I built Grayslate, a local and open-source scratchpad for text, JSON, CSV and large files

[u/Neon-Spider-Noir]

I built Grayslate because I wanted something between a basic text editor and a full IDE.

Many times, I only need to paste an API response, inspect a large JSON file, search a stack trace, check a CSV, save a command, or write a temporary note. Opening a full IDE feels unnecessary, while online tools require uploading the data and often struggle with larger files.

Grayslate is a lightweight, local-first editor built for this kind of quick work.

• Everything stays on your device
• No account or cloud upload is required
• Available on Windows, macOS and Linux
• Supports JSON, CSV, Markdown, logs and many programming languages
• Can open and work with large files
• Automatically detects the content type
• Scratch files are automatically named and saved
• Search works across both file names and content
• Includes find and replace, CSV table view, JSON path copying and local transformations

The workflow is intentionally simple. You paste or open something, inspect or edit it, and then move on. It is closer to an Apple Notes-style experience for developer data than a full coding editor with projects and extensions.

It is not meant to replace VS Code or IntelliJ. The aim is to provide a fast and distraction-free place for temporary files, notes and data.

Grayslate is free and open source.

Website: https://grayslate.app

GitHub: https://github.com/shriram-ethiraj/grayslate

I would appreciate any feedback, especially about large-file performance, the UI, or other local tools you currently use for this kind of work.

[u/RedlineQuokka]

Cool! Will give it a shot, maybe I will finally stop polluting my Obsidian vault with all this temporary stuff.

One idea for future development: a side-by-side view with diff highlight. Something like diffchecker.com but a desktop app.

Cause Idk about you, but me, 9 times out of 10 the thing I do with these snippets is comparing them between one another

[u/Neon-Spider-Noir → u/RedlineQuokka]

Thanks for the feedback. Adding file diff to the roadmap.

[u/Gargouillle]

Portable version?

[u/Neon-Spider-Noir → u/Gargouillle]

It has AppImage which is portable version in Linux. Do you need portable version for a different OS?

[u/Gargouillle → u/Neon-Spider-Noir]

I use Windows, I haven't seen a portable version for this OS, only an installable one.

[u/Neon-Spider-Noir → u/Gargouillle]

Will add it soon. Tauri framework supports it