Open Artifact: share AI-generated docs with live comments, self-hosted

Open Artifact is a publish-and-comment platform for AI-generated documents, available free at open-artifact.com or as open-source software for self-hosting. The problem it solves is straightforward: when an AI coding agent writes a report, design doc, or dashboard, that output usually lands as a file on a user's laptop that collaborators cannot see or comment on. Open Artifact gives that output a URL, turns collaboration into a line-level commenting system, and closes the loop so the agent can read feedback and revise.

The workflow is simple. An agent publishes (either via command or a bundled skill that does it without being asked). The user gets a link and shares it with people who need to read it. Those people comment on the exact paragraph they are reacting to. The agent reads those comments back and publishes a new version. Comments hold their position when the document is republished and clearly indicate when the text they pointed at is gone. The platform supports HTML (sandboxed, no session access) and Markdown (with headings, tables, and syntax highlighting).

Sharing is private by default. Users can open access to named individuals, everyone at their email domain, or anyone with the link. Sign-up can be restricted to invitation-only (the default), whitelisted email domains, or completely open, depending on how the instance is configured.

For agents with a terminal (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and similar), setup takes one sentence: the agent installs the CLI and reads the /setup.md page, which walks it through installing, signing in, and saving the skill. For agents without a terminal (Claude on the web, ChatGPT), users can add an MCP endpoint as a custom connector in the app settings. The connection uses OAuth and deliberately restricts permissions: it can publish, update, and share its own documents and read comments, but cannot delete, make things public, or read documents others shared with the user.

Self-hosting requires a mail server (Amazon SES, Postmark, Fastmail, or any SMTP-compatible service) for sign-in codes and share notifications, and a reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx, or Traefik) to terminate TLS in front of the container. The database is a single SQLite file; backing it up backs up the entire instance. The compose file includes a nightly backup using SQLite's own .backup command rather than a file copy, which avoids corruption of a live database.

The project is fair-code licensed under the Sustainable Use License (the same license n8n uses). Self-hosting and modification are free, including within a company. Running it as a commercial hosted service requires a commercial license; enterprise arrangements (SSO, SAML, audit logs, dedicated hosting) are available by contacting hello@open-artifact.com. The code is on GitHub at github.com/iBala/open-artifact; bug reports and feature requests are tracked in the issues.

Open Artifact addresses a friction point in AI-assisted workflows: agents generate valuable outputs—reports, dashboards, design documents—but today those land as files on the creator's machine with no visibility to the people who should read and respond to them. The platform bridges that gap by giving agents a publish mechanism and stakeholders a way to comment on exact lines, creating a feedback loop the agent can read and act on.

The design reflects the constraints of both agent and human: agents with a terminal can install and configure via a CLI; agents without one can connect via an MCP (Model Context Protocol) endpoint and run through OAuth, with deliberately limited permissions—agents can publish and update their own documents and read comments, but cannot delete, make things public, or read documents others shared with them. Sharing itself is granular: private by default, with options to open to named people, a whole email domain, or anyone with the link. Comments stay anchored to specific lines even as the document is republished, so feedback remains legible across versions.

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