Knotbook
ActiveSoftwareKnotbook is a local-first workspace for notes, ideas, PDFs, and research. Your notes are plain Markdown files stored in a folder you choose, while search, backlinks, tags, and the knowledge graph are automatically built from those files. Everything stays on your device with no cloud storage, accounts, or telemetry.
Knotbook is a local-first knowledge management workspace designed for capturing ideas, organizing research, and building connected notes without locking your data into a proprietary format.
Every note is stored as a standard Markdown file inside a workspace folder that you own, making your files accessible with any text editor and easy to back up, sync, or version using your preferred tools. Rather than storing your knowledge in a database, Knotbook treats your files as the source of truth and automatically builds fast search indexes, backlinks, tags, and a visual knowledge graph from them.
In addition to Markdown notes, Knotbook supports importing PDFs and indexing their extracted text, allowing you to search across both your notes and research documents from a single interface. Notes can be connected using wiki-style links ([[Note Name]]), with automatic backlinks that reveal relationships between ideas as your knowledge base grows.
Designed around privacy and ownership, Knotbook works entirely offline and never sends your data anywhere. There are no accounts, cloud services, analytics, or telemetry—your workspace remains completely under your control.
Whether you’re building a personal knowledge base, managing academic research, writing documentation, or collecting project notes, Knotbook provides a fast, focused, and portable workspace where your files stay yours and your knowledge remains accessible for years to come.