Tolstoy Workspace
Compose
Support development Launch Compose
A writing tool for people who think

Write without
the noise.

Compose is a free and focused writing environment for authors, journalists, academics, and knowledge workers. Your files open and save locally, your writing is always yours, and nothing gets in the way of the work.

Tolstoy Workspace
Compose
Part One
Chapter One

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. Everything was in confusion in the Oblonskys' house.

The wife had discovered that the husband was carrying on an intrigue with a French girl, who had been a governess in their family, and she had announced to her husband that she could not go on living in the same house with him.

Saved

What you get

Tools that support long-form thinking.

Rich text editing

Bold, italic, highlight, strikethrough, and inline code. Full formatting control with an interface that stays out of your way.

Headings and structure

H1, H2, and H3 headings build documents with clear hierarchy, from quick outlines to finished, publishable work.

Lists and checklists

Bullet lists, numbered lists, and interactive task checklists. Capture ideas in whatever shape fits your thinking.

Tables

Full table support with row and column controls. Structured data alongside prose, all inside one document.

Footnotes and endnotes

Academic-grade annotation support. Add footnotes, endnotes, or both, formatted correctly for print and PDF export.

Find and replace

Full-document find and replace with live highlighting. Revise terminology across an entire draft in seconds.

Document outline

A live outline panel drawn from your headings. Navigate long documents instantly without losing your place.

Export anywhere

Export to Microsoft Word, PDF, Markdown, email, and more. Your writing leaves Compose in a format that works for you.

Private by design

No required account. No mandatory cloud sync. Your documents stay with you until you choose otherwise.

Who Compose is for

People who work
seriously with words.

Compose was built for people who need a tool that respects their time, their work, and their privacy. The interface stays out of the way so your thinking can stay centre stage.

01
Authors and novelists
Long-form fiction, memoir, biography
02
Journalists
Features, investigations, long reads
03
Academics and researchers
Papers, theses, annotated documents
04
Students
Essays, notes, coursework
05
Knowledge workers
Reports, memos, structured thinking
06
Anyone who thinks in writing
Journals, ideas, personal projects
Bhavesh, the developer and creator of Compose and Tolstoy Workspace, at an airport terminal

Bhavesh
Creator of Tolstoy Workspace

The person behind it

Built on a genuine belief that better tools produce better work.

I built Tolstoy Workspace because serious writing deserves an environment that is fast, private, and completely focused on the work itself. No subscriptions, no analytics, no friction standing between you and the page.

Compose started as something I built for myself. Over time it became something I wanted to share. It's designed around a simple idea: that a writing environment should give you everything you need and nothing you don't.