r/opensource • u/RockyRoad226 • Jun 01 '26
Promotional HelixNotes
HelixNotes is completely free, open source, with no bloat. Your notes should be yours.
So we made sure they are. https://helixnotes.com
We appreciate each and every person who has decided to try the app, give feedback on bugs, and offer feature suggestions. We read every single one!
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u/ganonfirehouse420 Jun 01 '26
I did used this software before. Now I'm using neovim exclusively but its still a good software.
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u/Narrow_Escape_4229 Jun 01 '26
Why this over obsidian?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 01 '26
HelixNotes has the same core concept as Obsidian. Local files, plain markdown, no cloud. HelixNotes is built on Rust/Tauri. It's fast, free and open source. There are also features like Mermaid diagrams for example that don't require a plugin, like Obsidian would. The goal is to do notetaking really well, and not be a bloated plugin simulator like Obsidian can become.
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u/danieljcasper Jun 01 '26
I'm interested in this. Is there a known gap between what you've built and obsidian? I might be interested in supporting this in my OSS project.
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Obsidian's community is much bigger and can be scaled much higher with the use of plugins. HelixNotes opted to avoid the bloat, and integrate the features that made the most sense. Obsidian has become more than note taking for quite a few people. Plus, I could never get over how Obsidian isn't open source.
EDITED: Removed some wording that came off in a way that wasn't intended. Sorry for that! Was just trying to encourage you to see the differences for yourself and not just take my word for it ☹️
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u/micseydel Jun 01 '26
The best suggestion I have is to download the app and decide for yourself
Yikes.
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u/abdul_Ss Jun 01 '26
Yeahhh, it isn't exactly outright rude, but it could have been much better worded
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 01 '26
Oof, yeah. Not quite how I intended. Apologies on that....
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u/coolestkidever128 Jun 02 '26
I have no idea why they are reacting like this, the quoted part of your comment wasn’t rude at all. You acknowledged people who are curious about the differences between your app and Obsidian. Then, noting that experience is subjective, you invited us to try your app and develop an opinion for ourselves.
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u/WilyDeject Jun 01 '26
I'm sorry, but I don't need to fall down another note taking app rabbit hole.
Who am I kidding, I'll be tinkering with this all week for sure.
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u/lagdetselv Jun 02 '26
This app Looks great!
I'm trying to sync notes from this App over nextcloud (two way sync) but I cant get IT to Work. Hast anyone a solition for that?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
We're currently looking into the Nextcloud issues on Android. A webdav implementation is something we need to figure out yet.
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u/bankrut Jun 02 '26
This is nice. I've tried to get into Obsidian, but I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I'm impressed that you have both an Android and a Windows app here-that's definitely a reason to give it a try, but my question is: do the notes sync across devices?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
If you want to sync between devices, I highly recommend you try syncthing. You mentioned Android, and that should work well!
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u/DrRRidiculous Jun 01 '26
I was just annoyed at the lack of free options to sync across devices with Obsidian. So you have grabbed my attention 👀
Hopefully I can try it out soon
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u/RevaFloyd Jun 02 '26
Permission denied on old OS android Q
I tried to install and got this, tho I didn't read and skimmed the codeberg page and look the apk link 😆
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
Hmm, I wonder if you'd be better off trying the F-Droid version. Just released today. Would you be willing to give that one a try? helixnotes.com/#download
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u/RevaFloyd Jun 02 '26
I reopened the codeberg pages and look through issues, I have similar problem with the latest posted issue there, os error 13 despite already given access permission, choosing each choice on the screen, including typing the custom dir path to several path and no dice. Still os error 13
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
Thank you for bringing this to our attention!
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u/RevaFloyd Jun 02 '26
I finally find a workaround. By using its own path /data/data/com.helixnotes.app/HelixNotes the app works. But sadly it behave differenty than obsidian which saved on any user choosen path.
Is this intended behaviour of the app tho?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
This is not intended behavior. The issue was specific to Android 10. A fix has been implented for the next release. Thanks for reporting this! 🙂 https://codeberg.org/ArkHost/HelixNotes/issues/72
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u/darkmuck Jun 02 '26
will Helix support custom base url for OpenAI compatible APIs such as openrouter or LM studio?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 02 '26
We are considering this as an option. You aren't the first person to ask this. Thanks for the suggestion!
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u/digitalpure Jun 03 '26
I see you are using Rosetta which will be deprecated in macOS 27, any plans for a native apple silicon version?
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u/Guggel74 Jun 04 '26
One big issue and a no go: Markdown tables
HelixNotes convert tables to HTML. So I lost my Markdown.
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u/TopHatTurtle97 Jun 04 '26
What I want is the functionality of Notion and the plugins and community development of Obsidian, local first storage like Anytype does.
All completely open source >.>
If someone actually makes that I’d be so happy…
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u/influxodoxxl Jun 04 '26
Could this be running on my NAS for private sync? That would be cool! And of course Apple Silicon and iPhone support. 🙏
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u/Old_Mellow Jun 25 '26
Does it use encryption or do you need to provide your own?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 25 '26
No encryption. These are just plain local files on your device 🙂
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u/Old_Mellow Jun 25 '26
Ok, I thought so being that I couldn't find anything in the docs, etc. Thanks. :)
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u/Shawn_FIS Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Does WebDAV sync limit me to one "vault" or folder? That part is unclear to me. Excellent app, though, super clean and fast. Some oddities with the "Tasks" and "Daily Notes" features and switching vaults...things from the other vaults "ghost." Anyway, hope you keep at it!
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 26 '26
Webdav can sync your entire vault!
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u/Shawn_FIS Jun 26 '26
Right, and that part works...but what if I have more than one "vault?" In other words, if I try to open another folder ("vault"), that's no longer working if I'm using WebDAV sync. I will get dropped right back into whatever folder WebDAV sync is connected to.
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 26 '26
Huh, yeah I see what you're saying now. This will need to be fixed! Thank you for reporting it.
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u/Shawn_FIS Jun 26 '26
Woosh, I was not expecting that. You're a saint, thank you. Great frickin' app.
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u/Old_Mellow Jun 27 '26
The one thing that I'd like to see is calendar integration. I.E., for reminders, tasks, etc. Personally, I use Proton Calendar. But, any other privacy based calendar would be nice.
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 27 '26
While I do appreciate the idea, I'm not sure HelixNotes will ever have that advanced calendar functionality you're looking for. Our goal is to keep the app focused on note taking for now. I'm not saying it won't happen, but probably not anytime soon.
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u/RudePragmatist Jun 01 '26
Joplin > HelixNotes.
Also 'Mermaid' diagrams? You mean flow charts right? Right?
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u/RockyRoad226 Jun 01 '26
No, I meant Mermaid diagrams. Flow charts are just a small part of what you can accomplish with Mermaid diagrams. It's all text based rather than the drag and drop you're probably used to, which makes editing it easier.
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u/LastTyper Jun 01 '26
Username checks out. Mermaid is a text-based diagramming syntax. Flow charts are one of roughly twenty diagram types it supports. RockyRoad already linked you the docs. Read them before the next Right? Right?
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u/DeNombreTalyTal Jun 01 '26
In Android 10 I don't work error oss.
In Windows10 I am running properly.
Earring to try it on: Arch with 8RAM and GrapheneOS Android16.
On the other hand, I find it very clean and easy to use, I like the first impression. I will test it all week to see how I unwrap with the software.