Getting Started
Getting up and running with General Text takes about a minute. You can work entirely in your browser, or install the free desktop app to keep your files local-first on your own machine. The steps below are the same either way.
Want to try it before signing up? Open a live demo workspace: no account, nothing to install, right in your browser.
Create an account
Visit the registration page and sign up with your email and a password. After registering, you'll need to verify your email by clicking a link we send you. Afterwards, you'll be signed in automatically and land on Workspaces Home, the page that gathers every account and workspace you belong to.
Get the desktop app
General Text also runs as a free desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, and it's the most local-first way to work. Your workspace files are mirrored to a real folder on your machine as plain text, so you can open them in any editor, the terminal, or a script. The app keeps working offline and syncs in the background whenever you're connected.
Sign in with the same account and every workspace you belong to shows up on your desktop. Download it, or see Desktop App for the details.
Create a workspace
Signing up gives you an account — your @handle, your bill, and the thing that owns your workspaces. A workspace lives inside it and holds files and apps. You'll be prompted to make your first one; give it a name and you're in.
Make as many as you like, for different projects or contexts. Each has its own people and installed apps; storage and sync belong to the account. See Accounts and workspaces.
Add files
Hover a workspace in the sidebar and use its + to add a file, a folder, or an upload. You can also drag files onto the workspace. Organize with paths like notes/ideas.md.
The gallery icon next to it opens the App Gallery filtered to that workspace, for installing an app into it.
Invite collaborators
Open Account → Sharing (the gear on your account in the sidebar) and add someone by email. You pick what they get:
- Admin — everything in the account, including billing.
- Member — the workspaces you choose, plus any workspace set to "everyone in the account" automatically. Counts as a seat.
- Guest — one workspace, free.
Everyone you add can view and edit files in real time. Sharing is managed on the account, so one person added to four workspaces is still one person on your bill.