your notes
your files
your rules

I wanted UpNote's clean editor with Obsidian's local files, minus the bloat and the lock-in. It didn't exist, so I built it: plain Markdown, stored on your own disk.

Download Source Code →

Free & open source · Linux · Windows · macOS · Android

HelixNotes

Everything I wanted in a notes app

An editor that gets out of the way

Slash commands, tables, code blocks with highlighting, and live KaTeX math. A clean WYSIWYG that writes plain Markdown you can read with cat, and a source mode for when you want the raw text.

Every task, in one place

HelixNotes pulls every - [ ] checklist from across your notes into a single Tasks view. Set priority and due dates per row, then work in a list or drag tasks around a calendar.

See how your notes connect

Link notes with [[wiki links]] and the graph fills in on its own. Hover a node to trace its connections and find the ideas that tie everything together.

A journal, built in

Daily Notes gives you a calendar and a note for every day. Click a date to open it or create it. Good for standups, journaling, or just thinking out loud.

Make it yours

Light, dark, and dozens of built-in palettes, including Solarized, Nord, Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Synthwave, and One Dark. You can also create custom themes, share them as JSON, choose your accent and fonts, and scale the interface from 80 to 200%.

The details I missed elsewhere

Plain .md files, no database, no lock-in
Built on Rust and Tauri, not Electron
Full-text search (Tantivy), CJK-aware
KaTeX math and Mermaid diagrams, rendered natively
Optional WebDAV sync to your own server
Version history with diffs, automatic backups
Optional AI, local with Ollama or your own key
Obsidian import and an external .md viewer
Outline panel, tags with autocomplete
Callouts, collapsible sections, and custom themes
Focus mode, multi-window, file associations
Customizable keyboard shortcuts, hideable sidebar items

The same notes on Android

Open the same Markdown vault without creating an account.

The full editor, tables and all

Tasks on the go

The graph in your pocket

Daily notes anywhere

A deliberate tradeoff

What HelixNotes isn't

It is not a hosted workspace or a team collaboration suite. There is no HelixNotes cloud and no account to create; your files and your sync setup stay yours.

The Windows and macOS builds are not code-signed or notarized yet, so the first launch may show a platform warning. The download cards below link to the exact workaround.

Get HelixNotes

Free and open source. Available for desktop and Android.

Linux

Download AppImage Arch, Fedora 43+, openSUSE Tumbleweed · amd64

macOS

Apple Silicon Intel

macOS · Apple Silicon (M-series) or Intel (Rosetta 2) macOS shows “damaged”? Fix →

Windows

Download Installer

Windows 10/11 · x64 “Windows protected your PC”? Run anyway →

Android

Download APK

Tested on Android 16 · Universal ↓ Auto-updates via F-Droid

Install via APT

Add the official repository and install with automatic updates:

curl -fsSL https://repo.arkhost.com/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o
						/usr/share/keyrings/arkhost.gpg && echo "deb
						[signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/arkhost.gpg arch=amd64] https://repo.arkhost.com stable
						main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helixnotes.list && sudo apt update
						&& sudo apt install helix-notes

Install via AUR

Install from the AUR using your preferred AUR helper:

yay -S helixnotes-appimage-bin

Blank or white screen on X11 or Wayland? If you see Failed to create GBM buffer, try:

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 helixnotes

Install on Solus

HelixNotes is in the official Solus repository. Install it with eopkg:

sudo eopkg it helixnotes

Install via F-Droid

Add the ArkHost F-Droid repository to your F-Droid client, then install HelixNotes and receive automatic updates through F-Droid.

QR code to add the ArkHost F-Droid repository

Scan with F-Droid to add the repo

Repository address https://fdroid.arkhost.com/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=982AA0B4A99828C0B9F212964FA16D30554A74A0A2F24C9DC2D1C8B8D55AC972 On a phone with F-Droid installed, tapping this link opens the add-repo dialog directly.

Fingerprint (SHA-256) 982AA0B4A99828C0B9F212964FA16D30554A74A0A2F24C9DC2D1C8B8D55AC972 Verify this matches the fingerprint shown in F-Droid before adding the repo.

Don't have F-Droid yet? Get it at f-droid.org. Prefer a direct download? Grab the APK from Codeberg releases.

Build from source

Install system dependencies for your platform:

Debian / Ubuntu / Mint

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev
									librsvg2-dev build-essential pkg-config curl npm

Arch / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 base-devel openssl libayatana-appindicator librsvg
									curl npm

Fedora

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel openssl-devel
									libayatana-appindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel gcc pkg-config curl npm

Windows

VS Build Tools (Desktop development with C++)

Install Rust and pnpm:

Install Rust via rustup.rs

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Install pnpm

npm install -g pnpm

Clone and build:

git clone https://codeberg.org/ArkHost/HelixNotes.git && cd HelixNotes && pnpm install
							&& pnpm tauri build

your notes your files your rules