🌊 WaveEditor

A self-hosted, white-labeled rich-text editor for modern web apps. No external CDN, no surprise bills, free license keys.

🔑 v0.11.0 introduces license keys. All keys are free for now — paste WE-FREE-ANY-PUBLIC2026 into your WaveEditor.init({ license: ... }) call and you're set. Local dev (localhost, .test, .local, .localhost) is exempt and mounts without a key. See Licensing below.

What WaveEditor is

WaveEditor gives web developers a rich-text editor that is owned by the people who use it:

• ✅ Self-hosted — single JS + CSS pair, no external CDN, works offline and behind firewalls
• ✅ Legacy migration aid — accepts the config-string shape used by older WYSIWYG editors, so existing init() calls parse without changes
• ✅ MIT-licensed open core — no GPL contagion, no recurring fees
• ✅ Brandable — full white-label support via CSS variables; ship it under your own product name
• ✅ Commercial-ready — clean separation between free core (Phases 0–3) and future paid tier (Phase 4)

Package

Published on npm as @waveeditor/core.

The unscoped waveeditor name is blocked by npm's anti-typosquatting policy (similarity to the unrelated wangeditor package), so we use the @waveeditor org scope — same convention as TipTap (@tiptap/core), Lexical (@lexical/core), CKEditor 5 (@ckeditor/*). Brand identity stays "WaveEditor" everywhere except the install command.

Licensing

WaveEditor uses a license-key model so we can identify legitimate installs and revoke individual keys if needed. Every key for v0.11 is free.

WaveEditor.init({
  selector: '#editor',
  license: 'WE-FREE-ANY-PUBLIC2026', // free, works on any domain
  plugins: 'bold italic | link image',
  toolbar: 'bold italic | link image',
});

Exempt hosts — local development is never blocked. The following hostnames mount without a license:

localhost · 127.0.0.1 · 0.0.0.0 · *.local · *.test · *.localhost

That covers Laragon, Valet, mDNS, and the typical dev stack. Production domains require a key.

Failure mode is strict. Without a valid key on a non-exempt host, WaveEditor.init() returns null and the target element is replaced by an inline error panel — no silent fallback. This is by design.

Need a key for your own domain or want to ask about the paid tier? Visit waveeditor.co.in.

Quick start

Via npm

npm install @waveeditor/core

import { WaveEditor } from '@waveeditor/core';
import '@waveeditor/core/dist/waveeditor.min.css';

WaveEditor.init({
  selector: '#editor',
  license: 'WE-FREE-ANY-PUBLIC2026',
  plugins:
    'undo redo bold italic underline strikethrough subscript superscript ' +
    'heading blockquote bullet-list ordered-list indent outdent ' +
    'align-left align-center align-right align-justify ' +
    'link unlink image clear-formatting horizontal-rule ' +
    'source-view fullscreen word-count clipboard',
  toolbar:
    'undo redo | bold italic underline strikethrough | ' +
    'heading blockquote | bullet-list ordered-list indent outdent | ' +
    'align-left align-center align-right align-justify | ' +
    'link unlink image | source-view fullscreen',
});

Via CDN (drop-in, no build step)

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/@waveeditor/core/dist/waveeditor.min.css">
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@waveeditor/core/dist/waveeditor.min.js"></script>

For a more compact, cool-blue look (smaller buttons, lighter toolbar), swap the stylesheet — JS is unchanged:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://unpkg.com/@waveeditor/core/dist/waveeditor.classic.min.css">

<div id="editor"></div>
<script>
  WaveEditor.init({
    selector: '#editor',
    license: 'WE-FREE-ANY-PUBLIC2026',
    plugins: 'bold italic link image bullet-list',
    toolbar: 'bold italic | link image | bullet-list',
  });
</script>

The config-string shape is shared with older WYSIWYG editors, so migrating an existing init() block is usually a find-and-replace.

Currently shipped (through v0.9.0)

See docs/api.md for the full public API reference and docs/plugins.md for writing custom plugins.

Examples

HTML demos in examples/ that you can open via npm run dev:

• examples/basic.html — minimal hello-world drop-in (Phase 0 baseline)
• examples/full-toolbar.html — every currently-shipped feature
• examples/phase-1-preview.html — Phase 1 frozen snapshot
• examples/phase-2-preview.html — Phase 2 in-progress delivery record
• examples/tinymce-migration.html — Reference side-by-side comparison with a legacy editor, identical config strings
• examples/docs.html — designed developer guide with live demo

Testing

npm test           # 790+ unit tests
npm run e2e        # Playwright e2e — 25 specs × chromium / firefox / webkit
npm run build      # produces dist/ — waveeditor.min.{js,css} (94 KB / 5 KB gz)
                   #              + waveeditor.classic.min.css (5.5 KB gz)
                   #              + waveeditor.dark.min.css
npm run license:audit  # fails on GPL/AGPL/SSPL

Roadmap

Documentation

Built on

• TipTap — editor engine (MIT)
• ProseMirror — underlying document model (MIT)
• Tabler Icons — icon set (MIT)
• Inter — chrome typeface (OFL)
• JetBrains Mono — monospace typeface (OFL)

Full third-party attributions: NOTICES.md.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for the contribution workflow. The architecture rules and project conventions live in CLAUDE.md.

Security

Found a vulnerability? See SECURITY.md for the responsible disclosure process.

License

MIT — © 2026 Manish Patolia.

WaveEditor is built on MIT-licensed open-source components and is itself MIT-licensed. Commercial premium features (Phase 4+) may be offered under a dual-license model in the future; see docs/design.md §16.