Plannotator v0.21.0

Plannotator is an open-source platform designed to review and validate plans and code generated by AI coding agents.

The platform provides a centralized interface where developers can:

  • Review AI-generated plans

  • Annotate proposed actions

  • Approve or reject tasks

  • Inspect code changes

  • Provide structured feedback

  • Improve agent outputs

  • Maintain human oversight

Rather than replacing developers, Plannotator aims to keep humans involved in critical decision-making during AI-assisted development.

As AI coding agents become increasingly capable, developers face a growing challenge: ensuring that AI-generated plans and code changes align with project requirements before they are executed. Plannotator addresses this problem by acting as a review layer between developers and AI coding agents.

Instead of generating code itself, Plannotator focuses on making AI-driven development more transparent and controllable. It allows teams to review, annotate, approve, reject, and refine agent-generated plans and code changes before they affect a project.

Download Plannotator v0.21.0 - Software Mirrors

Plannotator v0.21.0 for Windows

plannotator-paste-win32-arm64.exe | 106.86 MB

plannotator-paste-win32-x64.exe | 110.08 MB

plannotator-win32-arm64.exe | 156.41 MB

plannotator-win32-x64.exe | 159.63 MB

Plannotator v0.21.0 for macOS

plannotator-darwin-arm64 | 108.17 MB

plannotator-darwin-x64 | 112.61 MB

plannotator-paste-darwin-arm64 | 58.24 MB

plannotator-paste-darwin-x64 | 63.07 MB

Plannotator v0.21.0 for Linux

plannotator-linux-arm64 | 143.72 MB

plannotator-linux-x64 | 144.25 MB

plannotator-paste-linux-arm64 | 94.17 MB

plannotator-paste-linux-x64 | 94.7 MB

Plannotator v0.21.0 Release Notes:

Follow @plannotator on X for updates
Missed recent releases?
  • v0.20.3: Annotations no longer lost when clicking away, off-screen indicator for open comments
  • v0.20.2: Pierre CodeView all-files review, large-PR pipeline and instant-open checkout, unified agent engine selection, Pi programmatic plan mode
  • v0.20.1: Pi extension install hotfix (pinned @pierre/diffs after a broken upstream release)
  • v0.20.0: Multi-repo workspace reviews, semantic diff overview, UI 2.0 themes and plan look chooser, leaner single-source skill install
  • v0.19.27: Kiro CLI integration, Glimpse native window, annotate-last message picker
  • v0.19.26: Amp plugin production fixes, Mermaid rendering fix, Settings flicker fix, update notification toast and shimmer
  • v0.19.24: Amp integration, configurable data directory, Auto Mode permission option, Pi plan approval fix
  • v0.19.23: Droid integration, Windows Pi AI fix, quieter update indicator
  • v0.19.22: Safari copy fix in plan viewer, CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR support for session logs
  • v0.19.21: Ask AI in plan review and annotate mode, shared AI runtime, origin-aware provider defaults
  • v0.19.20: Interactive goal setup UI, OpenCode submit_plan fixes, browser no-op sentinel handling for Claude agents

What's New in v0.21.0

This is a large release for the annotate experience. Seventeen pull requests landed since v0.20.3, five of them from external contributors, including first contributions from four new community members. The headline is a set of features that turn annotate mode into a place where you can read, edit, run an agent, and jump into your own tools without leaving the document. Alongside that, several reliability fixes harden the paths that remote and CI users depend on.

Edit Documents Directly in Annotate Mode

Until now, annotation was a one-way conversation: you highlighted text, wrote a comment, and the agent received your notes. If you wanted to change a sentence yourself, you described the change instead of making it. This release adds a real markdown editor to annotate and plan mode. You can switch a document into edit mode, change the text directly, and the difference between the original and your edits is captured as a clean diff that travels to the agent alongside your annotations. The edit controls were reworked so the state is always legible: a clear Edits label, Save emphasis when there are unsaved changes, and a Save/Cancel pair where Cancel discards your changes after a confirmation rather than silently keeping them. Saved source-file edits now survive a refresh. When you edit a file in annotate-folder mode and save it, the right-side Edits card is persisted in the annotation draft and restored after a reload. Restored edits are validated against the file's current contents on disk, so stale context is dropped rather than resurfaced, and the edit context is never sent to the agent if it no longer matches the file. PR #890, #928, #936 by @backnotprop.

