{"slug": "nvalt", "name": "nvALT", "category": "notes", "category_name": "Notes and knowledge", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 5, "warners": 0, "score": 3.119, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-01-10", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 2, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "brettterpstra.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["nvALT", "nvAlt"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 755147233, "item_id": 47196702, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47196702", "by": "Jonovono", "date": "2026-02-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to love nvALT.", "excerpt": "I used to love nvALT. Want to check out https://hashy.ink. It's an open source markdown editor inspired by nvALT. Still rough around the edges, but it's coming together.", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Customer Update on Simplenote"}, {"id": 753202944, "item_id": 47075184, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47075184", "by": "Brajeshwar", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "was my go-to for a very long time", "excerpt": "The Alternate Notational Velocity (nvAlt) was my go-to for a very long time. https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: An encrypted, local, cross-platform journaling app"}, {"id": 745090448, "item_id": 46568153, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46568153", "by": "pax", "date": "2026-01-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "as a long time NvAlt/NvUltra daily driver", "excerpt": "Huh, can one natively edit Markdown in Google Docs? This would be one of my main requests for gDocs (as a long time NvAlt/NvUltra daily driver), but how?", "context": "", "use_case": "Markdown notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Markdown Took over the World"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["note-taking", "searching archived notes", "markdown notes"], "compared": [{"slug": "obsidian", "name": "Obsidian", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47195093", "title": "Customer Update on Simplenote", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50263443", "title": "Notational Velocity and nvALT, classic macOS note-taking apps, are back", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49032382", "title": "Calm technologies that excite me", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47072863", "title": "Show HN: An encrypted, local, cross-platform journaling app", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47054369", "title": "I Use Obsidian", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46556695", "title": "How Markdown Took over the World", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"compare": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804237856, "item_id": 50264866, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50264866", "by": "scblock", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to use nvALT extensively", "excerpt": "I used to use nvALT extensively, and I waited and waited for nvUltra to come out of beta, but it's been Coming Real Soon Now for more than 5 years, and I don't even use macOS as my primary OS anymore. Fortunately, we are spoiled for high quality note taking and knowledge management apps these days, and many of those either support markdown syntax in writing (e.g. Outline, Trilium) or are directly markdown based (Obsi", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notational Velocity and nvALT, classic macOS note-taking apps, are back"}, {"id": 784522244, "item_id": 49032640, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49032640", "by": "treetalker", "date": "2026-07-24", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "easily searchable later (nvALT/Obsidian, ripgrep, etc.)", "excerpt": "I\u2019m a dictaphone fan. Even better than the kind shown in the article are the ones with sliding switches. I have an Olympus model. Mine has both internal memory and SD card capability. And similar to what the author aspires to, I record bits and bobs throughout the day and then use the SD card to transfer them to my Mac. From there, they automatically get added to a MacWhisper watch folder and then automatically trans", "context": "", "use_case": "searching archived notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Calm technologies that excite me"}, {"id": 755147233, "item_id": 47196702, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47196702", "by": "Jonovono", "date": "2026-02-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I used to love nvALT.", "excerpt": "I used to love nvALT. Want to check out https://hashy.ink. It's an open source markdown editor inspired by nvALT. Still rough around the edges, but it's coming together.", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Customer Update on Simplenote"}, {"id": 755147105, "item_id": 47196694, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47196694", "by": "Jonovono", "date": "2026-02-28", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "inspired by nvALT", "excerpt": "I'm working on a open source markdown editor inspired by nvALT. Would love feedback! https://hashy.ink", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Customer Update on Simplenote"}, {"id": 753202944, "item_id": 47075184, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47075184", "by": "Brajeshwar", "date": "2026-02-19", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "was my go-to for a very long time", "excerpt": "The Alternate Notational Velocity (nvAlt) was my go-to for a very long time. https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/", "context": "", "use_case": "note-taking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: An encrypted, local, cross-platform journaling app"}, {"id": 752902882, "item_id": 47056430, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47056430", "by": "Jonovono", "date": "2026-02-17", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Think nvalt meets markdown.", "excerpt": "I really want to like obsidian but it\u2019s just unusable (for me) So I built my own thats a bit more lightweight. Think nvalt meets markdown. thats native, iOS and Mac with I cloud sync, and open source. Check it out if it sounds interesting! iOS app is still in review ;( https://hashy.ink/", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Use Obsidian"}, {"id": 745090448, "item_id": 46568153, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46568153", "by": "pax", "date": "2026-01-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "as a long time NvAlt/NvUltra daily driver", "excerpt": "Huh, can one natively edit Markdown in Google Docs? This would be one of my main requests for gDocs (as a long time NvAlt/NvUltra daily driver), but how?", "context": "", "use_case": "Markdown notes", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Markdown Took over the World"}]}