sumdp / rnn-writer

Package for the Atom text editor that provides responsive, inline "autocomplete" powered by a recurrent neural network.

rnn-writer

This is a package for the Atom text editor that works with torch-rnn-server to provide responsive, inline "autocomplete" powered by a recurrent neural network trained on a corpus of sci-fi stories, or another corpus of your choosing.

I explain what this project is all about here; it's probably worth reading that before continuing.

Installation

After downloading and installing Atom, get thee to a command line and do the following:

git clone https://github.com/robinsloan/rnn-writer.git
cd rnn-writer
apm install
apm link

That last command -- apm stands for Atom Package Manager -- tells the application about the package.

Next, open Atom. Go to the Settings screen (cmd+,) and select Packages on the left. rnn-writer should be listed near the top. Enable it. Close Atom and reopen it again. Now you should be able to access rnn-writer's settings -- again, cmd+, and find it near the top.

Configuration

The only thing missing is the location of a server to provide the "autocompletions." You have two options:

1. Download and set up torch-rnn-server along with its dependencies, which are many -- but you can skip several if you're using a pretrained model. After doing this, tell rnn-writer where to find torch-rnn-server, e.g. at http://localhost:8080.
2. Or...

text.bargains :)

I strongly recommend running a local installation of torch-rnn-server, only because it makes the writing experience so very snappy and satisfying. But, if that's too daunting, I'm providing an API at text.bargains through which you can access a trained RNN... running on a computer... sitting under a table... in my office.

If you email me at [e-mail] I'll happily set you up with an API key, with the understanding that this is a service provided for fun and experimentation and it could go offline at any time.

Okay SO: at this point, you either have torch-rnn-server running on your computer, or you've contacted me for a time-limited and vaguely suspicious text.bargains API key. Now, let's

Use this thing!

This package only pays attention to files that have the .txt extension, so if you're typing in a fresh Atom window, be sure to save once (noveldraft.txt?) before proceeding.

One more time: be sure you're looking at a file with the .txt extension. Then:

Activate the package using cmd-shift-R.

Here are the controls, which should feel intuitive:

This key	does this
tab	show suggested completions at the text insertion point
down	scroll down through completions (and get more if necessary)
up	scroll back up
return or tab again	accept the current completion
left or escape	reject all completions and reset
(anything else)	continue editing as usual

You can always use cmd-shift-R to deactivate the package and type normally again.

If you run into problems or have ideas for improvements, don't hesitate to open an issue. This is the first time I've bundled up code for other people to use, so I'm sure I made -- am currently making -- some mistakes.

Enjoy!