A Live File Tree for Annotated Folders

When you annotate a folder, the file tree on the left is now live. It uses a server-side file watcher rather than polling, so the tree updates as files change on disk. Git status drives per-file badges and folder totals, showing which files are modified, added, or deleted, with line counts for changes. Direct source-file edits made inside Plannotator show their save state in the tree as well: clean, dirty, saving, saved, or conflict. Two follow-up rounds hardened this. Nested ignored folders like node_modules and dist are now pruned by path segment so the watcher never walks into them, watcher teardown is identity-safe so reconnects can't orphan old watchers, and git status reads run asynchronously with timeouts and request coalescing so a slow repository can't block the server. A startup-latency fix ensures the tree's first snapshot renders before the live watcher subscribes, so the tree no longer sits on a loading state while the watcher sets up. PR #931, #933, #935 by @backnotprop.

An Agent Terminal Inside Annotate Mode

Annotate mode now includes an optional agent terminal panel. You can run a coding agent in a real terminal next to the document you're annotating, so the back-and-forth happens in one place instead of a separate window. The terminal is backed by a PTY hosted in a small Node sidecar, since the compiled Plannotator runtime can't load native terminal bindings directly. On a normal install the runtime is provisioned automatically, and where it isn't available the panel disables itself cleanly rather than failing the session. Requires Node.js 20 or newer on your PATH. PR #941 by @backnotprop.

Open Files in Your Editor, Terminal, or File Manager

A new "open in" control lets you launch the file you're looking at directly in an external application: VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Ghostty, iTerm2, Warp, Sublime Text, Xcode, Android Studio, or reveal it in Finder or Explorer. Only applications you actually have installed appear in the menu, the last one you used becomes the default, and copy-path and copy-diff actions are always available. The control hides itself in remote sessions where opening a local app wouldn't make sense. This release also includes a pass on the code-review UI. The semantic diff moved from a separate docked panel into an inline accordion in the all-files view, file headers and the file tree were reworked, and the diff-freshness check was tidied. PR #942 by @backnotprop.

HTML Files Render as HTML

Annotating an .html file now renders the page as HTML by default instead of converting it to markdown. For most HTML — rendered reports, exported documents, generated pages — this is what you actually want to look at. If you need the old behavior, pass --markdown to convert the page to text with Turndown. The serving path for raw HTML and its assets was also hardened against symlink escapes. This is a behavior change for anyone who ran plannotator annotate file.html expecting a markdown view. The conversion is one flag away. PR #924, #927 by @backnotprop.

Additional Changes

  • Remote sessions always show a reachable URL. The session URL is now printed to the terminal for remote sessions regardless of whether URL sharing is enabled, and local sessions print the URL as a fallback when the browser can't be opened (a headless box or devcontainer). This closes a long-standing gap where remote and headless users could be left with no link and a hung review. PR #929, #945 by @backnotprop.
  • Ask AI works on Bedrock and Vertex. Bare model aliases were being rejected with a 400 on Amazon Bedrock and Google Vertex; model ids are now resolved to the correct provider-specific identifiers, with a safe fallback when none is configured. PR #939 closing #938 by @masterpavan.
  • Release binaries ignore caller bunfig.toml. Compiled binaries no longer autoload a bunfig.toml from the directory they're run in, so a stray or hostile config in a project folder can't alter or crash the binary. PR #937 by @jrpat.
  • Light-mode contrast fix in code hover previews. Code hover previews used a dark-mode color in light mode, making text hard to read. PR #934 by @hl662.
  • Turn URL sharing off via config. URL sharing can now be disabled through ~/.plannotator/config.json ({ "share": "disabled" }) in addition to the environment variable. PR #921 by @yonihorn.
  • Save to Obsidian works from annotate sessions. The annotate server was missing the /api/save-notes endpoint, so the "Save to Obsidian" button silently failed; the endpoint is now wired in. PR #884 closing #844 by @titosemi.

