HelixNotes | Local Markdown Notes
helixnotes.com
A local markdown note-taking app. Plain .md files on your disk. Sync them your way, or don't.

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

  • Q'z@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    If you want to try HelixNotes, be aware it overwrites the front-matter of notes you open (view only, no edit needed).

    Hi ArkHost,

    Obsidian user here. I tried HelixNotes for a couple of minutes and here’s my feedback:

    • I like that you support compatibility/converting Obsidian vaults. I wish you would at least support Obsidian’s wiki links directly. I won’t convert all my notes just to try if I like your editor.
    • View mode doesn’t seem to really do anything. Ah wait, seems like I can only click links in view mode (no visual distinction between normal editor and view-mode apart from the tiny view mode badge). But that opens the linked note in my default .md viewer, not the HelixEditor itself. IMO view-mode should be visually distinct and also work together with source-mode (so I can edit in source mode and then click view-mode to see the rendered note).
    • I like the simple look, although the UI is not as polished compared to Obsidian.
    • I need Math support ($ ... $).
    • I hate that you update notes front-matter even if I just view and not edit them. Only change notes I am editing myself. I just had a look and now you changed the format of my notes. Re front-matter it would also be good if that behavior is documented somewhere.
    • I closed my vault (clicked on the folder icon in the top right) and wanted to reopen it, but got an error: Failed to acquire LockFile: LockBusy.
    • The graph view opened but stayed empty.

    Feel free to use my feedback however you want, or don’t. Personally, there’s more than one deal-breaker for me to switch from Obsidian to HelixNotes, without even considering the nice-to-have features added by all the plug-ins. I recommend you to listen to people who are more likely to use your editor than me, or are already using it. I hope my comment doesn’t come over too negatively. I tried to give honest feedback why personally I won’t use HelixNotes anytime soon. I wish you all the best.

    • Q'z@programming.devEnglish
      01·
      6 months ago

      You even overwrite previously existing front-matters. From just looking at a note. This is a fucking no-go! Luckily I was able to revert all the unwanted changes HelixNotes applied to my vault.

      This is a warning for everyone who wants to try HelixNotes with an existing vault.

    • ArkHost@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      The name comes from the double helix. Structured but flexible, like how notes should be. Trilium is a solid project, but it stores notes in an SQLite database and runs on Electron. HelixNotes keeps everything as plain .md files and uses Tauri, so much lighter on resources.

        • ArkHost@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Tauri is an alternative to Electron. Both are frameworks for building desktop apps with web technologies, but Electron bundles a full Chromium browser (which is why Electron apps use so much RAM). Tauri uses your OS’s native webview instead, much smaller, much lighter. Both are open source. The difference is resource usage.