Opportunities › Wolfram Language tooling for developers and researchers › Proposed app
Slatebook
Wolfram Language notebooks that start fast, run in the browser and embed anywhere
- Score
- 32
- confidence 45
- Evidence
- 5
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 2
- named in sources
- First version
- 45 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop app
- PWA: runs in the browser, installs on Mac and Windows
- Market since
- 1988
- Mature market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop app: Developers and researchers write symbolic expressions and run long computations in notebooks, embedding results in technical work. Sample screens on a computer, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
Notebook
Offline readyx^3/3 + C
About this appAI proposal
Slatebook is a hosted notebook and script runner for Wolfram Language code. Open a page, type an expression, and get a result right away. It runs in the browser as an installable app, so there is no license key and no install step.
It is for developers and researchers who find Mathematica costly and slow to start, as the Hacker News discussion claims. Notebooks can be shared as links that run for the reader, and cells can be embedded in any web page.
Slatebook is a proposal. It assumes an open-source Wolfram Language engine that compiles to WASM is available to build on. The product is the workspace around it: notebooks, sharing, embedding and team hosting.
- Tagline
- Symbolic math in a browser tab, with no license key.
- Voice
- PlainPreciseQuick
- Why this name
- A slate is where you work a problem out and wipe it clean. Two plain words joined, suggesting a light, quick working space.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Instant start
Notebooks open and evaluate in the browser with no kernel boot, so short scripts feel like a calculator, not a launch.
No member yet
Works offline as an installed app
Install it as a PWA. The engine and your notebooks are cached, so you can keep working with no network.
No member yet
Embeddable live cells
Paste one snippet to put a runnable, editable expression into a blog, course page or documentation site.
No member yet
Shareable run links
Send a link to a notebook. The reader sees results computed in their own browser, with no account needed.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F3A3DDeep Slate · primary#F4F1EAChalk · surface#1F2A2EInk · text#E0902BAmber · accent#5E8C61Moss · data
Typography
Aa
Slatebook
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Symbolic math in a browser tab, with no license key.
PricingAI proposal
The material gives no competitor prices, only that Mathematica is described as costly. These tiers are a starting point to test, and the free tier matches the open-source expectation in the material.
Free
Free
- Public notebooks
- Offline PWA
- Run links
- Community support
Pro
$12 a month
- Private notebooks
- Embeds without branding
- Saved scripts and schedules
- Version history
Team
$40 a month
- Shared workspaces
- Comments and roles
- Priority support
- Usage reports
Would you pay Pro · $12 a month?
Your answer tells PWAS which prices people accept. It changes no score.
No answers yet.
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$194,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- Shared outputs. Authors share run links and embed live cells in blogs, course pages and docs. Readers run the cell in their own browser and see a Slatebook mark with an option to fork it.
- Do they become customers?
- Readers can become paying users when they fork a notebook, but many will only view it. Test the share of readers who fork and the share of forkers who later pay.
- First customers
- University researchers and teaching staff in math-heavy fields who already write Wolfram Language and want to share live examples with students or readers.
- Where to reach them
- Hacker News and developer forums: Post a working demo notebook in threads where Wolfram Language demand has appeared, and ask for feedback.
- Course and lab pages: Offer to embed live cells in a few open course notes and show the result to staff.
- Open-source engine community: Work with the engine's maintainers and list Slatebook as a hosted way to try it.
- First milestone
- Ten paying Pro users from academic labs within 60 days of launch, plus 50 shared notebooks forked by readers.
Why people already pay for this
- Public claimThere is existing demand from Wolfram Language users
- VerifiedHacker News post received 314 points and 46 comments
- Public claimMathematica has slow startup time compared to Woxi
- Public claimMathematica is not embeddable in browsers or applications
- Public claim
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Computation engineOpen-source Wolfram Language engine compiled to WASMRuns code in the browser with fast start. Its coverage of the language must be checked first.
- This app · Sandboxed embedsIframe sandbox with a small embed scriptLets other sites host live cells safely, apart from their own page code.
RisksAI inference
- TechnicalCoverage of the Wolfram Language by an open engine may be partial. Users who hit a missing function may leave, so the first version needs a clear list of what is supported.
- Intellectual propertyWolfram's rights over its language, name and documentation could limit what can be reused or how the product is described. Legal review is needed before launch.
- CommercialUsers expect open-source tools to be free. Paying for hosting, teams and support is unproven for this audience.
- PlatformThe product depends on a third-party open-source engine whose direction and pace the team does not control.
- TechnicalHeavy symbolic work may be slow or use a lot of memory in a browser tab, so large jobs may need server runs.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.