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About Marginalia

A reading-and-writing studio for the classroom. Everything stays in your browser.

Your work

Notes, freewrites and journal pages are saved in this browser as you type. Clearing browser data erases them, and lab machines get wiped — so export your work to a file and keep it somewhere you control.

Reading closely

Select any passage and ask a question; the answer lands in the margin beside the text and is saved with it. Freewriting is private, never graded, never shared.

AI

Optional, and off by default — everything here works without it. A local model via Ollama keeps your reading on this computer; a hosted one receives the passage you ask about.

Two thinking partners

After Peter Elbow's believing and doubting game: Socrates questions and presses, Elbow takes your idea seriously and helps you build it out.

Version 1.0.0 · built August 22, 2026 · 3.4 MB across 25 files

fits on 3 × 1.44 MB floppy disks

Socrates

Choose which model gives Socrates his voice. He reads alongside you.

Local model (Ollama)
Private · runs on this computer · no key, no internet.
Local
Anthropic Claude
Your own key. Claude Sonnet — powerful and precise.
Own Key
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Free tier via Google. Use a personal Gmail account.
Free
Groq (GPT-OSS 120B)
Free tier. Any email — no Google account needed.
Free

Notebook

Your private notes on this reading — yours alone unless you share one.
iThis is your freewrite — raw, private thinking, in the spirit of Peter Elbow. Keep your pen moving; nothing here is graded or shared. It saves itself automatically. When a page is worth keeping, hit “Add freewrite to notebook” to tear it off into a dated page below — which you can still re-open, edit, or delete anytime. It's your writing.
Your freewrite is always saved — no need to save or cancel · “Add freewrite to notebook” keeps a dated page (still editable).
Your pages
Margin Notes Personal — Auto-saved
✎
Select any passage in the text,
then ask a question.
Your thread will appear here.