Documentation

Vaults & Notebooks

A vault is a folder on your filesystem. It contains all your notes, notebooks, and attachments.

You can have multiple vaults and switch between them. Each vault is completely independent.

Notebooks

Notebooks are subfolders inside your vault. Create a notebook and it creates a folder. Nest notebooks by creating subfolders. It maps directly to your filesystem.

You can drag and drop notes between notebooks. Right-click a notebook to rename, set an icon, or delete it.

Vault metadata

HelixNotes stores its metadata in a .helixnotes/ folder inside your vault. This includes the search index, version history, and internal config. Your actual notes are untouched, they stay as plain .md files.

Notes & Files

Each note is a .md file with YAML frontmatter. The frontmatter stores metadata like title, tags, creation date, and a unique ID.

You can pin notes to keep them at the top of the list. Sort by last modified, date created, or title.

Tags

Add tags to notes via the note info panel. Tags help you organize and filter your notes across notebooks.

File format

Notes use standard markdown with YAML frontmatter. Here is what a note looks like on disk:

---
id: a1b2c3d4
title: My Note
tags: [project, ideas]
created: 2026-02-15T10:00:00Z
modified: 2026-02-15T10:30:00Z
pinned: false
---

# My Note

Your content here.

Formatting

The editor supports rich text formatting. You can use the toolbar, keyboard shortcuts, or slash commands.

Text styles

• Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough
• Inline code
• Links (external URLs and internal note links)
• Text color (8 colors)
• Highlight / background color (8 colors)

Blocks

• Headings (H1 through H4)
• Bullet lists, numbered lists, task lists
• Blockquotes
• Code blocks with syntax highlighting
• Tables
• Horizontal rules
• Collapsible sections
• Images and file attachments

Text alignment

Left, center, right, or justify. Set it from the toolbar.

Slash Commands

Type / at the start of a new line to open the command menu. Start typing to filter.

Command	What it does
/heading1	Insert Heading 1
/heading2	Insert Heading 2
/heading3	Insert Heading 3
/list	Bullet list
/numbered	Numbered list
/todo	Task list with checkboxes
/code	Code block
/quote	Blockquote
/toggle	Collapsible section
/table	Table (opens size picker)
/hr	Horizontal rule

Navigate with arrow keys. Press Enter or Tab to insert. Escape to cancel.

Toolbar

The toolbar sits at the top of the editor. Left to right:

• Insert menu (+): image, file, table, horizontal rule, code block, quote, collapsible section
• Heading dropdown (H1–H4, paragraph)
• Bold, italic, underline, strikethrough
• Text color, highlight color (8 each)
• Alignment (left, center, right, justify)
• Bullet, numbered, and task lists
• Link, inline code
• Undo / Redo

Right side: favorites, outline, version history, graph view, AI actions, source mode toggle.

Source Mode

Press Ctrl+Shift+M (or Cmd+Shift+M on macOS) to switch between the rich editor and raw markdown source.

Source mode shows the plain markdown with line numbers. Useful when you need precise control over formatting.

Changes sync both ways. Edit in source mode, switch back, and the rich editor reflects your changes.

Tables

Insert a table from the toolbar insert menu or type /table. A size picker lets you choose rows and columns.

Once inserted:

• Tab to move between cells
• Right-click for table options: add/remove rows and columns, merge cells, split cell, toggle header row/column, set cell background color, delete table
• Tables are stored as HTML in the markdown file (markdown tables are too limited)

Images & Files

Drag and drop images into the editor or use the insert menu. Images are copied into .helixnotes/attachments/ inside your vault and referenced with relative paths.

Any image format your browser supports works: PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WebP, and more.

You can also attach non-image files. They appear as downloadable links in the note.

PDF files can be previewed inline if you enable that in settings. You can set the preview height in the Editor settings tab.

Global Shortcuts

These work anywhere in the app. On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+N	New note
Ctrl+P	Command palette
Ctrl+F	Search (global or in-note)
Ctrl+Shift+F	Global search
Ctrl+S	Force save
Ctrl+Shift+M	Toggle source mode
Alt+Left	Navigate back
Alt+Right	Navigate forward
Escape	Close panel / exit mode

Editor Shortcuts

These work when the editor is focused. On macOS, replace Ctrl with Cmd.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+B	Bold
Ctrl+I	Italic
Ctrl+U	Underline
Ctrl+Shift+X	Strikethrough
Ctrl+K	Insert / edit link (with note autocomplete)
Ctrl+E	Inline code
Ctrl+Alt+C	Code block
Ctrl+Shift+7	Numbered list
Ctrl+Shift+8	Bullet list
Ctrl+Shift+9	Task list
Ctrl+Z	Undo
Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
Alt+Up	Move line up
Alt+Down	Move line down

In-note search

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Next result
Shift+Enter	Previous result
Escape	Close search

Search

Press Ctrl+F with no note open (or Ctrl+Shift+F anytime) to search across all notes in your vault.

Search is powered by Tantivy, a full-text search engine written in Rust. It indexes your notes and returns results instantly.

