Cleve 2.1: Desktop Editor

So we shipped the desktop editor. It's been a few months in the making, and honestly, it's the version of Cleve I've been wanting to use myself.

Here's what changed and why we built it this way.

Why Desktop Mattered

When we started building Cleve, mobile made sense. Ideas hit you when you're on the go, and we wanted to make capturing them effortless. But the truth is, when I sit down to actually write something, a proper blog post or a thoughtful LinkedIn article, I'm on my laptop.

The problem was our web app felt like we just stretched the mobile app onto a bigger screen. It worked, but it didn't feel right. You couldn't see your notes and your draft at the same time. The AI chat was hidden in a different tab. It was this constant context switching that drove me crazy.

So we rebuilt it. The new editor has a multi-panel workspace where you can see everything side-by-side: your notes on the left, your writing in the middle, AI chat on the right. It sounds simple, but it completely changes how you work. No more switching tabs and losing your train of thought.

The Editor Itself

The rich text editor with all the basics you need

We wanted something that felt like Apple Notes or Notion: clean, fast, not overwhelming. Just the basics: headings, lists, bold, italic, links. But we also wanted it to be smart about search.

The thing that bugs me about most notes apps is finding stuff later. You remember writing something about "automation" but you can't find it because you actually titled it "How I Save Time." With Cleve, every note gets processed semantically. So when you search for "automation," it finds the right note even if that exact word isn't in there. It just... works.

The "Voice" Thing

AI learning your writing style and voice

This is the part I'm most excited about, but also the hardest to explain without sounding like we're overpromising.

The core problem with AI writing tools is they all sound the same. You can tell when something was written by ChatGPT. It has this... corporate-friendly, overly polite, slightly generic tone that just doesn't sound human.

We wanted Cleve to write like you. Not like an AI pretending to be you. Actually you.

So we built a system that learns from your actual writing. You can import your old LinkedIn posts, tweets, even emails. Cleve reads through them and picks up on your patterns: how you start sentences, what kind of examples you use, how casual or formal you are, the topics you care about.

Import your past posts from LinkedIn, Twitter, and Gmail

Then, every note and draft you write in Cleve gets added to that knowledge base. Over time, the AI has this rich context of how you think and write.

When you ask it to draft something, it's not starting from scratch. It knows what you've written about before, can reference your past thoughts, and matches your tone naturally.

The early feedback has been interesting. People keep saying it feels "weirdly accurate" or "like I wrote it on a good day." That's the goal: not to replace you, but to sound like you when you're at your best.

Drag-and-Drop Context

Drag your notes, guidelines, and past posts into the AI chat

This one's been on the roadmap forever, and I'm glad we finally got it working.

The problem: you're writing something and you want the AI to reference specific things, maybe your brand guidelines, a past post, a voice note with a good story. With ChatGPT or Claude, you end up copy-pasting everything into the chat, and it's just messy. You lose track of what context you gave it.

Now you can just drag items from your sidebar into the chat. The AI knows exactly what you want it to look at. You can add more context or remove stuff as you go. It's way more intuitive than trying to explain "use the tone from my post about X and the structure from my guidelines doc."

It sounds like a small thing, but it makes a huge difference in how natural it feels to work with the AI.

Sync Between Devices

Real-time sync across mobile and desktop

The mobile app and web app are now properly in sync. Like, actually real-time sync.

You can start a voice note on your phone while walking to a meeting, and by the time you open your laptop, it's already transcribed and waiting. Or start a draft on desktop during your focused work time, then finish it on your phone during lunch.

We're using Supabase for the real-time infrastructure, and it's been solid. Everything just shows up where you need it, when you need it.

Multiple AI Models

Access to multiple AI models in one place

Different models are good at different things. Claude's great for creative writing. GPT is better at structured outputs. Perplexity is good when you need current info from the web.

So we just... gave you all of them:

We keep these updated whenever the providers ship new versions.

You can pick which model to use, or just let Cleve choose automatically based on what you're trying to do. Most of the time the auto-routing works fine.

How to Get Started

If you're already using Cleve, the update should just show up. Refresh your browser or update the mobile app.

If you're new:

1. Import your old content

Go to Settings, then Integrations, and connect LinkedIn, Twitter, or Gmail. Cleve will read through your past posts and emails to learn how you write. Takes about 5-10 minutes depending on how much stuff you have.

2. Create some categories

Set up basic categories like "Ideas," "Drafts," "Published." Or organize by topic if that makes more sense for you. It's flexible.

3. Try the AI chat

Ask it to analyze your writing, draft something new, or repurpose old content. The more specific you are about what you want, the better it works.

4. Use drag-and-drop

When you're working on something, drag relevant notes or past posts into the chat. The AI will reference them when drafting.

What's Coming Next

We're already working on 2.2. Some things on the list:

• Collaboration features (sharing categories with teammates)
• A templates system for saving your best prompts
• Browser extension for capturing stuff from the web
• More social integrations (Instagram, Medium, Substack)
• API access for custom integrations

But honestly, what we build next depends on what people actually need. If there's something that would make Cleve way more useful for you, let us know. We're at hello@cleve.ai or on Discord.

That's it. You can try it at app.cleve.ai or download the mobile apps (iOS, Android).

New users get 7 days free. Existing users, the update should already be live.

If you try it, let me know what you think. Seriously. We're still figuring out what people actually need from a tool like this, and the feedback helps a lot.

• Ashvin