- cross-posted to:
- selfhosted@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- selfhosted@lemmy.world
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/43147928
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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This is a neat project. Congrats on the release! I’m looking forward to see how this develops!
Thanks, appreciate it!
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?
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.
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.
That’s exactly the way I do it. However, the mobile app is something that will be made in the near future.
Is it related at all to the Helix editor, same shortcuts etc, or is it just a naming coincidence?
It’s just a naming coincidence. It has nothing to do with the Helix editor.
Oh ok, seems really cool though!
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.
If you have to use a third party app to sync, it’s not local-first, it’s just local.
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.
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.
You might be right. I will re-think this :)
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.
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
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
The only thing missing is an Fdroid app & a way to sync notes across platforms.
I’ll take a look👌
Sync works today with Syncthing, Nextcloud, or anything that syncs folders, notes are just .md files. Mobile app is on the roadmap.
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!
