Hi all , I'm Pratik, a solo developer in London, and this is my app, so please read with that in mind. Ten years as a lead engineer in fintech before leaving last year to build this; it's just me , I write the code, answer the support emails, and make the coffee.
The problem I built it for: everyone I worked with had the same ritual , type a message, re-read it four times, paste it into some tool, fix it, paste it back, send. Fifty times a day. And the tools that "help" all flatten you into the same polished-corporate voice, whether you're writing to a client or your best mate.
So Lyra works differently. It's a menu bar app: you type anywhere , Mail, Slack, WhatsApp, Safari, Notes ,pause, and a small pill offers a better version of your sentence. Tab accepts it; keep typing. No separate window, no copy-paste, no red underlines mid-thought.
The part I spent the longest on: it learns how you write to each specific person, from your own sent messages, and matches that register. Your emails to a client and your messages to a friend stop coming out of the same neutral mould. As far as I know, no other writing tool models the relationship.
Under the hood, since this forum will ask: deterministic rule-based grammar plus a local model running on Apple Silicon handle everyday fixes , that's the free tier, fully offline. Heavier restructuring uses a cloud model on the trial/Pro tier, and a strict Local-Only mode disables all network use entirely if that's your line. Requires macOS 14+, M1 or later, and Accessibility permission (that's how it reads and replaces text system-wide , happy to go into the technical details).
14-day trial, free tier after, $9.99/mo or $99/yr for Pro: heylyra.co.uk
Genuinely happy to answer anything , including the skeptical questions; those tend to improve the app fastest!
The problem I built it for: everyone I worked with had the same ritual , type a message, re-read it four times, paste it into some tool, fix it, paste it back, send. Fifty times a day. And the tools that "help" all flatten you into the same polished-corporate voice, whether you're writing to a client or your best mate.
So Lyra works differently. It's a menu bar app: you type anywhere , Mail, Slack, WhatsApp, Safari, Notes ,pause, and a small pill offers a better version of your sentence. Tab accepts it; keep typing. No separate window, no copy-paste, no red underlines mid-thought.
The part I spent the longest on: it learns how you write to each specific person, from your own sent messages, and matches that register. Your emails to a client and your messages to a friend stop coming out of the same neutral mould. As far as I know, no other writing tool models the relationship.
Under the hood, since this forum will ask: deterministic rule-based grammar plus a local model running on Apple Silicon handle everyday fixes , that's the free tier, fully offline. Heavier restructuring uses a cloud model on the trial/Pro tier, and a strict Local-Only mode disables all network use entirely if that's your line. Requires macOS 14+, M1 or later, and Accessibility permission (that's how it reads and replaces text system-wide , happy to go into the technical details).
14-day trial, free tier after, $9.99/mo or $99/yr for Pro: heylyra.co.uk
Genuinely happy to answer anything , including the skeptical questions; those tend to improve the app fastest!
