
I am currently paying for LaguageTool but I will definitely give this open source software a try !
miguelaeh 2y ago
I am a Grammarly user and I just installed Scramble to try it out. However, it does not seem to work. When I click on any of the options, nothing happens. I use Ubuntu 22.04. Also, to provide some feedback, it would be awesome to make it automatically appear on the text areas and highlight errors like Grammarly does, it creates a much better UX.
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Agree - I want to improve the UX, this was just a quick attempt at it. Thanks for the feedback!
  - miguelaeh 2y ago
    You're welcome! Let me know if you plan to integrate local models as mentioned in other comments, I am working on something to make it transparent.
lvl155 2y ago
I am building something similar to Grammarly as a personal project but quickly realized how hard it is to get data in 2024. Contemplating whether I should just resort to pirated data which is just sad.
- closetkantian 2y ago
  To be fair, OpenAI used pirated data
- highcountess 2y ago
  I’m just going to remind everyone that all these LLMs were also trained on not just pirated, but all out stolen data in organized and resourced assaults on proprietary information/data, not even to mention roughshod ignoring any and all licenses.
Technetium 2y ago
They proclaim "privacy-respecting" but all your keystrokes go to OpenAI. Horrific and genuinely upsetting. Edit: The author replied to another comment that there is an intent to add local AI. If that is the plan, then fix the wording until it can actually be considered privacy-respecting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579144
- segmondy 2y ago
  much ado about nothing, the code is there, edit it and use a local AI.
  - contagiousflow 2y ago
    But the code as give is said to respect privacy.
- sharemywin 2y ago
  settings for opting out of training etc. for OpenAI https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-faq https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-fa...
  - lawlessone 2y ago
    Be surprised if thats honored
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- charlie0 2y ago
  Lol, this was my second thought immediately after my first, which was one of excitement. Hope the author does add a option for local. Wonder how that would work as a Chrome extension. Doesn't seem like a good idea for extensions to be accessing local resources though.
chilipepperhott 2y ago
While Scramble doesn't seem to respect your privacy, a project I've been working on does. Meet Harper https://github.com/elijah-potter/harper https://github.com/elijah-potter/harper
- singhrac 2y ago
  I think Harper is very cool, and you should sell it better. It's a local-only low latency & static (no Python) LanguageTool alternative. It doesn't use a large language model.
aDyslecticCrow 2y ago
Grammarly is a lifesaver for my day-to-day writing. All it does is correct spelling and punctuation or give rephrase suggestions. But Grammarly does it so unreasonably well that nothing else compares. Grammarly's core functionality is not even LLM-based; it's older than that. Recently, they've crammed in some LLM features that I don't care a snoot about compared to its core functionality. This tool, like any other "Grammarly alternative," is just another GPT wrapper to rewrite my text in an overly verbose and soulless way. I was hoping for a halfway-decent spelling corrector.
- funshed 2y ago
  Absolutely! Being dyslexic, Grammarly is much more than the AI tool that was recently added, which is great, too.
the_arun 2y ago
Do we need OpenAI for this? Can’t we have an LLM sitting locally work?
grayxu 2y ago
One strong point of Grammarly comes from its friendly display of diffs (which is somewhat similar to what Cursor does). This project simply uses some predefined prompts to generate text and then replaces it. There are countless plugins that can achieve this, such as the OpenAI translator. If this tool really wants to compete with Grammarly.
mproud 2y ago
F*ck Grammarly.
kirso 2y ago
Is there something like that for VSCode?
ully 2y ago
I installed the extensio on vivaldi and added an openAI api key, which registered as "saved". But when I click on the extension it still says "API key not set. Please set it in the options." Can anyone help

416 points by zlwaterfield 2y ago

Privacy.md needs to be updated. >If you have any questions about this privacy policy, please contact us at [your contact information].

