FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Answers to what people ask before, during, and after using DraftMesh — grouped by topic.
Getting started
What is DraftMesh?
DraftMesh is the governed home for the documents people and AI agents write together. Every comment and change carries the name of the person or agent who made it, agents draft and suggest while only people approve a specific version, and every version is kept so you can restore any one. Your documents stay plain files in a folder you choose, free on your own machine with no account; paid plans add sync and sharing, and Team adds single sign-on and an audit log. Markdown is the primary case; HTML pages and the JSON data behind them live in the same workspace.
Is DraftMesh free?
Yes. The local DraftMesh app is free forever for one person on one machine — no account, no credit card, and no trial period. Individual is $5 billed monthly or $50 billed annually; Team is $50 per seat billed monthly or $500 per seat billed annually. Annual billing is two months free. Individual and Team start with a 14-day free trial.
Do I need an account to use DraftMesh?
No. The free local app works without any sign-in. You point it at a folder of markdown files on your own disk and it reads and writes those files directly — no document content is uploaded to a server.
Do I need to be technical to use version history?
No. History is a list of saved versions with a name and a time on each one, and restoring is one click. There is nothing to learn, no vocabulary borrowed from developer tools, and no command to type — a reviewer who has never used a version-control tool can find the last good draft and bring it back.
Your files and data
Where are my documents actually stored?
In a folder you choose on your own disk, as plain files: .md for prose, and .html and .json if your workspace uses them. DraftMesh reads and writes the same ordinary formats any other tool can open — there is no proprietary database format.
What happens to my documents if I stop using DraftMesh?
Nothing changes. Your files were already plain markdown, HTML and JSON in a normal folder. Uninstalling DraftMesh leaves every document and every comment exactly where it was, because comments are stored inside the markdown file itself.
Is anything uploaded on the free tier?
No document content is ever transmitted by the free local app. A planned, optional weekly usage ping is off by default and sends only the DraftMesh version and operating system, with no document content, account or device identifier. The network address is used only in memory to limit abuse and is never stored. Current npm dev and latest builds have no ping target, so the ping is inert even if consent is on.
How are comments stored in the file?
As invisible HTML-comment markers inside the markdown itself. They render as regular annotations in DraftMesh but stay invisible when the file is viewed elsewhere, and because they live inside the file, sending the document to someone else sends the review context with it.
Can I open a DraftMesh document in another editor?
Yes. A DraftMesh document is a normal file — .md, .html, or .json — so it opens correctly in Vim, Obsidian, VS Code, a browser, or any other tool that reads that format.
What file types does DraftMesh handle?
Markdown (.md) gets comments, suggested edits and approvals. HTML (.html) renders as a page inside a sandbox and takes comments and approvals, but not suggested edits; it is edited as code. JSON (.json) is data, and CSS (.css) and JavaScript (.js) are source files: they carry no comments, suggestions or approvals. These text files keep version history and sync; HTML, JSON, CSS and JavaScript are edited in Source. Office files (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) are previewed without editing or review. Google references (.gdoc, .gsheet, .gslides) point to documents opened in Google; the reference files, rather than the live Google documents, keep history and sync. Office files also keep history and sync. DraftMesh refuses to save invalid JSON.
Can I share a dashboard for people to comment on?
Yes, and this is one of the more useful things DraftMesh does. An .html document renders as a real page — a dashboard, a report, a business case — and reviewers comment on the rendered result and approve it, the same way they would a document. If the page reads a .json file from the same workspace, it re-renders live whenever the data changes, so the thing people are commenting on is never a stale snapshot.
See supported file typesfor the full editing, preview and review matrix.
Teams and pricing
When do I need a paid plan?
When your documents need to leave your machine. Working locally, including running your own fleet of AI agents, stays on the free tier indefinitely. Syncing your own documents across your own devices is the paid Individual tier, which also includes guest review links for outside reviewers; sharing with named teammates, sync across people, and verified identity is the paid Team tier.
Has pricing for the paid tiers been announced?
Yes. For Individual, choose $5 billed monthly or $50 billed annually at signup. Annual billing saves $10 a year (2 months free). For Team, choose $50 per seat billed monthly or $500 per seat billed annually. Annual billing saves $100 per seat a year (2 months free). There is no organization fee, single sign-on is included, and guest reviewers and connected AI agents don't use a seat. Enterprise is priced per agreement, once we understand your volume, scope and use cases. Individual and Team start with a 14-day free trial with a card up front. Existing subscriptions retain their current price; these prices apply to new subscriptions.
What are the add-ons, and what do they cost?
Two add-ons for Team, included in Enterprise: Reviewer seats, free and unlimited and available now, for named colleagues who comment, suggest, approve and sign off but never author (a version is approved once an author approves it); and the Governance pack at $300 an organization a month, planned to cover audit streaming to your SIEM, settable audit retention and an audit export API (not yet built). Agents are never seats. Each organization has a pooled monthly allowance of agent actions with a live meter and a warning at 80%; at the cap agents pause until the month resets. Nothing is ever billed for agent activity. DraftMesh sells no AI usage. Your agents run on the plans you already have, and your AI bill never comes through us. Public add-on purchase is coming later.
Does the free tier expire?
No. The free tier has no time limit and no feature countdown. It is free forever for one person on one machine, not a trial of the paid tiers.
Can I keep my Claude Max subscription and still share my artifacts privately with my team?
Yes. DraftMesh does not run the model and sells no usage, so your Claude plan stays whatever it is. Claude Code writes into a DraftMesh workspace under its own name, or you export an artifact from claude.ai as standalone HTML or Markdown into the workspace folder, and DraftMesh does the sharing: guest review links on the Individual tier ($5 a month) need no account, and named teammates with verified identity are the Team tier ($50 a seat a month). Reviewers comment on the rendered page and sign off on a specific version. A side-by-side with Anthropic's published Claude Max and Claude Team prices is at www.draftmesh.com/compare/claude-plans.
What does the Individual tier add on top of the free tier?
Sync of your own documents across your own devices, hosted web access so you can reach your workspace without your machine running, and guest review and sign-off links for outside reviewers — for one person. It starts with a 14-day free trial. Everything local stays exactly as it is on the free tier.
What does the Team tier add on top of the Individual tier?
Sharing with named teammates whose identity is tied to a real account, single sign-on through your own identity provider, team administration controls, and an append-only audit log with CSV export. Guest review links for outside reviewers are already included on Individual, and guest reviewers and the AI agents you connect don't use a seat.
AI agents
Can AI agents use DraftMesh?
Yes. Agents co-author alongside people under their own names. They read, comment and propose changes in the same documents, every action is credited to the specific agent, and a person decides what goes in and signs off.
How does DraftMesh prevent agent collisions?
An agent never edits the file in place. It submits its change through DraftMesh, which checks it against the version the agent read. A change made from an out-of-date copy is refused, never written over someone else's work.
Can I tell human edits apart from agent edits?
Yes. Every change is attributed to the specific person or agent that made it, so the version history and comment trail always show who — or what — produced each edit.
What can an AI agent do, and what stays with people?
Each agent works under its own name, within limits DraftMesh enforces. It can read, search, comment, ask and answer questions, and propose suggestions. On shared workspaces its text enters a document only when a person accepts it, unless a document's owner lets that agent edit or accept on that one document, or you let assistants on your own account accept as you. On a workspace kept only on your machine, a switch decides whether agents save directly. No agent can approve or sign off, restore a version or manage sharing, whatever it has been granted.
Didn't find your answer? Email support@draftmesh.com.