What it is

OpenKnowledge is a markdown IDE and LLM wiki tool in the Content & Publishing / Documentation & Knowledge Base category. It is written in TypeScript, licensed under GPL-3.0, and listed on GitHub with 4214 stars, 275 forks, and 38 open issues. It is an AI-native editor for knowledge bases, LLM wikis, specs, and notes, and it is described as private, local, and free.

It solves the gap between rich document editing and agent-assisted knowledge work. Users can edit markdown or MDX files in a WYSIWYG interface, then connect that same workspace to Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, and other harnesses through MCP or CLI. It targets second-brain, company-brain, docs, and knowledge-base workflows without requiring a hosted editor.

Key capabilities

• Full WYSIWYG editing makes markdown files feel like editing a Google Doc or Notion page.
• Desktop and web interfaces include a file navigator, search, tabs, and a graph wiki link viewer.
• Side-by-side AI editing works with Claude, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, and other harnesses, and any agent can connect through MCP or CLI.
• Out-of-the-box MCP, skills, and agentic search support LLM wikis, second brains, and knowledge graphs.
• No-code team sharing and auto-sync are powered by Git and GitHub under the hood.
• Embeddable HTML and rich components support engineering specs and visualized reports.

Who uses it and how

• Knowledge workers open an existing folder containing markdown or MDX files, including codebases, wikis, and Obsidian vaults.
• Writers use it as a rich WYSIWYG markdown editor for plain notes, docs, and specs.
• Teams use starter packs to create LLM wikis, second brains, or more structured knowledge bases.
• Agent users let the app install MCP and skills for detected harnesses, enabling enriched search and authoring.
• Collaborators optionally enable Git/GitHub sync and sharing instead of relying on a managed hosting service.

Getting started

Desktop users download OpenKnowledge from openknowledge.ai/download or the latest GitHub release, then install the macOS DMG, Windows setup, or Linux deb or rpm package. Web users install @inkeep/open-knowledge globally with npm, run ok init, then run ok start --open, with Node.js 24+ and git required.

When to use it — and when not to

OpenKnowledge is a good fit when users want a local, private, GPL-3.0 alternative to Notion or Google Docs for markdown, LLM wikis, and agent-assisted documentation. It is less suitable when teams need fully managed collaboration without operating Git/GitHub sync, or when users cannot install Node.js 24+ and git for the web app. The project is young, with a repo age of 0 years, no contributor count shown, and 38 open issues, so maturity and maintenance capacity are not fully evidenced.

npm install -g @inkeep/open-knowledge
cd your-project
ok init          # scaffold the project + wire up your AI editors (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, OpenClaw)
ok start --open  # serve the web editor and open it in your browser