zlwaterfield 2y ago

After years with Grammarly, I wanted a simpler, cheaper way to improve my writing. So I built Scramble, a Chrome extension that uses an LLM for writing enhancements. Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local) - Pre-defined prompts for various improvements - Highlight text and wait for suggestions - Currently fixed to GPT-4-turbo Future plans: add LLM provider/model choice, custom prompts, bug fixes, and improve default prompts. It's probably buggy, but I'll keep improving it. Feedback welcome. GitHub: https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble

_HMCB_ 2y ago
This is awesome. Can’t wait to install it and put it through its paces.
compootr 2y ago
how much does it cost in a normal day?
- pkhamre 2y ago
  What is a normal day?
  - exe34 2y ago
    a day when nothing too unusual happens.
  - compootr 2y ago
    like what he's spending on average. Maybe sending some emails, writing or proofreading some docs -- what you'd do in a business day
- Tepix 2y ago
  Don't think about money. Think about the cost in terms of forgone privacy.
  - compootr 2y ago
    to protect your privacy from grammarly you fork over your data to openai?
    - Tepix 2y ago
      Hopefully we soon get local llm support
TheRealPomax 2y ago
Does it work in "not a browser" though? Because that's the last place I need this, I really want this in Typora, VS Code, etc. instead.
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Not right now. Looking into a mac app. This was just a quick and dirty first go at it.
  - TheRealPomax 2y ago
    Makes sense. Strongly hope it won't be a "mac app" but a cross-platform application instead though, nothing worse than having a great mac app that you can't use 50% of the time because your work computer's a mac and your personal computer's a windows machine because you like playing games.
kylebenzle 2y ago
Without marketing speak can I ask why anyone would have a need for a service like grammerly, I always thought it was odd trying to sell a subscription based spell checker (AI is just a REALLY good spell checker).
- gazereth 2y ago
  Non-native speakers find it useful since it doesn't just fix spelling but also fixes correctness, directness, tone and tense. It gives you an indication of how your writing comes across, e.g. friendly, aggressive, assertive, polite. English can be a very nuanced language - easy to learn, difficult to master. Grammarly helps with that.
- rlayton2 2y ago
  I'm a big fan of Grammarly and have been using it, and paying for it, for years. The advantage is not spell checking. It is grammar and style improvements. It tells you things like "this language is informal", or "this is a better word for that".
- mhuffman 2y ago
  The "grammar" part, at least in a professional setting. You might be shocked at how many people will write an email pretty much like they would talk to friends at a club or send a text message (complete with emojis!) or just generally butcher professional correspondence.
  - dotancohen 2y ago
    So it may be more attractive to employers to check their employees' output, rather than an individual checking his own?
    - oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
      No, it's also useful to check your own writing. I've used it as both an Editor and a Writer.
- 2y ago
lhousa 2y ago
Rookie question: the openAPI endpoint costs extra right? Not something that comes with chatGPT or chatGPT+.
- paraknight 2y ago
  Yes
- Szpadel 2y ago
  yes, but gpt-4o-mini costs very little so you probably will spend well under $1/month
  - miguelaeh 2y ago
    I don't think the point here should be the cost, but the fact that you are sending everything you write to OpenAI to train their models on your information. The option of a local model allows you to preserve the privacy of what you write. I like that.
    - nickthegreek 2y ago
      Openai does not train models on data that comes in from the API. https://openai.com/policies/business-terms/ https://openai.com/policies/business-terms/
      - punchmesan 2y ago
        Assuming for the moment that they aren't saying that with their fingers crossed behind their back, that doesn't change the fact that they store the inputs they receive and swear they'll protect it (Paraphrasing from the Content section of the above link). Even if it's not fed back into the LLM, the fact that they store the inputs anywhere for a period of time is a huge privacy risk -- after all a breach is a matter of "when", not "if".
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Correct but I'm going to loom into a locally running LLM so it would be free.
xdennis 2y ago
> Key features: - Uses your OpenAI API key (100% local) Sorry, but we have a fundamental disagreement on terms here. Sending requests to OpenAI is not 100% local. The OpenAI API is not free or open source. By your definition, if you used the Grammarly API for this extension it would be a 100% local, open source alternative to Grammarly too.
- zlwaterfield 2y ago
  Agree, I want to add a local LLM set up. The wording there isn't great.

