Quire

A Soulver-style notepad calculator for Linux. Notes and math share one plain-text sheet: you write, and every expression answers on its own line in a results column down the right edge.

The design contract lives in spec.md; the work plan in roadmap.md.

How a sheet reads

Prose, markdown structure, and math share the page, each with its own voice (Kanagawa Dragon by default, Lotus when the desktop asks for light):

# Kitchen remodel

// notes are dimmed italics
cabinets = 2400
counters = 950
total

cabinets and counters render blue (they are variables), the numbers render plain, and the answers column shows cabinets = 2400, counters = 950, total = 3350 live as you type.

• Per-line results as you type; an error belongs to its line and never breaks the others
• Math the way you jot it: 2pi, 3(4 + 5), (1 + 2)(3 + 4) all multiply without an operator, at * precedence
• Variables, bare references (groceries on its own line answers with its value), answer, and total for running subtotals
• Percentage forms that match how they are spoken: 200 + 15% is 230, 15% of 200 is 30, and the reverse questions answer too - 220 is 10% on what, 30 is what percent of 200
• Mixed lines: prose and math on the same line; 50 apples at 3 each evaluates the math and drops the words
• Functions with recursion: fact(0) = 1, fact(n) = n * fact(n - 1), fact(6) → 720
• Tags (@housing, total @housing) that group lines into sheet-wide views, and units with dimension-checked math (5 kg + 300 g, 26.2 miles -> km)
• Line references (&4 + 1 answers with line 4's result plus 1) that follow their line when the sheet shifts (a menu toggle, on by default) - and they work in both directions: the sheet re-evaluates until forward references settle, so a summary line at the top can cite the derivation at the bottom
• Dates: tomorrow, 90 minutes from now, 3 weeks from today
• Recurring amounts: $1200/month, 60/quarter answer as rates that keep their period, add across periods, and total dimension-checked (a forgotten /month fails its total instead of under-counting); $ before a number is decoration
• Currency conversion (offline-first): 50 USD -> EUR against cached ECB daily rates
• Hand-typed price snapshots with dates (aapl = 10 * 190 @ 2026-10-06); portfolio, budget (with budget-vs-actual variance), trip, a mortgage walkthrough whose summary cites its own derivation, a freelance invoice with discount and VAT, a Complex Sample for scientists, and two dev torture sheets (a Stress Test and an Error Zoo) ship as templates in the menu
• Math functions from the engine's prelude: sqrt(144) is 12, sin(30 deg) is 0.5, log10 and friends work right on a sheet
• Ctrl+click a math line for its step-by-step breakdown; Ctrl+click a - [ ] checkbox to tick it
• Answers align on the decimal point within each heading region, and the Outline button lists headings plus every defined name
• Markdown structure (headings, lists, task checkboxes, emphasis, // comments) as styled text; documents are plain UTF-8, no lock-in
• Tab completes variable and unit names (acting only on a unique match)
• The caret's line carries a subtle band, so you always know where you are; Ctrl+click anywhere in it to break down the math
• Errors show a red underline on the exact failing token; hover the red cell for the full message
• quire-cli: a sheet in, its answers column out - as text or JSON, for terminals, scripts, and agents (--stats reports the fixed-point pass count); QUIRE_DEBUG=1 turns on the app's per-burst diagnostics
• Wayland-native GTK4, no libadwaita, Kanagawa-themed through vir-gtk, bundled JetBrains Mono

Status

1.0 shipped. The whole Soulver-depth surface is in: arithmetic with implicit multiplication, every percentage form including the reverse questions in words, variables and totals, functions with recursion, tags, mixed lines, self-updating line references, dates, recurring amounts, currency, units, math functions, Tab completion, the step-by-step breakdown popover, task-list checkboxes, decimal-aligned answer regions, and the template menu (portfolio, budget with actuals, trip, and a Complex Sample for scientists). Development continues toward budget and portfolio depth.

Building

Rust 1.88+ and the GTK 4 + GtkSourceView 5 development packages (gtk4-devel and gtksourceview5-devel on Fedora, libgtk-4-dev and libgtksourceview-5-dev on Debian/Ubuntu).

cargo build
cargo test

Or the full desktop install through Meson, which puts the binary, desktop entry, icons, .quire mime type, and GSettings schema in the usual system places:

meson setup builddir --prefix=/usr
meson install -C builddir

First run installs JetBrains Mono (SIL OFL 1.1, bundled) under ~/.local/share/fonts/Quire/ and the sheet language and color schemes under ~/.local/share/quire/; nothing else is assumed of the system. The install and the startup extraction are independent: either alone gives a working Quire.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.