Frequently asked questions

What is Opensidian?

An open-source markdown notes app that works with Obsidian vaults: live preview, source and reading modes, [[wikilinks]], backlinks, tags, the graph view, tabs, splits, search, a quick switcher, a command palette and bookmarks. It is written in Rust on Tauri v2 and does not use Electron.

Is it made by Obsidian, or does it contain Obsidian code?

No. Opensidian is not affiliated with or endorsed by Obsidian or Dynalist Inc.; "Obsidian" is their trademark. It is a clean-room functional clone: it reimplements Obsidian's behaviour from the outside and contains none of its code.

Can I open my existing Obsidian vault?

Yes. A vault is a folder of markdown files plus a .obsidian/ settings folder, and Opensidian opens it as it is, with no import or conversion. Open one from the app or with opensidian <folder>. Your notes stay plain markdown files on your disk.

What does it cost?

Nothing. Opensidian is non-profit and licensed GPL-3.0-or-later. If you want to support it, there is a Bitcoin donation address.

Which operating systems are supported?

Releases are built for Linux x86_64: a slim and a portable AppImage, a Flatpak, an RPM and a DEB, tested on Fedora 44, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS and Debian 13. Other platforms have no release builds yet. You can also try the web version in a browser.

Which download should I pick?

The slim AppImage is the smallest file and needs WebKitGTK 4.1 on your system. The portable AppImage bundles WebKit, so there is nothing to install. The Flatpak runs sandboxed. The RPM (Fedora) and DEB (Debian, Ubuntu) install as system packages with a menu entry. See Install.

How do I check that a download is genuine?

Every release has a SHA256SUMS file signed with the GPG key A6E6 9ED6 BC47 79F3 2817 2148 4CC1 AFDE 15B6 4EA3. Verify the signature, then the checksum; the exact commands are under Verify your download.

Do Obsidian community themes work?

Most work unchanged. AnuPpuccin (the default), Material Gruvbox, Minimal and Solarized ship with the app. Add another one by putting its manifest.json and theme.css in <vault>/.obsidian/themes/<Name>/; CSS snippets go in .obsidian/snippets/. Both reload live, and a broken theme is shown greyed out with the reason. See Themes.

Do Obsidian community plugins work?

Yes, since 0.8.0. Plugins are off by default: each vault starts in restricted mode and runs no plugin code. You turn them on per vault in Settings > Community plugins. That choice is kept outside the vault, so a vault cannot turn it on for itself. Once on, plugins run with your user's rights, as in Obsidian, so enable only plugins you trust. A built-in browser lists plugins and installs them from GitHub. Plugins that store secrets need a system keyring (gnome-keyring, KWallet or KeePassXC). The 10 most popular plugins work end to end, and in our tests 44 of 50 popular plugins load. See the 0.8.0 release notes.

Can I build it from source?

Yes, with Rust 1.98.0 and the WebKitGTK 4.1 development packages; a release build takes about 2.5 minutes on 4 cores. The steps are under Build from source.

Was Opensidian written with AI?

Mostly, yes. Nearly all of the code and docs were written by Claude (Anthropic's models, via Claude Code), working from prompts, reviews and corrections by a single human maintainer, who decides what is built and what the trust model must guarantee. Details are in the AI disclosure.

How do I report a bug or a security issue?

Bugs go to GitHub issues. Security issues go privately by email to jendrik@madewithtea.com, never as a public issue; the security policy lists what to include and what happens next.

How can I help?

The project is looking for Linux distribution maintainers to package Opensidian. Bug reports with steps to reproduce help too, as do donations.