reynaldi 2y ago

Awesome, I was just about to look for something like this and it showed up on HN!

vunderba 2y ago

Nice job—I'm always a fan of 'bring your own key' (BYOK) approaches. I think there's a lot of potential in using LLMs as virtual copy editors. I do a fair amount of writing and have actually put together several custom GPTs, each with varying degrees of freedom to rewrite the text. The first one acts strictly as a professional editor—it's allowed to fix spelling errors, grammatical issues, word repetition, etc., but it has to preserve the original writing style. I do a lot of dictation while I walk my husky, so when I get back home, I can run whisper, convert the audio to text, and throw it at the GPT. It cleans it up, structures it into paragraphs, etc. Between whisper/GPT, it saves me hours of busy work. The other one is allowed to restructure the text, fix continuity errors, replace words to ensure a more professional tone, and improve the overall flow. This one is more reserved for public communique such as business related emails.

thankyoufriend 2y ago
Very cool! I'd be interested in reading more about your dictation-to-text process if you documented it somewhere, thanks. My partner and I were just talking about how useful that would be, especially driving in the car when all of the "we should..." thoughts come out of hiding. Capturing those action items more organically without destroying the flow of the conversation would be heavenly.
copperx 2y ago
I do something similar. I have a custom Gemini Gem that critiques my writing and points out how I can better my paragraphs, but I do the bulk of the rewriting myself. I'm not a native speaker, and the nice thing about this approach is that I seem to be learning to write better instead of just delegating the task to the machine.
edweis 2y ago
> I'm always a fan of 'bring your own key' (BYOK) approaches. "Bring your own key" has the same amount of syllables as "BYOK"
- closetkantian 2y ago

halJordan 2y ago

Seems like it just has some prebaked prompts right now. FF's AI integration does this much already with custom prompts and custom providers. Pls let me set my own base url. So many tools already support the openai api. All of that to say, this is of course a great addition to the ecosystem.

ofou 2y ago

Loved it. I'd love to use something like "right-click, fix grammar" under iOS—not just rewrite. I want to keep my own voice, just with minimal conformant grammar as a second-language speaker.

rafram 2y ago
AFAIK Apple Intelligence will include essentially that.
- ofou 2y ago
  let's hope the rumors are real

rafram 2y ago

Grammarly grammar checking predates modern LLMs by many years, so I assume they’re actually using some kind of rule-based engine internally.

keiran_cull 2y ago
From what I understand, they've used a whole bunch of different kinds of AI models over the years. They've been reasonably transparent about how things work, e.g. this blog post from 2018: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/transforming-writing-style-with-ai/ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/transforming-writing-style-wi...
TheRealPomax 2y ago
This pretends that LLMs aren't just "more machine leearning", which they simply are.
tiew9Vii 2y ago
I was a big fan of Grammarly, as dyslexic, so often write the wrong word then ten minutes later when re-reading spot i used the wrong word/spelling etc. It worked extremely well, as you say I think by using basic rules engines. I’ve canceled my subscription recently as found it getting worse, not better, I suspect because they are now applying LLMs. The suggestions started to make less sense and the problem with LLM suggestions is all your writing takes the tone of the LLM, you loose your personality/style in what you write. The basic rules approach worked much better for me.

mobscenez 2y ago

That's awesome, Grammarly is good but not as good as large language models such as GPT-4. I have been waiting for a tool that incorporates LLMs into grammar checks for a long time and here it comes! Hope it can integrate Anthropic API in the near future.

peterweyand38 2y ago

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peterweyand38 2y ago

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raverbashing 2y ago

> open-source Chrome extension > It's designed to be a more customizable and privacy-respecting alternative to Grammarly. > This extension requires an OpenAI API key to function I disagree with this description of the service No, it's not an "Open Source alternative to grammarly", it's an OpenAI wrapper

