暖簾

Noren

AI writing that sounds like you.
A macOS desktop app that learns your voice and weaves it into everything you write.

Website · Download · Chrome Extension

What is Noren?

Noren extracts your unique writing voice from samples you provide, then uses that voice profile to generate text that sounds like you, not like a chatbot.

Weave - Write a prompt, get voice-matched output. Paste or inject directly into any app.

Chat - Conversational mode with full history and file attachments. Every response is filtered through your voice.

Extract - Feed in writing samples (emails, docs, tweets). Noren distills your tone, rhythm, sentence structure, and vocabulary into a portable voice profile.

Compare - See your voiced output side-by-side with generic AI output. The difference is the product.

Who uses it

• Fiction writers use Noren to preserve narrator, character, and genre voice while drafting or revising with AI. See: AI fiction writing: why every character sounds like ChatGPT
• Newsletter writers use Noren to keep AI drafts from turning into generic content-marketing prose. See: How to use AI for your newsletter without losing your voice
• Founders and operators use Noren for emails, updates, posts, and agent-written communication that should still sound like the person behind it.

How it works

Your writing samples → Voice extraction → Profile (core identity + format contexts)
                                              ↓
Your prompt + profile → LLM → Voice-matched output → Clipboard / Inject into app

The voice profile is a structured document that captures how you write, not what you write about. It travels with you across formats - emails, tweets, docs, Slack messages, adapting enforcement level (strict / guided / light) per use case.

You can inspect what that artifact looks like:

• Raw Markdown sample, using public-safe demo data
• Interactive sample profiles from named public writers

Architecture

noren-app/
├── src-tauri/              Rust backend (Tauri v2)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs         App lifecycle, command registration
│   │   ├── commands/       Tauri IPC commands
│   │   │   ├── generate.rs   Weave generation (voice-aware)
│   │   │   ├── chat.rs       Chat + conversation persistence
│   │   │   ├── extract.rs    Voice extraction orchestration
│   │   │   ├── profiles.rs   Profile CRUD + server sync
│   │   │   ├── settings.rs   Config, provider, hotkey management
│   │   │   ├── billing.rs    Subscription / checkout
│   │   │   └── living_profile.rs  Edit logging + profile evolution
│   │   ├── window.rs       Popup + main window management
│   │   ├── hotkey.rs       Global shortcut (Cmd+K default)
│   │   ├── accessibility.rs  macOS AX API (text capture, injection)
│   │   ├── clipboard.rs    Clipboard read/write
│   │   ├── keychain.rs     macOS Keychain for API keys
│   │   └── tray.rs         Menu bar tray icon
│   └── noren-engine/       Core library (extraction, generation, LLM clients)
│
├── src-frontend/           Svelte 5 + Tailwind v4 frontend
│   └── src/
│       ├── app.css         Design system (Japanese indigo palette, dark mode)
│       └── lib/
│           ├── components/
│           │   ├── Shell.svelte        Popup window shell
│           │   ├── MainShell.svelte    Main app window with sidebar
│           │   ├── GenerateView.svelte Weave interface
│           │   ├── ChatView.svelte     Chat with history + attachments
│           │   ├── ProfilesView.svelte Voice profile viewer/editor
│           │   ├── ExtractView.svelte  Voice extraction flow
│           │   ├── SettingsView.svelte Provider config, billing, hotkey
│           │   └── OnboardingView.svelte  First-run setup
│           ├── api/tauri.ts   Type-safe Tauri command bindings
│           └── stores/        Svelte 5 reactive state (subscription)

Stack

Design

The visual identity draws from Japanese indigo dyeing - the same craft tradition as the noren curtain.

• KON (紺) #1E3148 - deep indigo, primary
• HANADA (縹) #3B6B8A - mid indigo, secondary
• AIJIRO (藍白) #E8EDF2 - palest indigo, tints
• SHU (朱) #C44A2F - persimmon red, accent
• KINU (絹) #F6F1EB - unbleached silk, background
• SUMI (墨) #2B2725 - ink stone, text

Dark mode automatically matches macOS appearance via prefers-color-scheme.

Fonts: Fraunces (headings), Plus Jakarta Sans (body), JetBrains Mono (code).