The search index lives in .helixnotes/search_index/ inside your vault. It updates automatically when notes change.

In-note search

Press Ctrl+F while editing a note to search within that note. Highlights all matches and lets you jump between them.

Daily Notes

HelixNotes has a dedicated Daily Notes view with a month calendar for browsing and creating daily notes.

Accessing Daily Notes

• Click Daily Notes in the sidebar to open the calendar view.
• Click the calendar icon in the title bar to quickly create or jump to today's note.
• Use the + button while in the Daily Notes view to create today's note.

Calendar View

The calendar shows a month grid. Days that have a note are highlighted. Click any day to open its note — if it doesn't exist yet, it will be created automatically. Use the arrows to navigate between months, or click the month name to jump back to today.

How They're Stored

Daily notes live in a Daily/ folder in your vault. The filename is the date (2026-02-15.md) and the title is the full date ("February 15, 2026"). They are automatically tagged with daily.

The Daily/ folder is hidden from the notebook tree since it has its own dedicated view.

Wiki Links

Enable wiki links in Settings > Editor. Once enabled, type [[ followed by a note title to link to another note.

Click a wiki link to navigate to that note. If the linked note does not exist, clicking it will create it.

Wiki links also enable the graph view, which shows connections between your notes.

Note Links

You can link to other notes using standard markdown links. Use a relative path ending in .md to create an internal note link:

[My Other Note](./My Other Note.md)
[Library Note](../Library/Setup Guide.md)

Clicking a note link navigates to that note within the app. External links (https://) open in your browser as usual. A small icon after each link indicates its type.

Link modal

Press Ctrl+K to open the link modal. Start typing a note name to see autocomplete suggestions. Selecting a note inserts a relative .md path automatically.

You can also type a URL to create an external link, or edit an existing link by placing the cursor on it and pressing Ctrl+K.

Outline Panel

Click the outline icon in the toolbar to open the outline panel. It shows all headings in the current note.

Click any heading to jump to it. The outline reflects heading hierarchy; nested headings are indented.

The outline updates in real-time as you edit.

AI Actions

HelixNotes has optional AI features. Set up a provider in Settings > AI.

Providers

Ollama runs locally on your device. No API key needed, data stays on your machine.

Anthropic (Claude) and OpenAI (GPT) are cloud providers. Selected text is sent to their servers. Requires an API key.

Setting up Ollama

Ollama lets you run AI models locally. Install it and pull a model:

curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh
ollama pull gemma3:4b

Then in HelixNotes: Settings > AI > Ollama. The default server URL is http://localhost:11434. Enter the model name exactly as shown by ollama list.

Recommended models:

• gemma3:4b
• gemma3:1b
• llama3.2

How to use

Select text and right-click to see AI actions. Or use it on the entire note if nothing is selected.

Available actions

• Improve writing, fix grammar
• Make shorter, make longer
• Professional tone, friendly tone
• Summarize, explain
• Translate (English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish)
• Custom prompt

AI results stream in real-time. You can apply or discard the result. A version snapshot is automatically saved before any AI changes are applied, so you can always undo.

Empty note generation

If your note is empty, you can use a custom AI prompt to generate content from scratch.

Version History

HelixNotes keeps per-note version snapshots. Click the clock icon in the editor toolbar to open version history.

Versions are saved automatically. There is a minimum 5-minute gap between automatic snapshots to avoid noise. You can also create a manual snapshot anytime.

Each version shows a timestamp and file size. Click to preview the content, then restore if you want to go back.

History is stored in .helixnotes/history/ inside your vault, organized by note ID.

Backups

Go to Settings > Backup to configure automatic backups of your entire vault.

Options

• Frequency: every 1, 6, 12, or 24 hours
• Max backups: 5, 10, 20, or 50 (oldest deleted)
• Include attachments (images/files)
• Custom backup folder

Backups are ZIP archives. You can trigger a manual backup or restore from any previous backup in settings.

Default backup location: ~/.config/helixnotes/backups/

Settings

Open settings from the gear icon in the sidebar. Here is what you can configure:

General

• Compact mode (denser note list, no previews)
• Time format: relative, 12-hour, or 24-hour
• GPU acceleration (requires restart)
• Start at system startup
• System tray icon (requires restart)
• Close to tray

Editor

• Title mode: input, heading, or hidden
• Hide title in note body (if first heading matches title)
• Line numbers in source mode
• Open notes in view mode (read-only by default)
• Wiki links ([[Note Title]]) and graph view
• Inline PDF preview, configurable height

Styling

• Theme: light or dark
• Accent color (8 presets)
• Font size (small to extra large)
• Font: System, Inter, Georgia, Merriweather, Lora, Open Sans, Literata, Mono

Import

• Import from Obsidian (converts wiki links and image embeds to standard markdown)

Sync

HelixNotes does not have a built-in sync service. That is by design.

Your notes are files in a folder. Sync them with whatever you already use:

• Syncthing
• Nextcloud
• rsync
• Git
• Or nothing at all

HelixNotes watches the filesystem for external changes and picks them up automatically. If another device modifies a file, HelixNotes detects it and updates the editor.