8f2ab37a-ed6c 2y ago
Wonder if there's an option to somehow pipe the prompting to a local ollama instead.
- raverbashing 2y ago
  That would be an interesting possibility
zlwaterfield 2y ago
Agree, wording could be improved. I'm gonna add local LLM support.

polemic 2y ago

Seems a stretch to call it open source.

insane_dreamer 2y ago
Disagree. The fact that it can call another closed-source service doesn't mean that this tool itself is not open source.
WA 2y ago
Seems a stretch to call it "more privacy-friendly" if it talks to OpenAI.
senko 2y ago
The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch?
- trog 2y ago
  > The source seems to be at the linked repo, and the license is MIT. How’s that a stretch? Speaking for myself, I clicked on this thinking it might be open source in the sense of something I can run fully locally, like with a small grammar-only model.
  - n_plus_1_acc 2y ago
    Check out languagetool, as mentioned in other comments. It isbtruly open source
- dotancohen 2y ago
  The MIT licensed code is a wrapper for the OpenAI API. That OpenAI API provides the core functionality, and it is not open source.
- TheDong 2y ago
  Code is only copyrightable if it has any element of creativity. This repo is _only_ really 7 sentences, like "Please correct spelling mistakes in the following text: " (these https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b9359737836c5cf96a4d87ef76f992/background.js#L3-L9 https://github.com/zlwaterfield/scramble/blob/2c1d9ebbd6b935...) Everything else is uncreative, and possibly un-copyrightable, boilerplate to send those sentences to OpenAI. All of the creative software happens on OpenAI's servers using proprietary code.

Alex4386 2y ago

People really should stop calling a glorified openAI API as an open-source software.

jillesvangurp 2y ago
There are several free alternatives to OpenAI that use the same API; which would make it possible to substitute OpenAI for one of those models in this extension. At least on paper. There is an open issue on the github repository requesting something like that. So, it's not as clear cut. The general approach of using LLMs for this is not a bad one; LLMs are pretty good at this stuff.
- dotancohen 2y ago
  Yes, but the API at the end is providing the core functionality. Simply swapping out one LLM model for another - let alone by a different company altogether - will completely change the effectiveness and usefulness of the application.
  - JCharante 2y ago
    everyone stands on the shoulders of giants.
    - sham1 2y ago
      Things standing on the shoulders of proprietary giants shouldn't claim to be free software/open source.
      - t-writescode 2y ago
        Their interfacing software __is__ open source; and, they're asking for your OpenAI api key to operate. I would expect / desire open source code if I were to use that, so I could be sure my api key was only being used for my work, so it's only my work that I'm paying for and it's not been stolen in some way.

conradklnspl 2y ago

How does this compare to https://languagetool.org https://languagetool.org, which is also open source? I'm not sure what kind of AI Languagetool uses but it works really well!

patrakov 2y ago
LanguageTool is not open source; it is open core. There are proprietary "premium rules," and you won't get them in a self-hosted version.
- conradklnspl 2y ago
  They use the LGPL license for a lot of their work. https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/blob/master/COPYING.txt https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool/blob/master...
- dns_snek 2y ago
  Self hosted & open core seems distinctly better than an open wrapper around a black box core that's hosted by a 3rd party.

slg 2y ago

I have been using LanguageTool[1] for years as "an open source alternative to [old school] Grammarly". It doesn't do that fancy "make this text more professional" AI stuff like this or Grammarly can now do, but they offer a self-hosted version so you don't need to send everything you write to OpenAI. If all you want is a better spelling/grammar checker, I highly recommend it. [1] - https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool https://github.com/languagetool-org/languagetool