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust (latest stable)
• Node.js 18+ or Bun
• Tauri CLI - cargo install tauri-cli
• Xcode Command Line Tools - xcode-select --install

Run

# Install frontend dependencies
cd src-frontend && npm install && cd ..

# Development (hot reload)
cargo tauri dev

# Production build
cargo tauri build

The dev build creates a popup window (triggered by global hotkey) and a main app window. The production build outputs Noren.app; public user downloads are signed, notarized .pkg installers built from that app bundle.

Release notes for macOS builds

The app bundles a Chrome native-messaging sidecar for Keychain access. Release builds need both of these files present:

• src-tauri/binaries/noren-keychain-host-aarch64-apple-darwin
• src-tauri/binaries/noren-keychain-host-x86_64-apple-darwin

They are now tracked in git and must stay in sync with src/bin/noren-keychain-host.rs.

If you need to rebuild the sidecars locally:

# Apple Silicon sidecar
cargo build --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml --bin noren-keychain-host --target aarch64-apple-darwin --release
cp src-tauri/target/aarch64-apple-darwin/release/noren-keychain-host src-tauri/binaries/noren-keychain-host-aarch64-apple-darwin

# Intel sidecar
rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin
cargo build --manifest-path src-tauri/Cargo.toml --bin noren-keychain-host --target x86_64-apple-darwin --release
cp src-tauri/target/x86_64-apple-darwin/release/noren-keychain-host src-tauri/binaries/noren-keychain-host-x86_64-apple-darwin

Release build flow:

# ARM app
cargo tauri build

# Intel app
cargo tauri build --target x86_64-apple-darwin

For local signed + notarized builds, the machine must have:

• a Developer ID Application certificate imported into Keychain
• Apple notarization credentials available either as:
  • APPLE_ID, APPLE_PASSWORD, and APPLE_TEAM_ID
  • or a saved notarytool Keychain profile
• the Tauri updater signing key available via:
  • TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY
  • TAURI_SIGNING_PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD

Build public installer packages from the signed .app bundles:

mkdir -p /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z
mkdir -p /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/{aarch64,x64}
ditto src-tauri/target/release/bundle/macos/Noren.app \
  /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/aarch64/Noren.app
ditto src-tauri/target/x86_64-apple-darwin/release/bundle/macos/Noren.app \
  /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/x64/Noren.app
pkgbuild --analyze --root /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/aarch64 \
  /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-aarch64.plist
pkgbuild --analyze --root /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/x64 \
  /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-x64.plist
plutil -replace 0.BundleIsRelocatable -bool NO /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-aarch64.plist
plutil -replace 0.BundleIsRelocatable -bool NO /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-x64.plist
pkgbuild --root /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/aarch64 \
  --install-location /Applications \
  --identifier ink.noren.desktop \
  --version X.Y.Z \
  --component-plist /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-aarch64.plist \
  --sign "Developer ID Installer: Okajevo Onome (YZ64BWQC3R)" \
  /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/Noren_X.Y.Z_aarch64.pkg
pkgbuild --root /tmp/noren-pkg-root-X.Y.Z/x64 \
  --install-location /Applications \
  --identifier ink.noren.desktop \
  --version X.Y.Z \
  --component-plist /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/components-x64.plist \
  --sign "Developer ID Installer: Okajevo Onome (YZ64BWQC3R)" \
  /tmp/noren-release-X.Y.Z/Noren_X.Y.Z_x64.pkg

Keep BundleIsRelocatable set to false; otherwise macOS Installer can update an old copy outside /Applications.

Current public GitHub release assets expected by the website are:

• Noren_X.Y.Z_aarch64.pkg
• Noren_X.Y.Z_x64.pkg

After building, notarize and staple the packages, then upload them to the matching GitHub release with gh release upload ... --clobber.

Install

Current release builds are intended to be:

• Developer ID signed
• notarized by Apple
• stapled before distribution

Users should be able to download the .pkg, run the standard macOS Installer, and open Noren.app from /Applications without unsigned-app warnings.

Inference modes

BYOK (Bring Your Own Key) - Use your own API key with any supported provider. Keys are stored in macOS Keychain, never in config files.

Noren Pro - Managed inference through api.usenoren.ai. No API key needed. Includes server-side voice extraction and profile sync.

License

MIT