Install / Update

macOS / Linux: 
bash
curl -fsSL https://plannotator.ai/install.sh | bash
Windows: 
powershell
irm https://plannotator.ai/install.ps1 | iex
Extra skills (compound, setup-goal, visual-explainer), opt-in: 
bash
npx skills add backnotprop/plannotator/apps/skills/extra
Claude Code Plugin: Run /plugin in Claude Code, find plannotator, and click "Update now". OpenCode: Clear cache and restart: 
bash
rm -rf ~/.bun/install/cache/@plannotator
Then in opencode.json: 
json
{
  "plugin": ["@plannotator/opencode@latest"]
}
Pi: Install or update the extension: 
bash
pi install npm:@plannotator/pi-extension
Droid: Install via the plugin marketplace: 

droid plugin marketplace add backnotprop/plannotator
droid plugin install plannotator@plannotator
Amp: Install the CLI first, then copy the plugin: 
bash
mkdir -p ~/.config/amp/plugins
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/backnotprop/plannotator/main/apps/amp-plugin/plannotator.ts \
  -o ~/.config/amp/plugins/plannotator.ts
Kiro CLI: The installer auto-detects Kiro and installs skills automatically. After installing the CLI, launch with: 
bash
kiro-cli chat --agent plannotator
Upgrading from before v0.20.0? Read the v0.20.0 release notes first; that release changed how skills install.

What's Changed

  • feat(editor): markdown edit mode — direct document editing with diff-to-agent feedback by @backnotprop in #890
  • feat(config): support share toggle via config.json by @yonihorn in #921
  • feat(annotate): render HTML annotations as HTML by default by @backnotprop in #924
  • fix(annotate): block symlink escape in HTML asset serving by @backnotprop in #927
  • fix(annotate): add /api/save-notes POST endpoint to annotate server by @titosemi in #884
  • feat(editor): clearer edit controls — Edits label, Save emphasis, Save/Cancel by @backnotprop in #928
  • fix(server): always show remote URL + close share-html symlink gap by @backnotprop in #929
  • feat(annotate): live file tree workspace status by @backnotprop in #931
  • fix(annotate): polish live file tree refresh by @backnotprop in #933
  • feat(annotate): persist saved file edits in drafts by @backnotprop in #936
  • fix(ai): resolve Bedrock/Vertex model ids for Ask AI by @masterpavan in #939
  • chore(release): disable bunfig autoload for release binaries by @jrpat in #937
  • fix(ui): correct light-mode contrast in code hover preview by @hl662 in #934
  • fix(annotate): live file tree startup latency by @backnotprop in #935
  • feat(annotate): open files in external apps + code-review UX pass by @backnotprop in #942
  • feat(annotate): WebTUI agent panel in annotate mode by @backnotprop in #941
  • fix(server): surface session URL in local mode when the browser can't open by @backnotprop in #945

New Contributors

  • @titosemi made their first contribution in #884
  • @hl662 made their first contribution in #934
  • @jrpat made their first contribution in #937
  • @masterpavan made their first contribution in #939

Contributors

Thanks to the five external contributors in this release. @titosemi fixed a bug that several people had run into: the "Save to Obsidian" button silently failing from annotate sessions, because the annotate server was missing the /api/save-notes endpoint. @masterpavan reported and fixed Ask AI's failure on Amazon Bedrock and Google Vertex, where bare model aliases were being rejected with a 400. @jrpat hardened the release binaries so they no longer autoload a bunfig.toml from the caller's directory, closing a path where a stray config could crash a compiled binary. @hl662 fixed a light-mode contrast bug that made code hover previews hard to read. @yonihorn, back for a fourth contribution, added a config-file switch to disable URL sharing. Thanks also to the community members whose reports shaped this release:
  • @rrpolanco for reporting the Obsidian save failure in #844
Full Changelog: https://github.com/backnotprop/plannotator/compare/v0.20.3...v0.21.0

Key Features of Plannotator

Plan Review System

One of Plannotator's core capabilities is reviewing plans generated by AI agents before execution.

