Rich editing. Plain Markdown files.

Notes you format as you write, saved as ordinary .md files on your disk. Free, open source, no account.

Yuri Karamian of ArkHost built HelixNotes for comfortable editing of local Markdown files without configuring plugins. Read the story

Notes become tasks.

Text description

Open the Weekend garden note.
Make the opening sentence, "A few herbs, a free afternoon, and somewhere to start.", bold.
Turn the line "Pick up basil and rosemary" into a checklist item.
Open Tasks and find the item.
Open the item's source note to return to Weekend garden.

Recorded in HelixNotes 1.3.6 on Linux with the Nord theme and Inter font, using sample notes.

Download the video (MP4, 17 seconds, no sound)

Features

Rich editor, with a source mode

Tables, highlighted code and KaTeX math, saved as Markdown you can read with cat.

Every checklist in one Tasks view

Each - [ ] item from every note, with priorities, due dates and a calendar.

A graph built from wiki links

Link notes with [[wiki links]] and see which ideas connect.

Also included

Daily Notes on a calendar
Themes, accents, fonts, 80 to 200% scaling
Full-text search (Tantivy), CJK-aware
Mermaid diagrams
Optional WebDAV sync to your own server
Version history and automatic backups
Optional AI, local with Ollama or your own key
Obsidian import, external .md viewer
Outline panel, tags with autocomplete
Callouts and collapsible sections
Focus mode, multi-window, custom shortcuts
Rust and Tauri, not Electron

On your phone

Android

The full editor, tables and all

Tasks on the go

The graph in your pocket

Daily notes anywhere

iPhone and iPad

View on the App Store

Download HelixNotes

Free and open source. Available for desktop, Android, iPhone and iPad.

Linux

Download AppImage

RPM: Fedora 43+ · AppImage: Arch · openSUSE Tumbleweed

Distro packages: Fedora Debian Solus Arch

Apple

macOS iPhone & iPad

Apple Silicon · signed and notarized · iOS/iPadOS 14+ Download for Intel Mac → Intel Mac warning help →

Windows

Download Installer

Windows 10/11 · x64 “Windows protected your PC”? Run anyway →

Android

Download APK

Tested on Android 16 · ARM64 ↓ Auto-updates via F-Droid

Install via DNF

Add the official Fedora repository and install with automatic updates:

sudo dnf config-manager addrepo
						--from-repofile=https://repo.arkhost.com/helixnotes.repo && sudo dnf install
						helix-notes

Fedora RPM →

Install via APT

Add the official repository and install with automatic updates:

curl -fsSL https://repo.arkhost.com/gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o
						/usr/share/keyrings/arkhost.gpg && echo "deb
						[signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/arkhost.gpg arch=amd64] https://repo.arkhost.com stable
						main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helixnotes.list && sudo apt update
						&& sudo apt install helix-notes

Install on Solus

HelixNotes is in the official Solus repository. Install it with eopkg:

sudo eopkg it helixnotes

Install via AUR

Install from the AUR using your preferred AUR helper:

yay -S helixnotes-appimage-bin

Blank or white screen on X11 or Wayland? If you see Failed to create GBM buffer, try:

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 helixnotes

Install via F-Droid

Add the ArkHost F-Droid repository to your F-Droid client, then install HelixNotes and receive automatic updates through F-Droid.

QR code to add the ArkHost F-Droid repository

Scan with F-Droid to add the repo

Repository address https://fdroid.arkhost.com/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=982AA0B4A99828C0B9F212964FA16D30554A74A0A2F24C9DC2D1C8B8D55AC972 On a phone with F-Droid installed, tapping this link opens the add-repo dialog directly.

Fingerprint (SHA-256) 982AA0B4A99828C0B9F212964FA16D30554A74A0A2F24C9DC2D1C8B8D55AC972 Verify this matches the fingerprint shown in F-Droid before adding the repo.

Don't have F-Droid yet? Get it at f-droid.org. Prefer a direct download? Grab the APK from GitLab releases.

Build from source

Install system dependencies for your platform:

Debian / Ubuntu / Mint

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev
									librsvg2-dev build-essential pkg-config curl npm

Arch / Manjaro

sudo pacman -S webkit2gtk-4.1 base-devel openssl libayatana-appindicator librsvg
									curl npm

Fedora

sudo dnf install webkit2gtk4.1-devel openssl-devel
									libayatana-appindicator-gtk3-devel librsvg2-devel gcc pkg-config curl npm

Windows

VS Build Tools (Desktop development with C++)

Install Rust and pnpm:

Install Rust via rustup.rs

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

Install pnpm

npm install -g pnpm

Clone and build:

git clone https://gitlab.com/ArkHost/HelixNotes.git && cd HelixNotes && pnpm install
							&& pnpm tauri build