Making OpenPolicy

Let’s start with the obvious: This document is hosted and was made on OpenPolicy.

OpenPolicy is a new open-source platform designed to simplify the creation, management, and publishing of legal and public documents. Whether you're a startup needing a Privacy Policy or an enterprise managing complex compliance documentation, OpenPolicy provides a solution that is both simple and secure.

What It Means to Me

OpenPolicy started as a learning project, something to test-drive Polar.sh , a fairly new payment infrastructure built on top of Stripe. But as I kept building, I started to really like the product. So, I decided to go beyond a simple experiment and expand it into something I’m proud to ship and iterate on.

Lots of Features, But One Made Me Sweat

The part that took the most time, by far, was the end-to-end (E2E) testing setup. It was one of my first attempts at a suite of this scale, and it challenged me in all the right ways.

I’m still refining it and making sure the setup is truly solid. E2E tests are the kind of thing that pay off long-term, but getting them right on a growing app is never trivial.

The Editor

I started with TipTap for the rich text editor. It’s popular and capable, but the plugin design and overall structure didn’t align with my philosophy of easy customization. Also, getting a truly Notion-like experience came at a pretty steep cost.

I switched to PlateJS , and it fit my priorities much better:

File structure: Cleaner and more intuitive to work with.

Plugins as components: Each plugin feels like a component, so customizing behavior is straightforward.

AI integration: The setup was simple, create a few API routes, configure a Vercel gateway , and you’re basically ready to go.

For me, that switch was absolutely worth it.

How Long It Took to Build v0.1.0

It took about three weeks of focused work to get to a clear, usable first version. Without trying to sound arrogant, I’m fast when I lock in, and this was one of those times. I kept the scope tight, shipped what mattered, and made sure the core experience felt solid.

Do I Want OpenPolicy to Become the Industry Standard?

No.

Even if I wanted to, there are already excellent companies with strong products and big audiences, like Mintlify and similar documentation tools. While OpenPolicy isn’t exactly the same category, I understand why most people would choose a well-established solution with a proven track record.

Does That Mean I’ll Stop Development?

Definitely not.

I’m not trying to capture the whole market. It started as a way to explore Polar.sh, and now it’s evolving into one of my ongoing projects. I’ll keep improving it, building the features that matter to me, and shipping the product I want to use, fast, practical, and focused on real value.

OpenPolicy