{"slug": "files-md", "name": "Files.md", "category": "notes", "category_name": "Notes and knowledge", "description": "", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 9, "warners": 1, "score": 4.956, "rising": -0.64, "first": "2026-05-18", "latest": "2026-10-21", "why": "it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home server", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 0, "compare": 2, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home server", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "files.md", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://files.md", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Files.md", "files.md"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 802838307, "item_id": 50177394, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50177394", "by": "reustle", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home server", "excerpt": "My small data point: A few days ago I wanted my obsidian notes on a linux machine. Well, the files are synced via iCloud Drive (no Linux), so I asked it to solve it across my devices. It used Syncthing which has been working great. Then yesterday obsidian desktop stopped loading (probably a bug in a plugin?). I\u2019ve always wanted to do my notes in the browser, so it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home serv", "context": "", "use_case": "Browser notes app on home server", "switched_from": "", "story": "SaaS Is Dead"}, {"id": 770935729, "item_id": 48183483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183483", "by": "benrutter", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Glad I read about this!", "excerpt": "Glad I read about this! I love helix and have been looking for some bonus features for note organisation without having to ditch my favourite editor, will defi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770920673, "item_id": 48182542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182542", "by": "jwillmer", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Will look to support this as well.", "excerpt": "This is great. I build a Ai status page [1] based around MD files and included obsidian as option. Will look to support this as well. [1]: https://github.com/jwillmer/ai-status", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770910384, "item_id": 48181899, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181899", "by": "levmiseri", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "as the product looks and feels stellar", "excerpt": "The mention of 'we were building this for 5 years' really resonates with me. Creating text editors is such a pitfall of hidden complexity! Not to take away from files.md - as the product looks and feels stellar - we have been trying to build a markdown editor for years as well, with more focus on collaborative features and rich customization and styling: https://kraa.io/about", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770909728, "item_id": 48181858, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181858", "by": "ctippett", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It appeals to me as a minimalistic version of the Bear[1] notes app.", "excerpt": "It appeals to me as a minimalistic version of the Bear[1] notes app. A few years ago I played around with copying the Bear app interface for the web, the idea was to create a visually identical mockup of the app so you could immediately visualise changes made when customising various theme values. I stalled with the implementation of the last part, but the rest of it is up at bear.christippett.dev [1] https://bear.ap", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 771018832, "item_id": 48188677, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188677", "by": "riffic", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that's still the case according to SSL Labs", "excerpt": "that's still the case according to SSL Labs: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=app.files.md", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["browser notes app on home server", "local offline notes", "note-taking"], "compared": [{"slug": "obsidian", "name": "Obsidian", "co": 7, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "icloud", "name": "iCloud", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 771118355, "item_id": 48194897, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48194897", "by": "jatora", "date": "2026-05-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Native markdown notes editor for Windows, written in Rust.", "excerpt": "Sure! At first I wanted a sublime that played nice on windows with virtual desktops (it has some annoyances when dragging tabs, they dont respect separate destkops). I use sublime as my 'ephemeral' text editor, and Obsidian for my actual saved/persisted notes, but i love Obsidian's WYSIWYG markdown experience so i wanted to bake that into this as well. So the core ethos of it is: 1. ephemeral AND safe - easy to jot n", "context": "", "use_case": "Markdown notes editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770933728, "item_id": 48183358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183358", "by": "zakirullin", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I added a table with all possible setup options", "excerpt": "I added a table with all possible setup options: https://github.com/zakirullin/files.md#ways-to-use-it", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770896992, "item_id": 48181062, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181062", "by": "zakirullin", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For the most part I use the project from my Telegram bot.", "excerpt": "> Very nice domain! Did you always own \"files.md\"? Thanks! I bought it about 3 years ago. Back then, the project was just a chatbot. But already back then, I kind of had an idea where I want it all to go. I wanted the simplicity (and 0 cognitive load!) to start right from the domain name! Files in .md - files.md! > Re storing things on your server, what is the security layer around that? For the most part I use the p", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770885856, "item_id": 48180366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180366", "by": "zakirullin", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Because I use the project on daily basis.", "excerpt": "Thanks! I am glad you enjoyed it. For the past week alone, I made 500+ commits, fixing all sorts of UI/UX fixes to perfect things out. I believe I put too much time into it during all those years, but I don't regret it. Because I use the project on daily basis.