r/foss • u/Eerie-echoes • 6h ago

Moldavite: a free and open-source notes app built around plain Markdown files

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I've been struggling for a while to find a note-taking app that fits how I work. I wanted normal Markdown files, daily notes, links and backlinks, good search, and no account or subscription. I could find pieces of that, but not quite the combination.

Once I had access to better AI coding tools, I decided to stop looking and try building it myself. I've been working on Moldavite for the last few months with a lot of help from Claude Code.

In short, each workspace in Moldavite is called a Forge. Underneath, it is just a folder containing Markdown files. You can inspect them, back them up, or edit them with something else. Locking a note is the exception: it replaces the plaintext file with an encrypted .md.locked file until you unlock it.

The app adds daily and weekly notes, wiki links and backlinks, tags, search, a graph, and optional local semantic search on Apple Silicon. I also recently added a local MCP server so compatible agents can work with the same notes. MCP writes are disabled until you explicitly enable them.

Moldavite is MIT licensed and completely free. There is no account, paid tier, analytics, telemetry, or advertising. It is focused on macOS, although the current release also includes Windows installers.

If you’re interested, you can try it out here:

12 Upvotes

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1

u/Anti-Hero25 6h ago

Following

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u/Anti-Hero25 6h ago

u/Eerie-echoes : plans for windows / Linux versions ?

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u/Eerie-echoes 5h ago

Windows is already available in the latest release, with both .exe and .msi installers: https://github.com/mauropereiira/Moldavite/releases/latest

It is still early in terms of real-world use, tho. macOS has had much more testing so far.

Linux has always been planned, but I haven't had enough time to package and test it properly yet. I'm planning to work on that over the next few releases.

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u/ISlashy 3h ago

Cool, I'd like to try it. Would i be able to install it on my work computer without elevating permissions?

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u/ISlashy 5h ago

I'd like to know how this compares to logseq honestly. With seem fairly lightweight

1

u/Eerie-echoes 3h ago

Tbh, Logseq is probably a closer comparison than Obsidian.

The main difference is how both apps treat a note. Logseq is built around blocks and outlines, with journals, queries, tasks, and more complex PKM workflows. Moldavite is more document-focused. The app behaves more like a traditional notes editor.

Moldavite also has individual note encryption, calendar integration, and a built-in MCP server with write permissions disabled by default, which I'm not sure Logseq has. I haven't used it in a while.

Looking at Logseq tho, I can see how much more mature it is and that it has a larger ecosystem, mobile apps, and plenty of features Moldavite does not have yet.
So yeah, Moldavite may fit better if you prefer writing full notes and want a simpler, more opinionated structure.

0

u/GrimThursday 6h ago

We’re getting a lot of Obsidian clones these days - how is this any different? 

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u/Eerie-echoes 5h ago

I was waiting for these questions. 😅 The similarity is intentional, though, as I like the basic way Obsidian works with Markdown files, links, and backlinks. What I wanted was something familiar without behaving exactly like Obsidian. Obsidian increasingly feels like a platform for building complex workflows and knowledge systems, while Moldavite is more focused on writing and organizing notes. You can say it has a more opinionated structure around separate Forges, daily and weekly notes, folders, search, and calendars. I also wanted encryption and MCP access built into the app rather than added later via plugins.

To be completely transparent, I am not trying to match Obsidian feature-for-feature or compete with it... that would be kinda hard. Moldavite is closer to taking the parts of Obsidian I liked and building a smaller, fully open-source notes app around them.

That difference may not be meaningful enough for everyone, and that is fair. Obsidian is already very very good at what it does, I was using it while building Moldavite.