weinzierl 2y ago
It's great. I had a subscription for Grammarly for a couple of years and used both tools in parallel, but found myself mostly using languagetool increasingly. It is strictly better, I'd say even for English but certainly if you need other languages or deal with multilingual documents. So I canceled Grammarly and didn't miss it since. You also can self-host and we do that at my workplace, because we deal with sensitive documents.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
isaacfrond 2y ago
And you can write your own custom rules. It's great as a reward for spotting an error in your writing you get to write a tiny little bit of code to spot it automatically next time. I've collected hundreds.
- divan 2y ago
  Is there a way to add and use niche custom terminology?
  - herrherrmann 2y ago
    You can add your own words to your account, if that’s what you mean!
  - 2y ago

remoquete 2y ago

In the same space, I recommend checking out the Vale linter. Fairly powerful and open source, too. And doesn't rely on a backend. https://vale.sh https://vale.sh

loughnane 2y ago
I love vale. I’ve been using it for years. I branched rules from someone trying to emulate the economist style guide and kept tweaking. I like this approach so much better than leaning on AI because it’s more my “voice”. https://github.com/loughnane/style https://github.com/loughnane/style

037 2y ago

An alternative from the developer of Coolify. It’s no longer for sale, but the page mentions he’ll open-source it: https://safetyper.com/ https://safetyper.com/

reify 2y ago

I also use LanguageTool easy to install in LibreOffice

isaacfrond 2y ago

Nowadays I just load the whole thing in to chatgpt and it checks the whole thing better than I ever could. You got to be clear what you want do in the prompt. Don't change my writing! only correct errors.

nucleartux 2y ago

I made the same thing, but it works without ChatGPT key: https://github.com/nucleartux/ai-grammar/ https://github.com/nucleartux/ai-grammar/

creesch 2y ago
That looks pretty neat, how well does the gemini nano model work for this? Is it just picking up spelling errors or also looking things like punctuation?
- nucleartux 2y ago
  It actually works pretty well. It fixes all grammar mistakes and punctuation and changes words if they don’t fit. The only downside is that, because it’s a very small model, it sometimes produces completely nonsensical or incomplete responses. I haven’t figured out how to fix this yet. You can have a look at the screenshots in the repository or on the store page.
Tepix 2y ago
Nice. Can you please add support for contacting your own private OpenAI compatible server (like ollama)?
- nucleartux 2y ago
  Yes, it's on my roadmap!

bartread 2y ago

> It's designed to be a more customizable and privacy-respecting alternative to Grammarly. Kind of a shame it says it’s specifically for Chrome then. Where’s the love for Firefox?

daef 2y ago
upping this - I won't install chrome :)

shahzaibmushtaq 2y ago

Grammarly was here before the AI boom, so Grammarly isn't just dependent on AI, but also heavily on HI.

nik736 2y ago

How is it more privacy respecting when it's sending stuff to OpenAI servers?

lccerina 2y ago

It uses OpenAI, so it's not open source. Keep this shit away from me.

Festro 2y ago

So it doesn't provide realtime feedback on your writing within a dialog box like Grammarly does? It's just a (non-open source) OpenAI set of pre-written prompts? Come on. Pitch this honestly. It'll save me clicks if I'm using an LLM to checker grammar already, but if I use Grammarly it's not an alternative at all. Not by a long way.

ichik 2y ago

For me the huge part of Grammarly's magic is that it's not just in the browser, but in any text input on desktop with their desktop app (with some exceptions). Having it only in only in one application just doesn't cut it, especially since it's not my browser of choice. Are there any plans regarding desktop integration. Linux is woefully underserved in this space with all major offerings (Grammarly, Languagetool) having only macOS/Windows versions.

bukacdan 2y ago
I have developed a system-wide writing assistant like you're describing. By design, it has no exceptions to where it works. Currently, it's only for Mac, but I'm working on an Electron version too (though it's quite challenging). Check out https://steerapp.ai/ https://steerapp.ai/
- ichik 2y ago
  Is the Electron version supposed to be available on Linux? I see only mentions of Windows on the website.

