I just shipped a new feature in PootleWriter that I’ve been wanting for a while: Writing Insights Mode.
It’s a real-time writing analysis tool built directly into the editor — no AI, no external API calls, no text rewriting. Just honest, rule-based feedback about what you wrote.
What it does
Toggle it on with the bar chart icon in the toolbar. As you write, the editor highlights sentences and words that might be worth a second look:
Long sentences (25+ words) get flagged in orange — very long ones in red
Passive voice constructions are underlined in blue
Weak filler words like very, just, basically, and actually are highlighted in purple
Overused transition words get a quiet amber underline
ALL CAPS and excessive punctuation are called out too
On the right, a panel tracks your word count, sentence count, average sentence length, reading level, and estimated read time. It shows a sentence variety breakdown — a useful nudge if all your sentences are running at the same length. It also surfaces overused words and paragraph density warnings for blocks that have gotten too long to scan easily.
Everything is scored from 0 to 100: Clean, Good, Needs Improvement, or Hard to Read.
Why no AI
Because analysis should be deterministic. When the tool says a sentence is 34 words long, that’s a fact. When it flags “was published” as passive voice, you can see exactly why. There’s no black box, no hallucinated suggestions, and nothing that changes between runs. You stay in control of every word.
Try it
Open any post, click the bar chart icon, and start writing. The highlights update live with every keystroke.
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