Developers can examine:

  • Proposed tasks

  • Implementation strategies

  • Agent reasoning

  • Planned file modifications

  • Workflow sequences

This visibility helps reduce unintended changes and costly mistakes.

Annotation Tools

The platform allows users to add comments, notes, and guidance directly to AI-generated plans.

These annotations can be used to:

  • Clarify requirements

  • Correct misunderstandings

  • Provide context

  • Guide future agent actions

AI Code Review

Plannotator extends the review process beyond planning by supporting inspection of generated code.

Developers can:

  • Review modifications

  • Analyze diffs

  • Leave comments

  • Request revisions

  • Validate implementation details

This workflow resembles modern pull-request review systems.

Human-in-the-Loop Workflows

A major design goal is ensuring that AI actions remain subject to human approval.

Organizations can establish review processes where important actions require validation before execution.

Open Source Foundation

Plannotator is open source, allowing teams to inspect, modify, and self-host the platform according to their needs.

This transparency is particularly valuable for organizations adopting AI-assisted software development.

User Experience

The interface is designed around review workflows rather than direct code generation.

Instead of interacting with a chatbot, users primarily:

  1. Receive agent-generated plans

  2. Review proposed actions

  3. Add feedback

  4. Approve or reject changes

  5. Monitor execution results

The workflow feels familiar to developers accustomed to pull requests, code reviews, and project planning tools.

Productivity Benefits

As AI coding tools become more autonomous, review processes become increasingly important.

Plannotator helps organizations:

  • Reduce risky AI actions

  • Improve code quality

  • Increase accountability

  • Preserve architectural consistency

  • Encourage collaboration between developers and AI agents

For teams adopting AI-driven development, these safeguards can be as valuable as the coding agents themselves.

Collaboration Features

The platform supports collaborative review workflows where multiple team members can participate in evaluating AI-generated outputs.

This allows:

  • Peer review

  • Team approval processes

  • Shared annotations

  • Collective decision-making

Such features are especially useful for larger engineering teams.

Performance

Because Plannotator focuses on workflow management and review rather than model inference, performance largely depends on the connected AI agents and integrations.

The platform itself is lightweight and primarily serves as an orchestration and review layer.

Open Source Advantages

Being open source provides several benefits:

  • Transparent development

  • Self-hosting capabilities

  • Custom integrations

  • Community contributions

  • Vendor independence

Organizations concerned about compliance, security, or proprietary workflows may find these advantages particularly appealing.

Limitations

Plannotator is designed as a companion tool rather than a complete AI development platform.

Common limitations include:

  • Requires external AI coding agents

  • Best suited for teams already using AI-assisted development

  • Smaller ecosystem than mature developer platforms

  • Additional review steps may slow rapid prototyping

  • Some users may prefer fully autonomous workflows

The software delivers the most value in environments where oversight and quality control are priorities.

Pros

  • Improves transparency of AI-generated plans

  • Supports structured review workflows

  • Human-in-the-loop design

  • Useful annotation system

  • Open source

  • Self-hosting support

  • Familiar review experience for developers

  • Helps reduce AI-generated mistakes

Cons

  • Not a standalone coding agent

  • Requires integration with AI development tools

  • Smaller community than established developer platforms

  • Adds review overhead to workflows

  • Best suited for teams rather than casual users

Who Should Use Plannotator?

Plannotator is ideal for:

  • Software development teams

  • Engineering managers

  • AI-assisted development workflows

  • Organizations adopting coding agents

  • Open-source projects

  • Teams prioritizing code quality and governance

It is particularly valuable for environments where AI-generated code requires oversight before reaching production systems.

Plannotator fills an increasingly important role in the AI development ecosystem by providing visibility and control over AI-generated plans and code changes. Its focus on human oversight, structured reviews, and collaborative workflows makes it a useful companion for modern coding agents. While it is not a replacement for AI coding tools themselves, it offers a practical solution for teams seeking greater confidence and accountability in AI-assisted software development.

Plannotator v0.21.0
Free
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Software Informations:
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Operating System:
Windows / macOS / Linux
Date Added:
2026-06-19T23:01:51.564Z
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