Malleable software
Software that users can change
New to the term? Start with the definition. If you'd like to be on this list, please contact us.
What is malleable software? Read the explainer →
End-user programming and tailorable software →
Configurable software vs. malleable software →
Read our notes on malleable software →
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Shapes
Vibe Hub
Describe the dashboard or tool you need in plain language, and Shapes builds it from your people data, without code or a vendor in the loop.
Spreadsheets
Google Sheets
Formulas & Apps Script
A formula in one cell reshapes the meaning of every other. Apps Script adds custom functions and menus for the parts formulas cannot reach.
Microsoft Excel
Formulas & Office Scripts
People build genuinely new tools inside a spreadsheet, calculators, trackers, and workflows the vendor never shipped, using formulas and macros.
Developer tools
Visual Studio Code
Extension API
Add commands, languages, debuggers and whole UI panels through an extension API, then install them from the marketplace or your own disk.
Raycast
Extensions
Write extensions in React and TypeScript that add new commands and views to the launcher, and publish them to the store.
GNU Emacs
Emacs Lisp
Redefine almost any behaviour of the editor while it is running, in the same language the editor is largely written in.
Adaptive software
A close cousin, worth keeping separate. Malleable software is reshaped by the people using it. Adaptive software reshapes itself to each user.
Differ
Every user gets their own version of the app. An agent watches how each person uses the product and ships a per-user variant, within guardrails the team sets.
How does a product get on this list?
A product needs a surface that clears the bar we set out in the explainer, and we need to be able to link to the vendor's own documentation for that surface. Pointing at the docs keeps us honest, and it means you can check any entry here for yourself.
Some of these surfaces ask for a little code and some ask for none. We haven't tried to settle the argument about where that line should sit. We've written about how we think about it over here instead.
Make your own product malleable
Rough adds a malleable surface to your product, so the people using it can build the small features they need themselves, inside your app and within the limits you set.