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48179677", "title": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian", "mentions": 13}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50176508", "title": "SaaS Is Dead", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 5, "compare": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802838307, "item_id": 50177394, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50177394", "by": "reustle", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home server", "excerpt": "My small data point: A few days ago I wanted my obsidian notes on a linux machine. Well, the files are synced via iCloud Drive (no Linux), so I asked it to solve it across my devices. It used Syncthing which has been working great. Then yesterday obsidian desktop stopped loading (probably a bug in a plugin?). I\u2019ve always wanted to do my notes in the browser, so it forked https://files.md and set it up on my home serv", "context": "", "use_case": "Browser notes app on home server", "switched_from": "", "story": "SaaS Is Dead"}, {"id": 772605793, "item_id": 48287862, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48287862", "by": "jekbao", "date": "2026-05-26", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Would Files.md offer a better sync alternative?", "excerpt": "I\u2019m curious what specific problem Files.md aims to solve as an open-source alternative to Obsidian. Since Obsidian already uses open data stored as Markdown of my choice as well as plugins are open-source - my only real pain point is seamless online & offline syncing between my laptop and mobile phone. I\u2019ve tried a few options, including iCloud Drive, but they are not quite reliably as Obsidian\u2019s paid sync service. W", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 771018832, "item_id": 48188677, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188677", "by": "riffic", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "that's still the case according to SSL Labs", "excerpt": "that's still the case according to SSL Labs: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=app.files.md", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770965104, "item_id": 48185319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48185319", "by": "thebeardisred", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "compare", "quote": "What is this providing over similarly Markdown based open source note taking applications like Joplin?", "excerpt": "What is this providing over similarly Markdown based open source note taking applications like Joplin? (https://joplinapp.org/) I've been a huge fan of the fact that my backend sync infrastructure is my own self-hosted S3 bucket with local clients handling the presentation layer.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770935729, "item_id": 48183483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48183483", "by": "benrutter", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Glad I read about this!", "excerpt": "Glad I read about this! I love helix and have been looking for some bonus features for note organisation without having to ditch my favourite editor, will defi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770920673, "item_id": 48182542, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48182542", "by": "jwillmer", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Will look to support this as well.", "excerpt": "This is great. I build a Ai status page [1] based around MD files and included obsidian as option. Will look to support this as well. [1]: https://github.com/jwillmer/ai-status", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770910384, "item_id": 48181899, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181899", "by": "levmiseri", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "as the product looks and feels stellar", "excerpt": "The mention of 'we were building this for 5 years' really resonates with me. Creating text editors is such a pitfall of hidden complexity! Not to take away from files.md - as the product looks and feels stellar - we have been trying to build a markdown editor for years as well, with more focus on collaborative features and rich customization and styling: https://kraa.io/about", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770909728, "item_id": 48181858, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181858", "by": "ctippett", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "It appeals to me as a minimalistic version of the Bear[1] notes app.", "excerpt": "It appeals to me as a minimalistic version of the Bear[1] notes app. A few years ago I played around with copying the Bear app interface for the web, the idea was to create a visually identical mockup of the app so you could immediately visualise changes made when customising various theme values. I stalled with the implementation of the last part, but the rest of it is up at bear.christippett.dev [1] https://bear.ap", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770894864, "item_id": 48180929, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180929", "by": "zakirullin", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You can just clone and use offline.", "excerpt": "You can just clone and use offline. Just open web/index.html file, it absolutely requires no server. If you want a local server though, it is easy to setup: https://github.com/zakirullin/files.md/blob/main/docs/your-own-server.md", "context": "", "use_case": "local offline notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}, {"id": 770886336, "item_id": 48180396, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180396", "by": "ocimbote", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "what I found out was entirely different and much more interesting.", "excerpt": "I wouldn't show it as an alternative to Obsidian though. It shares MD files with it and both are supposedly about note taking (\"supposedly\" is for Obsidian, I haven't tried Files.md yet), but Files.md seems to have its own way of making the users work with their thoughts, notes and knowledge altogether. When I read \"an alternative\", I assumed feature-parity and API compatibility. But what I found out was entirely dif", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Files.md \u2013 open-source alternative to Obsidian"}]}