Pencil
Pencil is an editable form builder and feedback workspace with branching questions, published forms, results, branding, response email, embeds, a bounded Typeform JSON/CSV importer and a Google Forms CSV-first importer with an optional forms.get definition. To bring existing forms and historical responses into an editable draft, read the moving-in guide.
Company agents
The shared /mcp door supports native form design and lifecycle work for a linked company owner under signed policy. People review approvals and Pause at /agents; draft edits retain native version guards and activity attribution. See the company-agent guide for supported jobs, record links and current limits.
Run it on your computer
Pencil runs on macOS, Linux or Windows with WSL2. Git is required; rer brings Node and pnpm. This one-liner matches the Run page:
curl -fsSL https://runeditrun.com/install.sh | sh -s -- dev just-every/run-pencil
Or install rer first, then start Pencil:
curl -fsSL https://runeditrun.com/install.sh | sh
"$HOME/.local/bin/rer" dev just-every/run-pencil
To start it again later, open a terminal in the folder containing run-pencil and run:
cd run-pencil && "$HOME/.local/bin/rer" dev
The installer does not edit your shell profiles. Use "$HOME/.local/bin/rer" for the other rer commands below if $HOME/.local/bin is not on your PATH; adding that directory to PATH for future terminals is optional.
If you already have Node.js 22 or later with npm on PATH, you can instead use npx -y @runeditrun/rer dev just-every/run-pencil. To set Pencil up without starting it, use "$HOME/.local/bin/rer" setup just-every/run-pencil.
The global rer installation is the launcher. Inside this checkout, rer uses the exact @runeditrun/rer version in package.json and its lockfile; rer --version can show both versions. A different global launcher version does not change Pencil's pin. Keep that pin when following these instructions.
rer dev installs locked dependencies and prepares a local owner on first launch, without a separate setup command. Optional rer setup --owner-email [email protected] --owner-name Owner prepares a local owner with your chosen details; reruns preserve existing owner, data and exact private settings. Dev prints its health-gated application URL and opens signed in: it prints RER_SIGNED_IN (who the browser will be) and RER_OPEN, a link for this computer that carries this checkout's private dev key in its fragment. Open it and the app signs you in as the local owner and takes you to /setup to finish your business name and time zone; finished setup enters the app. Open the private RER_OPEN link to continue as the owner in one click. Local mail is silently suppressed. Use rer dev --as operator or --as signed-out to select a different dev persona. The product name and title read Pencil Dev, without an injected bar or captured-mail inbox.
rer demo runs a disposable, signed-in Pencil Demo with the Aurora Coffee sample workspace. Public reads run for real; mail and third-party effects return success without sending. Demo state lives in .rer/demo/ and is removed on stop; the owner's .wrangler/state is preserved.
Read the guide at /docs on your copy (its source is docs/guide); / is the Lobby (Finish setup until first-run setup is confirmed, then Sign in), with /pencil redirecting there. An explicitly selected public landing flow in Settings keeps its existing respondent experience at /; Pencil's product page is the run site, run-pencil.com, built by rer build --site; published forms also keep their /f/<slug> links.
Keep .dev.vars private. Use --port PORT for an explicit loopback port. Stop dev with Ctrl-C or rer dev --stop.
To upgrade a local install to newer source, stop dev, export, pull, then run rer install, rer setup and rer dev; Upgrading a local install has the steps. rer dev also applies pending migrations before it serves, and refuses to start with "run rer setup" if it cannot.
The source checks below need Node.js 22 or later with npm on your shell PATH, including when you started with the no-Node installer. Check node --version and npm --version before continuing. To retry an interrupted first launch with the installer-provided command, run cd run-pencil && "$HOME/.local/bin/rer" dev.
npx --no-install playwright install chromium --only-shell
rer verify
Verify runs the functional and high-stakes wall for source changes; it is separate from deploying an unchanged checkout. After intended source changes, stage them, inspect node scripts/edition-authoring/cli.mjs changes, run node scripts/edition-authoring/cli.mjs lock, commit with sources.lock.json, then run npm run source:check; without lock it fails with a stale lock.
