[opensourcedex]

Tolaria is a free, open source note taking & knowledge management project written in TypeScript and released under AGPL-3.0. It has 19,807 GitHub stars, 1,381 forks and 49 open issues, and was last pushed 10 hours ago. On this registry it ranks #10 of 25 tracked projects in Note Taking & Knowledge Management, with 5 head-to-head comparisons available. It gained 49 stars over the last 6 tracked days.

What is Tolaria?

What it is

Tolaria is an open-source desktop application for macOS, Windows, and Linux, written in TypeScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0. It manages markdown knowledge bases as local files, with each vault stored as a Git repository. The project lives in the personal knowledge management ecosystem as a local-first, Git-native tool for second brains, company documentation used as AI context, and assistant memory or procedures.

It addresses dependence on proprietary note-taking environments, cloud accounts, subscriptions, and export steps. Notes are plain markdown files with YAML frontmatter, so they can be opened in other editors and moved away without conversion. Treating each vault as a Git repository provides version history and remote synchronization without Tolaria servers, and the README states that the app is intended for offline use and that stopping use should not cause data loss.

Key capabilities

  • It stores notes as plain markdown files with YAML frontmatter, using standards-based formats.
  • It treats each vault as a Git repository, enabling version history, any Git remote, and operation without Tolaria servers.
  • It supports offline-first use, with no accounts, no subscriptions, and no cloud dependencies for core operation.
  • It uses types as navigation lenses, not schemas, so types help find notes without required fields or validation.
  • It supports AI-assisted workflows with setup paths for Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI, and it supplies an AGENTS file.

Who uses it and how

  • Individuals use it for personal second brains and large markdown note collections, including a 10,000-plus note workspace described by the project author.
  • Users can organize company documentation as AI context, according to the README use cases.
  • Users can store OpenClaw or assistant memory and procedures in a vault, and they can follow inbox, web resource capture, and workspace organization workflows shown in the linked walkthroughs.

Getting started

Typical installation is through Homebrew on macOS with brew install --cask tolaria, or by downloading the latest release for macOS, Windows, or Linux. First launch can clone the getting-started vault from GitHub, and the public user docs are published from the site directory to GitHub Pages.

When to use it — and when not to

Tolaria fits users who want a local markdown vault with Git history, offline operation, and AI-agent compatibility without accounts or subscriptions. The README lists no paid products it replaces, and it describes no hosted service, Docker deployment, database, storage, or SMTP setup, so users must install the desktop app and manage their own files and Git repositories. The metadata shows 0 contributors, 49 open issues, and a repository age of 0 years, so people who prioritize mature governance and broad contributor activity see a young public record.

project readme (upstream, from github) — read inline

Latest stable Codecov CodeScene Hotspot Code Health Codacy Badge

💧 Tolaria

Tolaria is a desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux for managing markdown knowledge bases. People use it for a variety of use cases:

  • Operate second brains and personal knowledge
  • Organize company docs as context for AI
  • Store OpenClaw/assistants memory and procedures

Personally, I use it to run my life (hey 👋 Luca here). I have a massive workspace of 10,000+ notes, which are the result of my Refactoring work + a ton of personal journaling and second braining.

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Sponsors

Tolaria is supported by a small panel of tools that help keep the project healthy, tested, and ready for AI-assisted development. I use these tools every day.

Codacy
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CodeScene
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CircleCI
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Unblocked
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Walkthroughs

You can find some Loom walkthroughs below — they are short and to the point:

Principles

  • 📑 Files-first — Your notes are plain markdown files. They're portable, work with any editor, and require no export step. Your data belongs to you, not to any app.
  • 🔌 Git-first — Every vault is a git repository. You get full version history, the ability to use any git remote, and zero dependency on Tolaria servers.
  • 🛜 Offline-first, zero lock-in — No accounts, no subscriptions, no cloud dependencies. Your vault works completely offline and always will. If you stop using Tolaria, you lose nothing.
  • 🔬 Open source — Tolaria is free and open source. I built this for myself and for sharing it with others.
  • 📋 Standards-based — Notes are markdown files with YAML frontmatter. No proprietary formats, no locked-in data. Everything works with standard tools if you decide to move away from Tolaria.
  • 🔍 Types as lenses, not schemas — Types in Tolaria are navigation aids, not enforcement mechanisms. There's no required fields, no validation, just helpful categories for finding notes.
  • 🪄AI-first but not AI-only — A vault of files works very well with AI agents, but you are free to use whatever you want. We support Claude Code, Codex CLI, and Gemini CLI setup paths, but you can edit the vault with any AI you want. We provide an AGENTS file for your agents to figure out.
  • ⌨️ Keyboard-first — Tolaria is designed for power-users who want to use keyboard as much as possible. A lot of how we designed the Editor and the Command Palette is based on this.
  • 💪 Built from real use — Tolaria was created for manage my personal vault of 10,000+ notes, and I use it every day. Every feature exists because it solved a real problem.

Installation

Homebrew

Install via Homebrew on macOS:

brew install --cask tolaria

Download from releases

Download the latest release here for macOS, Windows, or Linux. Windows installers are Authenticode-signed; company-managed devices may still require IT approval of the Tolaria publisher before first install.

Getting started

When you open Tolaria for the first time you get the chance of cloning the getting started vault — which gives you a walkthrough of the whole app.

The public user docs live in site/ and are published to GitHub Pages. Start with Install Tolaria, then First Launch.

Open source and local setup

Tolaria is open source and built with Tauri, React, and TypeScript. If you want to run or contribute to the app locally, here is how to get started. You can also find the gist below 👇

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 20+
  • pnpm 8+
  • Rust stable
  • macOS or Linux for development
Linux system dependencies

Tauri 2 on Linux requires WebKit2GTK 4.1 and GTK 3:

  • Arch / Manjaro:
    sudo pacman -S --needed webkit2gtk-4.1 base-devel curl wget file openssl \
  appmenu-gtk-module libappindicator-gtk3 librsvg
  • Debian / Ubuntu (22.04+):
    sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file \
  libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev \
  libsoup-3.0-dev patchelf
  • Fedora 38+:
    sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel openssl-devel curl wget file \
  libappindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel

The bundled MCP server still spawns the system node binary at runtime on Linux, so install Node from your distro package manager if you want the external AI tooling flow.

Quick start

pnpm install
pnpm dev

Open http://localhost:5173 for the browser-based mock mode, or run the native desktop app with:

pnpm tauri dev

Tech Docs

Security

If you believe you have found a security issue, please report it privately as described in SECURITY.md.

License

Tolaria is licensed under AGPL-3.0-or-later. The Tolaria name and logo remain covered by the project’s trademark policy.

Frequently asked questions

Is Tolaria free to use?

Tolaria is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. There is no licence fee and no seat count — you can self-host it or, where the project offers one, pay a vendor for a managed version instead.

What does Tolaria do?

Local-first, Git-native personal knowledge base with AI

What is Tolaria written in?

Tolaria is primarily written in TypeScript. Its source is publicly available at https://github.com/refactoringhq/tolaria, and it has 19,807 GitHub stars.