HL33tibCe7 2y ago

This is exactly as open source as a Chrome extension wrapping Grammarly’s API would be, i.e. not at all.

gaiagraphia 2y ago

>Important: This extension requires an OpenAI API key to function. You need to provide your own API key in the extension settings. Please visit OpenAI to obtain an API key. Obviously not important enough to put in the title, or a submission statement here, though. Curious.

zlwaterfield 2y ago
Honestly just an oversight. I want to remove that dependancy anyways with an open source model.

janandonly 2y ago

I am currently paying for LaguageTool but I will definitely give this open source software a try !

miguelaeh 2y ago

I am a Grammarly user and I just installed Scramble to try it out. However, it does not seem to work. When I click on any of the options, nothing happens. I use Ubuntu 22.04. Also, to provide some feedback, it would be awesome to make it automatically appear on the text areas and highlight errors like Grammarly does, it creates a much better UX.

zlwaterfield 2y ago
Agree - I want to improve the UX, this was just a quick attempt at it. Thanks for the feedback!
- miguelaeh 2y ago
  You're welcome! Let me know if you plan to integrate local models as mentioned in other comments, I am working on something to make it transparent.

lvl155 2y ago

I am building something similar to Grammarly as a personal project but quickly realized how hard it is to get data in 2024. Contemplating whether I should just resort to pirated data which is just sad.

closetkantian 2y ago
To be fair, OpenAI used pirated data
highcountess 2y ago
I’m just going to remind everyone that all these LLMs were also trained on not just pirated, but all out stolen data in organized and resourced assaults on proprietary information/data, not even to mention roughshod ignoring any and all licenses.

Technetium 2y ago

They proclaim "privacy-respecting" but all your keystrokes go to OpenAI. Horrific and genuinely upsetting. Edit: The author replied to another comment that there is an intent to add local AI. If that is the plan, then fix the wording until it can actually be considered privacy-respecting: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41579144

segmondy 2y ago
much ado about nothing, the code is there, edit it and use a local AI.
- contagiousflow 2y ago
  But the code as give is said to respect privacy.
sharemywin 2y ago
settings for opting out of training etc. for OpenAI https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-faq https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-fa...
- lawlessone 2y ago
  Be surprised if thats honored
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
charlie0 2y ago
Lol, this was my second thought immediately after my first, which was one of excitement. Hope the author does add a option for local. Wonder how that would work as a Chrome extension. Doesn't seem like a good idea for extensions to be accessing local resources though.

chilipepperhott 2y ago

While Scramble doesn't seem to respect your privacy, a project I've been working on does. Meet Harper https://github.com/elijah-potter/harper https://github.com/elijah-potter/harper

singhrac 2y ago
I think Harper is very cool, and you should sell it better. It's a local-only low latency & static (no Python) LanguageTool alternative. It doesn't use a large language model.

aDyslecticCrow 2y ago

Grammarly is a lifesaver for my day-to-day writing. All it does is correct spelling and punctuation or give rephrase suggestions. But Grammarly does it so unreasonably well that nothing else compares. Grammarly's core functionality is not even LLM-based; it's older than that. Recently, they've crammed in some LLM features that I don't care a snoot about compared to its core functionality. This tool, like any other "Grammarly alternative," is just another GPT wrapper to rewrite my text in an overly verbose and soulless way. I was hoping for a halfway-decent spelling corrector.

funshed 2y ago
Absolutely! Being dyslexic, Grammarly is much more than the AI tool that was recently added, which is great, too.

the_arun 2y ago

Do we need OpenAI for this? Can’t we have an LLM sitting locally work?

grayxu 2y ago

One strong point of Grammarly comes from its friendly display of diffs (which is somewhat similar to what Cursor does). This project simply uses some predefined prompts to generate text and then replaces it. There are countless plugins that can achieve this, such as the OpenAI translator. If this tool really wants to compete with Grammarly.

mproud 2y ago

F*ck Grammarly.

kirso 2y ago

Is there something like that for VSCode?

ully 2y ago

I installed the extensio on vivaldi and added an openAI api key, which registered as "saved". But when I click on the extension it still says "API key not set. Please set it in the options." Can anyone help