I built a note-taking app because the one I wanted didn't exist. Clean UI, local .md files, no cloud, no account.

Built with Rust + Tauri 2.0 + SvelteKit. Full-text search powered by Tantivy. Graph view, AI writing tools (bring your own key), Obsidian import, version history.

Available for Linux (AppImage, APT, AUR), Windows, and macOS. Source: https://codeberg.org/ArkHost/HelixNotes

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[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Do I get it right that this is like Obsidian, but free and open source?

How does it compare to Obsidian? Does it have note linking using square brackets?

Not to be rude or anything like that, where I'm going is not the "we already have obsidian, why you made this" but "currently obsidian is one of the few non-FOSS things I use in Linux, would be happy to replace obsidian with this if it's a good substitute".

I don't use obsidian plugins, so I understand that HelixNotes doesn't have this whole plugin ecosystem and can't replace obsidian for people that rely on plugins, but for me it's fine.

Is android app coming?

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yes, local-first markdown like Obsidian, but fully open source (AGPL-3.0).

Note linking with square brackets - yes, supported. Graph view too so you can see connections between notes.

If you don't rely on Obsidian plugins, you'll feel right at home.

Android is on the roadmap, but the desktop experience comes first. Still early days.

[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Thanks, gotta try this!

Well, there's Markor on android, so even without a dedicated android app, I can use Helix Notes + syncthing + Markor on the phone and ditch obsidian if it's good.

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 4 points 3 weeks ago

That's exactly the way I do it. However, the mobile app is something that will be made in the near future.

[–] HumbleExaggeration@feddit.org 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

According to the page it supports note linking. Isn't obsidian also free as long as you are not using the sync service?

At the moment I am using Anytype, but am looking into obsidian. Lately anytypes development feels kind of strange. They are more an more moving from a note app to a collaboration app. And I wonder how long the note taking will be unaffected by it. So obisidian is becoming more and more interesting, because of the independent markdown format...

[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah it's free, I just meant "foss", I didn't mean to say obsidian isn't free.

Also I use syncthing, so I don't care about built-in sync as long as it's just a folder of files on my file system.

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Have a look at Trilium. Anything Obsidian can do, it does better. And syncing is native.

[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Can you tell me more? Is it FOSS? Is it electron? Is it a UI for a folder of markdown files? Is there a native android app? What is "native" syncing? Do I have to pay for some kind of cloud?

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You can see by yourself at https://triliumnotes.org/

It's FOSS, it's web so you can use it hosted, or local first as an electron app, or both and then they will sync together.

It is NOT a UI for a folder of markdown files, because that's silly when you expect from your system to hold relationships, metadata, rich note types, notes to coexist in multiple places, etc. Since it's FOSS, and since you can sync your notes real-time and distributed across machines, there's nothing wrong with this.

You can use the web version on Android as a PWA, but it won't sync offline. There are workarounds to run a local server on your device for that use cases (not ideal in terms of user-friendlyness, but gets the job done).

You don't need to pay anything to anyone if you host it yourself or if you keep it local. There is no official hosted plan, some people offer to do that for a tiny fee at https://www.pikapods.com/ (never used them, some people say they are decent).

[–] gabelstapler@feddit.org 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You lost me at electron...

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

How so? Trilium is a web app, that you may use wrapped in an electron shell. Or not. Up to you.

[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 1 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Can trillium store all files in markdown/plaintext?

How is the theming by trillium? I use a light tan interface because it is much easier on my eyes, personally than high contrast white or eye-straining dark themes.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

So, I recently abandoned Trilium, because it's very half-assed.

It stores data in a database on your local file system, and you can export as markdown.

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

What do you mean "half-assed"? I manage very large collections of notes with it, in ways that no other PKMS can, just because none of them approach "note as data" (or "typed notes") in a way that Trilium does.