Backups contain product data, including personal data, but exclude credentials, sessions and private settings. On a hosted copy, the signed-in owner opens Backup (/app/backup) to download a consistent archive and check the saved file without pausing forms. Choose Test restoration on that page to restore the saved file into a new browser database and verify identical re-exported contents; no command or Cloudflare dashboard change is needed. An optional command tests restoration on your computer. Browser exports have an 8 MiB file limit and a conservative workspace size limit; larger exports use the maintainer command. rer export and rer import operate on local state only. Replacing a hosted deployment still needs a hosting maintainer; a successful file check is not a completed hosted restore. Read Backup and restore before removing or moving a deployment.
Reset prints and removes only inventoried local data, settings, owner and drafts; source, dependencies, exports and deployment receipts survive. Stop dev or preview before exporting, and export first to retain data:
mkdir -m 700 exports
rer dev --stop
rer preview --stop
rer export --output exports/installation.rer
rer reset --yes
rer import --input exports/installation.rer --yes
rer setup --owner-email [email protected] --owner-name Owner
Import validates integrity and restores atomically into an empty destination without replaying mail. Archives retain the complete product graph, import custody, delivery history and operator identities; sessions, sign-in links, other credentials, captured mail and private settings are excluded, so everyone signs in again after a restore. These rer commands support local state; the separate maintained deployed D1 command is documented in Backup and restore.
Stop dev with Ctrl-C in its terminal before checking deployment. If it is running in the background, stop it with rer dev --stop first:
rer dev --stop
rer deploy --dry-run --environment pencil-check
rer describe
rer check --profile first-party
The example pencil-check environment is a local dry run. Environment names must be at most 32 characters, start with a lowercase letter and contain lowercase letters or digits separated by single hyphens. Choose the intended name before deployment and retain it for later operations; see Hosting on Cloudflare.
Managed hosting through RER sends production email through the RER relay; you need no SendGrid or Resend account or API key. Free and Assisted installations keep the ordinary SendGrid or Resend choices.
Direct Cloudflare deployment needs the intended Cloudflare account and your own production mail provider, verified sender and API key. Before deploying, find the account's Workers & Pages workers.dev subdomain: the default address is https://pencil-production.<workers-subdomain>.workers.dev. A named environment uses https://pencil-<environment>.<workers-subdomain>.workers.dev. rer looks up the real subdomain and sets the Worker's APP_ORIGIN to that generated address; you do not need to guess or supply it. Set OWNER_EMAIL to the hosted owner’s email and use SEED_ADMIN_EMAIL="$OWNER_EMAIL" rer deploy as documented in the hosting guide: Pencil’s current declaration maps that input to its owner binding. Deploy claims the owner automatically; sign in at /signin on the printed hosted address and finish /setup. No manual setup-token step is needed. Dry run builds and validates with zero provider calls. Read OPERATIONS.md, RUN-LOCALLY.md and SEED-COMMAND-CONTRACT.md.
rer signin --environment production uses that deployment's Cloudflare credentials to issue a private, single-use link for its recorded owner without email. See owner sign-in for requirements. Keep the printed link private.
To delete a deployment and its data after making a hosted backup:
rer deploy --remove --yes --environment production
Removal deletes only resources recorded as created by rer in that environment and reads back that they are gone. Keep the private deployment receipt; removal is not a way to pause a Worker for backup.
Before every release, run npm run verify:release for unchanged capacity, maximum-size native memory, browser heap and load cases. These run outside CI and default verify. Publication inspection requires Gitleaks 8.30.1; bash scripts/install-gitleaks.sh installs the reviewed binary after checksum verification. CI uses the same installer and complete Base scanner. The maintained release dry run runs both commands:
rer release --repo . --ref HEAD --project just-every/pencil --repository https://github.com/just-every/run-pencil --onto https://github.com/just-every/run-pencil#main --tag vVERSION --dry-run --output ../pencil-release
Require a complete scan with zero findings and reviews, without exclusions or an allowlist. Hosted installation, real-export validation, tags, public publication and site listing require the owner. Draft rewrites require explicit acceptance, analysis outcomes appear on the Analysis page, and each operator can choose Immediately, Daily or Off per flow. All contract clauses are active. These paths have local behavioral proof; live provider and inbox receipts remain separate. CONTRACT.md and BASELINE.md record product guarantees.
Optional managed delivery emits the actual Worker, assets, setup descriptor and ordered migrations. Signed admission creates one native owner in an empty installation; initialized stores reject further claims. The editor requires a current native owner session and revokes on sign-out. Hosted acceptance remains with the owner.
