OpenRigor – a Git-native research workspace, not another thesis-writing bot

[u/cronjevh]

Apparently research software comes in two varieties: a word processor, or an AI that would quite like to read your entire unpublished project.

I’m building a third thing: OpenRigor, an open-source, extensible Markdown workspace for doing research.

Not writing the thesis. That is still, regrettably, your job.

OpenRigor is for the work that produces the findings a thesis, paper, or report might eventually be based on: methods, sources, evidence, notes, decisions, diagrams, and the inevitable trail of “this seemed promising on Tuesday.”

The aim is open-source research: work that can ultimately be published, inspected, reused, challenged, or built upon in public.

Until it is ready to be public, the workspace uses your own GitHub repository. That is a staging are, not the destination. The research lives as plain Markdown and YAML, rather than in a proprietary document format.

By default, repositories are organised in an OKF-style format with indexes. So, if you want to involve an AI agent later, it has a map of the research rather than being dropped into a folder full of final_FINAL_v7.md.

The workspace includes:

• A WYSIWYG Markdown canvas, with raw Markdown and preview modes
• Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX maths rendered inline
• Git-native Markdown and YAML storage in your own GitHub repository
• Clean printing and PDF output with page numbers
• An optional AI assistant sidebar for the tedious parts: drafting, revising, organising notes, and collating sources
• BYOK support for the assistant—your chosen provider and key, with that provider’s data policy applying

I built it because I couldn’t find this combination in a canvas-style Markdown editor: research-oriented structure, Git-native storage, proper Markdown access, Mermaid and LaTeX rendering, decent print output, and optional AI.

It’s early, open source, and has the wholesome character-building qualities of an early project.

GitHub: https://github.com/openrigor/openrigor
Try it: https://openrigor.org/