Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases • Hacker News Board

Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#1

Post by lucaronin » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

Hey there! I am Luca, I write https://refactoring.fm/ and I built Tolaria for myself to manage my own knowledge base (10K notes, 300+ articles written in over 6 years of newslettering) and work well with AI.

Tolaria is offline-first, file-based, has first-class support for git, and has strong opinions about how you should organize notes (types, relationships, etc).

Let me know your thoughts!

Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases
github.com

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#2

Post by subdomain » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:06 PM UTC

I run a newsletter too, so this is cool to see! Not sure if I need it yet (my "knowledge base" is still pretty small), but I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future.

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#3

Post by jryio » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:30 PM UTC

Just another disposable piece of software maintained by a single person that does 80% of what other apps do but worse.

Max lifespan 2 years

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#4

Post by qsort » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:32 PM UTC

jryio wrote: post #3

Just another disposable piece of software maintained by a single person that does 80% of what other apps do but worse. Max lifespan 2 years

But if they ever choose to decommission it, they have the chance to do the funniest thing:

https://scryfall.com/card/plst/INV-156/obliterate

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#5

Post by antonkochubey » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:39 PM UTC

Doesn’t Obsidian already do pretty much the same?

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#6

Post by r0bbie » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:40 PM UTC

Super nice! I've ended up settling on Logseq for note-taking for a while now, but never loved the UI.

This is clean and love the git-backed approach. Would love to see a dark mode too!

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#7

Post by hoppyhoppy2 » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:40 PM UTC

antonkochubey wrote: post #5

Doesn’t Obsidian already do pretty much the same?

>open-source

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#8

Post by rglover » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:42 PM UTC

jryio wrote: post #3

Just another disposable piece of software maintained by a single person that does 80% of what other apps do but worse. Max lifespan 2 years

Please cut this out. You really don't want to live in a world where individuals are discouraged from trying to build things that are good.

If you want something to stick around: you have to use and pay for it.

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#9

Post by jimmcslim » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:50 PM UTC

hoppyhoppy2 wrote: post #7

antonkochubey wrote: post #5

Doesn’t Obsidian already do pretty much the same?

>open-source

And I was going to say Mac native as well, but uses Tauri. I’d love some app with the polish of Bear Notes but that just edited raw Markdown files. Ideally Obsidian with the Notebook Navigator plugin (strongly inspired by Bear Notes perhaps?) and (checks list) this very specific list of plugins that I need and should be good for everyone else thanks.

Re: Show HN: Tolaria – Open-source macOS app to manage Markdown knowledge bases

#10

Post by Pym » Thu, Apr 23, 2026, 10:51 PM UTC

Wow thanks!

Better than the one I was planning to build for myself.

Love the UI. Love the fact that the app was made with Tauri.

Nice work, will share!