My #1 criteria is for all my notes to remain consistent over time. If I create a note type for "Projects", I want all notes representing a Project to have the same properties (start date, location, cost, ...) at all time. Trilium has very neat concepts like Templates and Attributes Inheritance that make changes on the template be reflected on instances. That's something even AnyType, Notion, Capacities, Logseq, Tena and others are struggling with. When your collection grows, so does your bookkeeping with those systems, and what should be a tool to help you get stuff done ends up giving you more work to do and holding you back. I beg to see a tool that helps my productivity so much.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I found it buggy and unfinished, plus a "That branch is unmaintained, use this fork" situation, so...nope.

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

Oh, so your experience with Trilium is at least a year old. In the meantime the original dev popped out of their hiatus to formally hand over the project (and the rights over the original repository) to the newly formed community, which has been very active (porting to typescript, internationalisation, porting of the UI to reactive components, full rewrite of the UI, new collections feature, new note types, new doc, new homepage, some LLM APIs, etc).

It's still an opensource project run by volunteers on a best-effort basis, but it punches way above its weight-class.

[–] u_tamtam@programming.dev 1 points 3 weeks ago

Can trillium store all files in markdown/plaintext?

Content is stored in a SQLite db (with options to export to markdown & al.), Trilium is open source, so there's no lock-in and you get the best of both worlds.

How is the theming by trillium? I use a light tan interface because it is much easier on my eyes, personally than high contrast white or eye-straining dark themes.

You can totally reimplement the whole UI if that's your thing, everything (or close-enough) is a note in Trilium, including themes and other JS/CSS notes that will override or extend parts of the application, like add-ons would elsewhere.

[–] Masterkraft0r@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

If you have to use a third party app to sync, it's not local-first, it's just local.

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Local-first means your data lives on your device as the source of truth, not on someone else's server. How you choose to sync it - if at all, is up to you. That's the point.

[–] Masterkraft0r@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

nope... that's just local.

in that regard every text editor or any software that just CRUDs files locally would be local-first and the term would be meaningless

local-first means that it does not need internet-access to work and use the app and synchronization comes later, when there's time and internet access. please read up on this.

https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/

these are the guys who coined the term

edit: i originally wrote "local-first means that it does need internet-access to work and use the app...", which is bullshit and also doesn't make sense in the context. i added the "not" so it is clear.

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago

You might be right. I will re-think this :)

[–] iByteABit@lemmy.ml 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is it related at all to the Helix editor, same shortcuts etc, or is it just a naming coincidence?

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's just a naming coincidence. It has nothing to do with the Helix editor.

[–] iByteABit@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

Oh ok, seems really cool though!

[–] beeng@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

If you like obsidian but like open source, Rust and TUIs too, look into https://www.ekphos.xyz/ it has been nice and fast for me.

[–] bluefishcanteen@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

This is a neat project. Congrats on the release! I'm looking forward to see how this develops!

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks, appreciate it!

[–] biotin7@sopuli.xyz 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The only thing missing is an Fdroid app & a way to sync notes across platforms.

I'll take a look👌

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Sync works today with Syncthing, Nextcloud, or anything that syncs folders, notes are just .md files. Mobile app is on the roadmap.

[–] mmmac@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Just went to download this, but there isn't a build for apple silicon??

Do Intel macs even exist anymore???? Lol

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

The current DMG is an Intel build but runs fine on Apple Silicon through Rosetta. Native ARM build is on the list.

[–] vort3@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

In case anyone is interested, AppImage won't launch in Q4OS 5.8 (debian based distro), errors are GCC_13.0.0 not found and GLIBC_2.38 not found (which is surprising, I thought appimages ship all required packages together.

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Linux is such a mess when it comes to binaries. For all its bloatware Windows made much better choices to always bundle everything in executables

[–] ArkHost@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

Known issue - the AppImage is built on Arch so it works on Arch, Fedora, openSUSE, etc. For Debian-based distros, use the APT repo or download the .deb directly

[–] Uebercomplicated@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 weeks ago

This awesome, thank you for your contribution to the open source space!! I have been looking for something like this for a while :), more powerful than apostrophe, more aesthetic than neovim. This fits the bill, thank you!