# Nolagmind

> A free, keyboard-first Markdown notes app for macOS. Notes are stored as plain
> .md files in a folder on the user's own disk. No account, no cloud service, no
> AI, and no telemetry. macOS 11 or later, Apple Silicon.

## Key facts

- Price: free. There is no paid tier, trial, or subscription.
- Account: none required, and none exists.
- Storage: a folder the user picks (called a "vault"). Markdown notes are .md
  files with YAML frontmatter; mind maps are .mindmap.md; boards are
  .board.json. No database. Custom slash commands and most settings live in
  the app, keyed to the vault, not as files in the folder.
- Offline: fully functional offline. The only network request is an update
  check against nolagmind.com (on every launch, and from Settings → About).
- Performance: no benchmark figures are published, and none should be inferred.
  Reading a vault is one batched call into a Rust backend rather than one call
  per note, nothing is awaited before the window's first paint, and the backlink
  index persists between launches instead of rebuilding.
- Built with Tauri 2, React 19, and TipTap. Not Electron.

## Distinctive features

- Colon commands: the search bar (⌘O or ⌘K) doubles as a command palette. Seven
  commands, each with a long form and a one-letter alias — tag:/t: filter by tag,
  settings:/s: jump to a setting, keyboard:/k: search every shortcut, vault:/v:
  switch vaults, grep:/g: full-text search note contents, sort:/so: browse and
  sort, batch:/b: bulk move or delete.
- Custom slash commands: users write their own Markdown snippets and trigger them
  by typing "/" and a name. Stored per vault in the app (not as files in the
  folder), created and edited in the editor.
- Three note types in one vault: Markdown notes, mind maps, and task boards. A
  Task view aggregates every board task across the vault into Overdue, Today,
  This week, and Later.
- 44 built-in themes, 30 of them official developer palettes (Gruvbox, Dracula,
  Nord, Monokai Pro, Solarized, One Dark, Catppuccin, Tokyo Night, Ayu, Night
  Owl, Everforest, Kanagawa, Rosé Pine, Horizon, Flexoki, Ferra, Ashen). Themes
  also retint the native macOS title bar.
- 85 keyboard shortcuts; up to 4 split panes per workspace with per-pane history;
  wikilinks that are rewritten across the vault on rename; backlinks; graph view.

## What it deliberately does not have

No AI features. No plugin system. No sync service. No accounts. No telemetry or
analytics. No mobile, Windows, Linux, or web version.

## Pages

- [Home](https://nolagmind.com/): overview and feature tour.
- [Download](https://nolagmind.com/download): requirements and first-run steps.
- [Docs](https://nolagmind.com/docs): usage and feature documentation.
- [Changelog](https://nolagmind.com/changelog): every release.
- [Compare](https://nolagmind.com/vs): index of all 13 comparisons.

## Docs

- [Installation](https://nolagmind.com/docs/installation)
- [Getting Started](https://nolagmind.com/docs/getting-started)
- [Bring your notes](https://nolagmind.com/docs/bring-your-notes)
- [Editing and Markdown](https://nolagmind.com/docs/editing-and-markdown)
- [Linking Notes](https://nolagmind.com/docs/linking-notes)
- [Organizing Notes](https://nolagmind.com/docs/organizing-notes)
- [Home Screen](https://nolagmind.com/docs/home-screen)
- [Graph View](https://nolagmind.com/docs/graph-view)
- [Daily Notes](https://nolagmind.com/docs/daily-notes)
- [Task View](https://nolagmind.com/docs/task-view)
- [Mind Maps](https://nolagmind.com/docs/mind-maps)
- [Boards](https://nolagmind.com/docs/boards)
- [Workspace, Tabs, and Splits](https://nolagmind.com/docs/workspace-tabs-and-splits)
- [Search and Colon Commands](https://nolagmind.com/docs/search-and-colon-commands)
- [Keyboard Shortcuts](https://nolagmind.com/docs/keyboard-shortcuts)
- [Themes and Settings](https://nolagmind.com/docs/themes-and-settings)
- [File format and storage](https://nolagmind.com/docs/file-format-and-storage)
- [Limitations](https://nolagmind.com/docs/limitations)
- [FAQ and Troubleshooting](https://nolagmind.com/docs/faq)

## Comparisons

Each page states where the other app wins as well as where Nolagmind does.
Competitor pricing and platform facts are dated on the page itself.

- [vs Obsidian](https://nolagmind.com/vs/obsidian): both plain Markdown; plugins vs a fixed feature set.
- [vs Notion](https://nolagmind.com/vs/notion): local files and offline vs a cloud workspace for teams.
- [vs Bear](https://nolagmind.com/vs/bear): free and file-based vs subscription sync across Apple devices.
- [vs Apple Notes](https://nolagmind.com/vs/apple-notes): both free; files you own vs a private database.
- [vs Evernote](https://nolagmind.com/vs/evernote): no note limit vs a 50-note lifetime free plan.
- [vs Logseq](https://nolagmind.com/vs/logseq): long-form pages vs an open-source block outliner.
- [vs Craft](https://nolagmind.com/vs/craft): plain files with no cap vs a block editor with a block limit.
- [vs Joplin](https://nolagmind.com/vs/joplin): a finished Mac interface vs open source with encrypted sync.
- [vs Roam Research](https://nolagmind.com/vs/roam-research): free local linking vs a hosted graph from $15/mo.
- [vs Octarine](https://nolagmind.com/vs/octarine): the closest competitor; free and AI-free vs $79 with AI.
- [vs Anytype](https://nolagmind.com/vs/anytype): plain files vs a local-first encrypted object database.
- [vs Capacities](https://nolagmind.com/vs/capacities): flat notes vs typed objects on a subscription.
- [vs Tana](https://nolagmind.com/vs/tana): a native Mac app vs a web outliner with supertags and AI agents.