SilverBullet is an open source, self-hosted, browser-based personal knowledge database that stores notes as Markdown pages and makes them programmable with Space Lua, aimed at individual knowledge workers who want a notes app they can script rather than merely configure.

What it is

SilverBullet describes itself as a Programmable, Private, Browser-based, Open Source, Self Hosted, Personal Knowledge Database, which is a longer way of saying it is a browser-based Markdown editor programmable with Lua. Content lives as a collection of Markdown pages called a Space. Users navigate that space through a Page Picker like a conventional notes app, or through wiki-style links that are bi-directional. The editor offers live preview, and the application ships with its own database and query language alongside a fully integrated Space Lua scripting environment, so notes become a system that can be queried, generated and automated rather than only written.

Architecturally, the client is written in TypeScript and built on CodeMirror 6, with additional interface elements in Preact and a build handled by ESBuild. The backend is written in Rust as a Cargo workspace and serves the pre-built client bundle, the file and space HTTP API, authentication, and a headless-Chrome runtime for server-side Lua. The project sits in the Productivity and Utilities category, under Note Taking and Knowledge Management, and carries topics including end-user-programming, knowledge-management, lua, markdown, note-taking and personal-knowledge-management.

The concrete problem it addresses is the gap between a plain Markdown notes app and a programmable system. A conventional editor stores and links text; SilverBullet adds Objects and Queries through SLIQ and a scripting dialect so that content can be dynamically generated, and so that custom Commands, Page Templates and Widgets can be defined against the same data. It replaces the combination of a static Markdown editor plus separate scripting and database glue that users would otherwise assemble themselves.

Key capabilities

• Live-preview Markdown editor built on CodeMirror 6, with pages stored as plain Markdown files inside a Space.
• Wiki-style bi-directional links, complementing Page Picker navigation for a conventional notes workflow.
• Objects and Queries, referred to as SLIQ, providing a built-in database and query language over pages.
• Space Lua, SilverBullet's Lua dialect, for dynamically generating content and authoring custom Commands, Page Templates and Widgets.
• Outlining tools and a Tasks feature for outliner and task-management workflows.
• A standalone silverbullet Rust server binary, plus an sb CLI client for command-line access.
• Plugin support: built-in plugs in TypeScript, a plug compiler at bin/plug-compile.ts, and plug-api/ published to NPM, with syscalls/ TypeScript wrappers.

Who uses it and how

• Writers use it as a clean Markdown editor with live preview, keeping content as plain Markdown pages rather than a proprietary format.
• Outliners use the dedicated Outlining tools, while productivity-focused users work through Tasks.
• Database-oriented users keep structured data in pages and query it through Objects and Queries (SLIQ).
• Developers comfortable with scripting extend the system with Space Lua, defining Commands, Page Templates and Widgets, or build plugs against plug-api/.
• Self-hosters run the silverbullet server binary themselves; a Docker image, zefhemel/silverbullet, is published on Docker Hub and is referenced by the project's badge.

Getting started

The README directs installation to the instructions at silverbullet.md/Install, and a Docker image named zefhemel/silverbullet is published for deployment. Building from source requires Node.js 24+ and npm 10+, a stable Rust toolchain installed via rustup, and the make setup target, with .nvmrc and .node-version files provided for version managers.

How it compares

The facts provided name no paid products that SilverBullet replaces, and no comparable tools are listed in this registry, so on the evidence available it stands alone in this registry. Its distinguishing combination is MIT licensing, self-hosting, content held as plain Markdown in a Space the user owns, and programmability through Space Lua rather than configuration alone.

When to use it — and when not to

A self-hoster must operate the Rust server binary, provide the headless-Chrome runtime used for server-side Lua, and install Node.js 24+ with npm 10+ and a stable Rust toolchain to build the client and plugs from source. The README itself is sparse on installation, deferring to silverbullet.md/Install, and the repository carries 345 open issues, so users wanting a managed service or a zero-ops hosted product will not find one described in these facts. It suits people who are willing to run their own server and to script their notes; it is a poor fit for users who want no operational responsibility and no scripting at all.

nvm use  # If using nvm

make setup

make

npm run build
cargo run <PATH-TO-YOUR-DATA-FOLDER>

npm run build

make
./target/release/silverbullet <PATH-TO-YOUR-DATA-FOLDER>

# Clean all generated files
make clean
# Typecheck and lint all code
make check
# Format all code
make fmt
# Run all tests
make test
# Run benchmarks
make bench

docker build -t silverbullet .

docker run -p 3000:3000 -v <PATH-TO-YOUR-DATA-FOLDER>:/data silverbullet