Introduction

Your first document

Introduction to Wraft

Wraft is an open-source Document Lifecycle Management (DLM) platform designed to help businesses produce their most important documents. Built with modern technologies and open standards, Wraft provides a comprehensive solution for document authoring, collaboration, and distribution throughout the entire document lifecycle.

What is Wraft?

Wraft is a specialized content authoring platform that focuses on structured business content, particularly contracts and legal documents. From official letters to complex contracts and beyond, Wraft gives you complete control over your most important documents from initial drafting through collaboration, approval, and final distribution.

Key Features

  • Contract Lifecycle Management: End-to-end management of contract creation, negotiation, approval, and execution
  • Open Formats: Built on markdown and JSON for accessibility and future-proofing
  • Structured Content Authoring: Create structured business documents with templates and workflows
  • Collaboration Tools: Built-in collaboration features for team workflows and document review
  • Document Processing: Advanced document processing with Pandoc, LaTeX, ant typst
  • Open Source: Licensed under AGPLv3 for transparency and community contribution

Technology Stack

Wraft is built with a modern, scalable architecture:

Backend

  • Elixir 1.17 with Phoenix Framework for high-performance web applications
  • Erlang/OTP 27 for fault-tolerant, distributed systems
  • PostgreSQL for reliable data storage and ACID compliance

Storage & Processing

  • MinIO (S3-compatible object storage) for document and asset storage
  • Pandoc for document format conversion and processing
  • LaTeX for professional document typesetting
  • ImageMagick for image processing and manipulation

Frontend

  • Separate Frontend Repository (wraft-frontend) for the user interface
  • Modern web technologies for responsive and accessible user experience

Development Tools

  • asdf for version management of Elixir and Erlang
  • Docker support for containerized deployment
  • GitLab CI/CD for automated testing and deployment

Architecture Overview

Wraft follows a modular architecture designed for scalability and maintainability:

┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐    ┌─────────────────┐
│   Frontend      │    │   Backend       │    │   Storage       │
│   (React/Next)  │◄──►│   (Elixir/Phoenix) │◄──►│   (PostgreSQL)  │
└─────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘    └─────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
                       ┌─────────────────┐
                       │   Object Storage│
                       │   (MinIO/S3)    │
                       └─────────────────┘

Core Capabilities

Document Management

  • Create, edit, and version control documents
  • Template-based document generation
  • Multi-format export (PDF, DOCX, HTML)
  • Document approval workflows

Collaboration Features

  • Real-time document collaboration
  • Comment and annotation systems
  • Role-based access control
  • Audit trails and change tracking

Getting Started

To get started with Wraft development:

  1. Quick Start: Use our Docker Setup for immediate deployment
  2. Development Setup: Follow our Installation Guide for local development
  3. Building: Learn about Building Wraft from source
  4. API Documentation: Access the interactive API docs at http://localhost:4000/api/swagger/index.html#/

Default Access

When you first set up Wraft, you can access the system with these default credentials:

Username: wraftuser@gmail.com
Password: password

⚠️ Important: Change these credentials immediately after your first login for security.

Contributing

Wraft is open source and welcomes contributions from the community. For information about contributing, see our Open Source Contribution Guide.

License

Wraft is open-source software licensed under the AGPLv3.

Community & Support

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