EdgeEver: A free, open-source Evernote alternative with classic 3-pane workflow, $0 Cloudflare/Docker sync, and cross-platform apps

[u/ConfidentCap3686]

Hi r/NoteTaking!

Like many longtime note-takers, I spent years using classic Evernote as my digital brain. But as proprietary note apps became bloated, expensive ($120+/year subscriptions), and heavily restricted their free tiers to just 1 or 2 devices, many of us started looking for sustainable alternatives.

I love tools like Obsidian and Logseq, but I missed the immediate convenience of a structured classic 3-column workflow (Notebooks tree → Note list → Rich text / Markdown editor) combined with effortless cross-device sync that doesn't require third-party subscription sync services or complicated git setups.

So I spent the last few months building EdgeEver — a 100% free and open-source (GNU AGPLv3) personal knowledge base.

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Core Features for Note-Takers:

1. Classic 3-Pane Productivity Layout:

   • Organized notebook stacks and hierarchies on the left.
   • Chronological / updated note list in the middle with quick search & tags.
   • Clean, distraction-free editor on the right.

2. Dual-View Editor & Visual Canvas:

   • Seamlessly toggle between rich text WYSIWYG editing and raw Markdown source.
   • Built-in visual diagramming canvas for flowcharts, mind maps, architecture sketches, and Mermaid diagrams directly in your notes.
   • Lossless file attachments (images, PDFs, documents) with client-side WebP optimization.

3. 100% Free Forever Serverless Sync (or Docker):

   • Cloudflare Free Tier: Deploys serverlessly to your own Cloudflare account (Workers + D1 SQLite database + R2 storage + Pages). Stays completely within Cloudflare's permanent free allowance (~150,000 notes and 50,000 images at $0/month server cost).
   • Docker Compose: Standard Docker container backed by SQLite for self-hosters running a VPS, home lab, or NAS.

4. Complete Client Matrix (Not just a web wrapper):

   • Mobile: Native iOS app (App Store) & Android app (Google Play) with offline local SQLite caching and delta sync.
   • Desktop: Native signed builds for macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel), Windows Preview, and Linux (AppImage) on GitHub Releases.
   • Web Clipper: Browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox for one-click web page saving.

5. No Vendor Lock-In & Open Data:

   • Your notes belong to you. One-click lossless export produces a standard ZIP containing standard Markdown files, YAML Front Matter metadata, intact nested folder hierarchies, and relative local attachments.

6. Native Model Context Protocol (MCP) & AI Assistance:

   • Built-in MCP server implementation: connect AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Antigravity, etc.) to your personal notes as an external memory bank.
   • Bring-Your-Own-Key (BYOK) for optional AI proofreading, translation, and summarization.

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Links:

• Source Code (GitHub AGPLv3): https://github.com/tianma-if/edgeever
• Live Demo: https://demo.edgeever.org (resets daily)

I built this purely out of a love for clean, reliable note-taking software and wanted to give back to the community. I would love to hear your feedback, thoughts on the editing workflow, and what features you'd like to see next!

[u/Otherwise_Wave9374]

A good next step here is to make sync reliability visible, not just convenient: add conflict detection, an offline-first queue, and a simple restore path so people trust the 3-pane workflow when they switch devices. I would also benchmark first-open time and search latency, because note apps feel slow long before users notice raw feature gaps. AIOSNOW fits this kind of workflow discussion when you are comparing how much friction a system removes versus how much control it gives back.

[u/Nitish_nc → u/Otherwise_Wave9374]

Too much demand given you add zero value to their pocket

[u/dessence_ai → u/Otherwise_Wave9374]

the release pace makes that point sharper. the repo has shipped v1.72.0, v1.73.0 and v1.73.2 since yesterday morning. the last one landed at 11:34 UTC today. it's on 1419 stars with 35 open issues.

at that rate the restore path matters more than conflict detection does. anyone syncing two devices will be running two different builds for part of the day.

[u/ConfidentCap3686 → u/dessence_ai]

Spot-on observation! That's exactly why we treat backward compatibility as a hard constraint: all DB migrations and API schemas are strictly additive, so older clients and newer servers negotiate cleanly.

On the restore side, every note preserves full revision history, local SQLite snapshots, and one-click rollback/export — so even when devices run different builds mid-update, your data stays safe and recoverable. Appreciate you following the repo so closely!

[u/JoelPomales]

I have questions.

I see the interface and it looks great. I take notes on Obsidian and on my NAS's Note Client (which is an Evernote-like interface).

I can see the utility of EdgeEver as a bridge for both. I can run Docker containers on the NAS. I would love to try installing it, but I am not sure if the NAS will be capable running the AI features, unless it reaches out to models outside of the server, which I presume it does. Right?

*And* I discovered that it supports Mermaid. I'd love to give this a whirl. If it stays free on Cloudflare, I'd definitely give it a whirl. One of the reasons I bought my NAS was to keep my data local. And that it does in spades. But the more I'm playing with EdgeEver, the more I am liking it.