[get started]

Getting Started

Vaults, your first note, and your first wikilink.

A vault is just a folder on your computer. Open one (or make a new one) and you’re already using Nolagmind — there’s no account to create and nothing to configure before you start writing.

Your first vault

The first time you launch the app, you’ll be asked to either create a new vault (an empty folder, ready to go) or open an existing folder of notes you already have. You can make as many vaults as you want — a separate one for work and personal life, or a single vault where everything can link together. Switch between them anytime from the vault button at the bottom of the sidebar, or the vault: search command (more in Search & Colon Commands).

Creating a note or folder

  • Cmd+N, type a name, hit Enter → new note
  • Same, but end the name with / → new folder

Notes and folders both live in the sidebar — home base for everything in your vault. Toggle it with Cmd+B.

If you’d rather skip naming altogether, Shift+Cmd+N creates a note called “Untitled” (or “Untitled 1”, “Untitled 2”…) instantly, no prompt.

Renaming, moving, and deleting

  • Rename — click the title at the top of an open note and type a new one, or right-click the note in the sidebar → Rename. (Shift+Cmd+R does the same from the keyboard.)
  • Move — right-click in the sidebar → Move, or Shift+Cmd+M with the note open.
  • Delete — right-click → Delete, or Shift+Cmd+D with the note open.

Everything here is undoable — Cmd+Z / Shift+Cmd+Z covers note and folder changes, not just text edits.

Type [[ inside any note and start typing a note’s name — an autocomplete drops down, ranked by the same fuzzy matching that powers the main search bar (see Search & Colon Commands). Pick an existing note to link to it, or type a name that doesn’t exist yet and the app offers to create it for you on the spot.

Once you have a link, you don’t need the mouse to use it:

  1. Use the arrow keys to move the highlight onto a link.
  2. Hit Cmd+Enter to open it. (Shift+Cmd+Enter or Cmd+Click opens it in a new split instead — see Workspace: Tabs & Splits.)

Every note also keeps track of which other notes link back to it — see Linking Notes for backlinks, aliases, and everything else linking can do.

A couple of basics worth knowing right away

  • Cmd+F finds text inside the open note; Shift+Cmd+F finds and replaces — same as any text editor.
  • Cmd+O opens search from anywhere, so you’re never more than a keystroke from any note. Head to Search & Colon Commands next, or jump straight to Keyboard Shortcuts for the full list.

design note

Nolagmind is local-first on purpose: a vault is nothing more than plain .md files sitting in a folder you already own. There’s no account, no server-side database, and no proprietary format — open any note in any other text editor and it looks exactly the same.