open-press

AI-first fixed-layout document framework for reports, proposals, guides, papers, and books. Creative skills decide what to make; OpenPress handles review, source editing, rendering, PDF/Word export, and web delivery.

OpenPress is for documents where content keeps changing but the output format must stay stable: proposals, whitepapers, reports, course notes, handbooks, and books.

Start

Prerequisite: Node.js 20 or newer. Use Node.js 24 for framework development and Cloudflare Pages builds.

npm create @open-press@latest my-report -- --type pages
cd my-report
npm run dev

This creates an editable A4 MDX document and installs the OpenPress skills. To add another document Press later:

open-press create appendix --type pages --title "Appendix"

Open the workspace in Codex or Claude and ask naturally:

Use OpenPress to turn these notes into a five-page research brief. Start the workbench so I can review the pages before export.

The agent keeps the document in editable source and uses the local Workbench for review before export.

Create With AI

Open the workspace in a skill-aware agent such as Claude Code or Codex CLI:

claude
# or
codex

Ask naturally:

Turn this source folder into a project proposal I can review and deliver as PDF and Word.

Creation is split by artifact type:

• openpress-create-pages creates reports, proposals, papers, books, teaching notes, and handbooks.
• openpress-collaborate coordinates analysis, exact change previews, comments, and reviewed source edits.
• openpress owns CLI lifecycle, validation, rendering, export, and routing.
• openpress-plugins recommends and adapts external specialist skills when they fit the work.
• openpress-upgrade owns package upgrades and workspace migration QA.

For Copilot Chat or other tools that do not auto-discover SKILL.md, see manual agent setup.

Skills

npm create @open-press installs skills automatically. To install or update them separately:

# Install
npx --yes skills@1.5.18 add quan0715/open-press --skill openpress openpress-apply-comments openpress-collaborate openpress-create-pages openpress-plugins openpress-deploy openpress-upgrade --agent universal claude-code --yes

# Update to latest
npm run openpress:skills
# or, in core-only workspaces:
node node_modules/@open-press/core/engine/cli.mjs skills:sync .

# External specialist skills are recommended by openpress-plugins only when needed.

Skills land canonically in .agents/skills/; the installer maintains .claude/skills/ links for Claude Code. OpenPress pins the installer version that supports its Node.js 20 runtime contract, while skill content still refreshes from the latest source revision recorded in skills-lock.json.

Bootstrap Prompts

Use these when the agent does not yet have the OpenPress skills installed.

Create a new workspace (empty folder, no skills):

Run `npx --yes skills@1.5.18 add quan0715/open-press --skill openpress openpress-apply-comments openpress-collaborate openpress-create-pages openpress-plugins openpress-deploy openpress-upgrade --agent universal claude-code --yes`
to install the OpenPress skills.
Once installed, use the openpress-create-pages skill to set up a new workspace
or add a document Press to this folder.

Upgrade an existing workspace:

Use the openpress-upgrade skill.
It updates framework packages and skills, reads applicable migration docs,
scans press/ source, applies confirmed migrations, and loops through Migration QA.

Why OpenPress? (AI Publishing Comparison)

Comparing the 4 primary ways AI generates documents across speed, layout aesthetics, token consumption, and human editability:

Method	Speed	Layout & Aesthetics	Token Cost	Human Editability	Best For
Markdown	🟢 Ultra Fast	🟡 Basic (No pagination, broken layout on PDF export)	🟢 Minimal (Plain text)	🟢 Very Easy (Direct text edits)	Internal notes, rough drafts
Word (DOCX)	🔴 Slow	⚪ Average (Rigid templates, clumsy micro-typesetting)	🔴 High (Script & XML generation overhead)	🟢 Easy (Direct edits in Office)	Legacy corporate memos
HTML	⚪ Medium	⚪ High on screen (Awkward page splits on PDF print)	🔴 Huge (Endless tag & class bloat)	🔴 Very Hard (Heavy tag noise)	Websites, single-page UI
OpenPress ⭐	🟢 Fast	🔴 Print-Grade 300DPI (Fixed-page A4/slides, zero overflow)	🟢 Minimal (3x–5x less tokens than HTML)	🟢 Very Easy (Clean MDX + live preview)	Whitepapers, reports, proposals, books

What You Get

• Fixed-layout documents: A4 or a custom page geometry owned by each Press.
• Press Tree rendering from folder entries such as press/report/press.tsx.
• Multi-Press workspaces for a main document, appendix, handbook, or related editions.
• MDX/TSX authoring with document-owned components, themes, media, and pagination.
• Local workbench with exact AI change previews, source-linked comments, inline editing, mentions, and image export.
• PDF/Word export and Cloudflare Pages deploy workflow.
• Portable skills under .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/.

Framework Development

This repo includes a tracked dogfood workspace in press/.

After pnpm install, install the Playwright browser used for deterministic layout measurement:

pnpm --filter @open-press/core exec playwright install --only-shell chromium

pnpm run dev:workspace  # dogfood press / workbench: http://127.0.0.1:8787/workspace
pnpm run dev:web        # open-press.dev landing site
pnpm run build          # render every Press
pnpm run openpress:pdf  # export PDF
pnpm run openpress:word # export Word DOCX
pnpm run skills:link    # sync framework skills/ (SSOT) to .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

More

Want to	See
CLI commands	docs/cli.md
Press Tree model	docs/press-tree.md
Workbench UI	docs/workbench.md
Skills and routing	docs/skills.md
Release / deploy	docs/release-and-deploy.md
Contribute	CONTRIBUTING.md and AGENTS.md
Changelog	CHANGELOG.md

License

MIT - see LICENSE.