Announcement: The Evolution of BlockSuite

[Saul-Mirone]

Dear Community,

We are excited to share some important updates about the future of BlockSuite and AFFiNE.

BlockSuite has been the core editor powering AFFiNE, designed initially as a universal editor framework. Over time, as both BlockSuite and AFFiNE evolved, BlockSuite gradually incorporated more and more of AFFiNE’s specific business logic. While this close integration brought significant enhancements to AFFiNE, it also led BlockSuite away from its original vision as a standalone, universal framework.

To realign with our goals and streamline development, we have made the decision to merge BlockSuite's codebase into AFFiNE. This change allows us to focus on refining the editor specifically for AFFiNE while maintaining its excellent performance and features for our users.

At the same time, we remain committed to the idea of a universal editor framework. Therefore, we will extract and rebuild the core elements of BlockSuite into a new, independent project. This will allow us to return to the original mission of BlockSuite—creating a flexible, universal editor framework that can be used beyond AFFiNE.

What This Means for You

For AFFiNE users: The transition will improve the editor experience within AFFiNE, as we can now tailor BlockSuite's capabilities > to meet the specific needs of AFFiNE users more effectively.

For developers and contributors: The new universal editor project derived from BlockSuite's core will provide an exciting opportunity to collaborate on an open-source editor framework designed for broader use cases.

What’s Next?

We are currently working on integrating BlockSuite into AFFiNE while simultaneously outlining the roadmap for the new universal editor framework. We will keep you updated on both efforts and invite you to contribute your feedback and ideas.

Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. We’re excited about the possibilities this change brings for AFFiNE, BlockSuite, and the community at large.

Stay tuned, and let’s build the future of editing together!

Best regards,
The AFFiNE Team