Tolaria

Tolaria is a personal knowledge base built for people who want full ownership of their notes. Every note is a plain Markdown file stored on your disk with YAML frontmatter. No database, no proprietary format, no lock-in. You can open your vault in any editor, search it with standard tools, and version it with Git.

It's a direct Obsidian alternative for writers and engineers who want richer Git integration and AI built into the workflow from the start, not bolted on later.

What makes it distinct:

• Plain files, always. Your vault is just a folder. Nothing is hidden in a database. Move it, back it up, or read it without Tolaria installed.
• Integrated Git client. Commit, push, and browse per-note history directly inside the app. No terminal required for version control.
• Rich block editor. Slash commands, [[wikilinks]] with autocomplete, whiteboards, table navigation, and media previews. Everything saves as standard Markdown.
• AI without the middleman. Connect directly to local models or API providers like Claude, Codex, OpenCode, or Gemini. Use them for chat over your notes, or bring in CLI coding agents for tool-backed editing.
• No account required. Free forever, AGPL-3.0 licensed, and fully self-contained.

Tolaria was built by Luca, a software engineering writer with 300+ published articles and 9,000+ notes accumulated over five years. None of the existing tools, including Logseq or tools like AppFlowy, matched what he needed, so he built his own.

The docs live in the same repo as the app, so documentation stays in sync with actual product behavior. That's a small detail that signals how the project is maintained.