Open Source · MIT v0.2.20

A local-first Markdown knowledge base, clean-room built

Geode is an open-source, local-first Markdown knowledge base — a clean-room clone of Obsidian. Your notes are plain .md files in a folder on your disk. Links between notes are first-class. No account, no cloud, no lock-in.

Download for macOS View on GitHub
Geode's vault open in the editor, showing Live Preview with wikilinks and the file tree

See it in your vault

A closer look at the editor, reading view, and the panels that keep your notes connected.

A vault open in the Geode editor, with Live Preview rendering and the file tree visible
Live Preview editing with wikilink autocomplete, autosave, and rename-updates-links
Reading view showing callouts, embeds, highlights, tables, and task lists
Reading view renders callouts, embeds, highlights, tags, tables, and task lists
The knowledge graph showing notes connected by their links
Knowledge graph plumbing — backlinks, outline, and tag pane keep every connection visible
Search results using tag, path, and file operators
Search with tag:, path:, and file: operators, quoted phrases, negation, and regex
The command palette open with fuzzy-matched commands
Command palette and quick switcher for fast keyboard-driven navigation

Everything you need for a local-first vault

The core loop works today: vaults, editing, wikilinks, backlinks, search, tags, and reading view.

Vaults

Open any folder as a vault. External edits are picked up live, no import step required.

Editor

CodeMirror 6 with markdown highlighting, [[wikilink]] autocomplete, Cmd/Ctrl+click to follow, autosave, and rename-updates-links.

Reading view

Callouts (13 types, foldable), embeds for notes/images/audio/video, highlights, tags, tables, task lists, and YAML properties.

Knowledge graph plumbing

Backlinks pane, outline, tag pane, unresolved-link styling, and link resolution by shortest path and alias.

Search

tag:, path:, and file: operators, quoted phrases, negation, and regex — right in the search bar.

Workspace

Tabs, split panes, pinned tabs, collapsible sidebars, and a status-bar word count.

Command palette & quick switcher

Cmd+P for commands, Cmd+O to jump between notes, Cmd+D for daily notes.

Themes

Dark and light themes driven by CSS variables, matching the same theming model as the original.

Installation

Prebuilt macOS installers (Apple Silicon + Intel) are published on the Releases page whenever a version tag is pushed. Windows and Linux builds aren't set up yet.

Steps

  1. 1

    Download the dmg

    Grab Geode-<version>-arm64.dmg (Apple Silicon) or Geode-<version>.dmg (Intel) from the latest GitHub release.

  2. 2

    Drag Geode to Applications

    Open the dmg and drag Geode.app into your Applications folder.

  3. 3

    Bypass Gatekeeper on first launch

    These builds are ad-hoc signed but not notarized, so macOS shows an "unidentified developer" warning the first time you open a downloaded copy.

Opening an unsigned build

Pick either option — both only need to be done once per downloaded copy:

  1. A

    Right-click to open

    Right-click (or Control-click) Geode.app → Open → Open again in the confirmation dialog. Also available under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.

  2. B

    Clear the quarantine flag

    Run this once in Terminal, then launch normally:

    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Geode.app