One thing I’m really enjoying about Lettera: I can keep a Markdown file open, have an AI agent edit it, and watch the text update live without reloading or closing the file.
That turns out to be very useful for the way I’m experimenting with Open Knowledge Format (OKF).
OKF is an open format from Google Cloud for representing knowledge as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter. It is designed to be human-readable, agent-readable, and portable across tools. Although it is presented mostly around data/catalog use cases, I’ve been trying it as a lightweight structure for durable AI context: preferences, workflows, decisions, references, and other knowledge that should persist outside any single chat session or platform.
Lettera feels like a natural fit for this. You can open the whole folder, browse the internal structure, pull up individual notes, and still keep everything transparent and editable. The frontmatter adds just enough structure for future tools or agents, while the body stays normal Markdown.
I’m trying a few AI tools, so moving context between agents has been clunky. So far, OKF plus Lettera feels like a simple, low-friction way to keep that context in files I control and stay tool agnostic. I don’t have any real allegiance to any tool at this point and want to avoid being context trapped if something better comes around (which happens about every 30 days at this point).
And the live updating is the part that surprised me most. Having the file open in Lettera does not block the agent from editing it, and I can see the changes appear as they happen.
Why would any app block the file from editing? I write articles on either my MBA or iMac with iA Writer, edit them on the other, or on my iPad, and with the files open on all of them, they all update. This said, not all apps may update files live, but it could be part of macOS to check files for changes (I also have open files in Numbers).
I’m not sure but most seem to. All MS office apps do, as does LibreOffice. The markdown editors tend to be a little better. I tested to be sure. Marktext just notifies you that the note has changed and makes you reload the file. Obsidian loads the changes live after a short delay but you have to be within a vault which limits its usefulness. Obsidian also deposits proprietary files within your folders if you designate an existing folder a vault which is not good for OKF. Lettera seems to have a unique advantage in being able to just open files wherever, let you and an AI agent have the same file open simultaneously, update live on a short delay while the agent edits. As long as this functionality is preserved, this may be a unique benefit of Lettera for AI users as collaborating with agents take off more and more!
Small positive export note: Lettera seems to omit YAML front matter when exporting Markdown to PDF, while keeping the body formatting intact. That is very useful because it lets the Markdown source keep metadata without exposing it in the finished document. Please keep/document this behavior.
