It's called VOID (Versatile Open-source Infrastructure for Developers) - an open-source, local-first second-brain (note taking app but more powerful) application that combines the flexibility of Obsidian with the powerful organization of Notion.

Unlike many other tools, VOID is not just another note-taking app. It’s built with the idea of being a true second brain that you fully control. No vendor lock-in, no hidden cloud, no feature walls. Everything is open-source, customizable, and designed to adapt to your workflow instead of forcing you into someone else’s.

I'm currently building it with Rust, Tauri v2 and Vue.js. For certain plugins and configs, it also supports SurrealDB as a database.

check it out on my GitHub

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[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 106 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Unlike many other tools, VOID is not just another note-taking app.

no offense. but if I got a penny for everytime Ive heard this....

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 34 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

no offense. but if I got a penny for everytime Ive heard this…

yeah, I know) but I try my best to make this project as perfect and useful as possible

[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)

for everyone who walked this path of finding (or making) the perfect note app. there is no general perfect. everybody will find eventually a workflow which works - and evolves.

but I whish you all the best and that you may built an app which inspires many. :)

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[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 32 points 10 months ago (1 children)

the idea of being a true second brain

It's good that it's built with this idea, but what is the actual implementation of this idea? What features make it «a true second brain» that other «second brain» apps (obsidian and hundred other note taking apps) don't have?

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 27 points 10 months ago (21 children)

I did a bunch of research into second brain/zettelkasten apps (that is to say, apps that support note taking with note interlinking and rich text) earlier this year, and I couldn't find a single app in the category that's (1) FOSS, (2) stores notes as .md files natively (Logseq will import/export to .md, but it's not native), and (3) is cross-platform in some way (for my purposes, I need it to be on Linux, Android, and Mac OS, or have a usable web app). Even the ones that get close all have some kind of gimmick to them, or are super ugly or slow or otherwise hard to use.

If Void can get those three nailed, and do it in a usable way, it will fill a very particular and exciting niche.

[–] chemikyle@lemmy.zip 14 points 10 months ago (2 children)

This is a mandatory comment about Emacs' org mode since .org files are extremely similar in syntax to .md and can be interconverted extremely easily.

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[–] dax@feddit.org 20 points 10 months ago (2 children)

You might want to highlight what differentiates it from Obsidian, except being open source. Just from looking at the page, I don't know what it means to have organization capabilities from Notion?

[–] int32@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 10 months ago

Yeah, the readme says stuff that don't mean that much. Sure, all FOSS and no cloud but WHAT DOES IT DO??

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 7 points 10 months ago

Thanks, i’ll rework README in the near future.

[–] pastermil@sh.itjust.works 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Looking good!

Slightly off-topic, but with all the craps that's going on with Github, ever consider having your projects on Codeberg instead?

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

can you tell me in short what’s wrong with GitHub? I totally missed it

[–] oscarmeyer82@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

MS bought it and is folding it into their "AI" division

[–] Tundra@sh.itjust.works 15 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

The more the merrier - have you had a chance to try anytype out?

they have this local sync function that works even without any internet (sort of like a LAN?)

its been really handy for me as I often work in places without internet, but retain the ability to sync between laptop & phone.

(Also are notifications and kanbans on the roadmap?)

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes, tried anytype, but I struggle with it’a lack of plugins and overall extensibility. As for kanban and notifications, yep, they are already on roadmap

[–] Tundra@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago

brilliant, Im excited to try it - cheers for sharing it with the world for free.

[–] ComradeMiao@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (2 children)

A new competitor to Obsidian other than Trilium and Logseq would be awesome. I have to ask are you vibe coding? The length of the project and extensive use of emojis in the read me makes me question… I wish you the best. If you get a server container and an iPhone app I would seriously support it.

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I tried to make README less boring using emoji) And I’m pretty confident in my Rust and Vue skills, so not using chatGPT(or any other AI tool) in my work). I wrote all of the VOID by my hands.

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[–] oyzmo@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Nice :] sounds great. Any chance you will create a Flatpak?

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 9 points 10 months ago

Yep, 100% I will! But a little bit later, cause for now app is still WIP

[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

no hidden cloud

Shots fired at Notesnook.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (8 children)

Is it a notes app? Second brain doesn’t mean anything to me, and I don’t understand what it does from your README. The name is also confusing. What does it mean by open source infrastructure?

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[–] gon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 10 months ago

Cool!! Will definitely check it out.

[–] mysticmartz@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Markdown support, plugin ecosystem, automation?

[–] Transhumanist@lemmy.ml 10 points 10 months ago (7 children)

Full markdown support, all notes are just .md files like in obsidian. I’m currently working on plugins api and trying to implement layer that would allow obsidian plugin’s compatibility. Automation: I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say, can you specify please?

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[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

There's already many foss notes apps.

What none of them do well is syncing and collaboration without paying for hosting or self hosting. Joplin lets me workaround this with 2 Dropbox files (1 per profile, 1 being a shared profile) and it's a pain. And the Dropbox file isn't encrypted.

An encrypted API access file I can shove anywhere and use would be lovely as an option. Anyway I can share across users would be lovely.

[–] cygnus@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

What none of them do well is syncing and collaboration without paying for hosting or self hosting.

Not to pick on you here, but you're surprised that nobody is bulding an app for free and then paying for a server to also give away for free? Open source devs already struggle to make ends meet - now they're supposed to operate at a loss?

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[–] communism@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (7 children)

What none of them do well is syncing and sharing notes without paying for hosting or self hosting.

What about Notesnook's monograph functionality? Unless you mean sharing as in collaboration not publishing

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[–] BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I have one suggestion so far. Consider moving to Codeberg. Github has become a very unsafe place to keep FOSS projects.

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[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Neat project, shame on the basic premise. Just remember to delete your second brain once in a while, for the health of your first one, and actually use it for something creative once in a while.

[–] Eyedust@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 10 months ago

Note taking has it's place, but I agree. Once you go from note taking into crippling habitual hivemind its lost the main point. The time I spent on making my notes look amazing and growing my thought library rather than working on executing my actual ideas was getting insane.

I've seen some of the Obsidian maxi's graphs in tutorial videos. There are people that have spent literal weeks of their precious time on these massive dot-to-line hoards. It really becomes literal e-hoarding. Like counseling levels of bad habit. Then they hold these humongous, continent-sized graphs up like a trophy. Mine's bigger than yours. Whip it out and prove it.

Now I only jot ideas I want to remember later if I'm in the middle of something, write down dreams I may forget (or nightmares, as it helps me calm down and analyze them logically), and keep to my diet and shopping lists.

I really don't need more than that. Any reminders or schedules go in my android FOSS calendar (Etar).

[–] mrcheeseman@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

I will definitely be checking this out!

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