Carbide

Fork of Otterly — Carbide enhances Otterly with additional features, plugins, and a redesigned UI.

A local-first Markdown knowledge base built with Tauri 2, Svelte 5, and Rust. Notes are stored as plain Markdown files organized into vaults.

Why Carbide

• Local-first, Git-aware: Vaults stay on disk with optional auto-commit and conflict-safe atomic writes. Everything flows through a single action registry so shortcuts, menus, and UI all share the same behavior.
• Hybrid search + graph: SQLite FTS, semantic embeddings (candle), and graph edges combine for fast recall with meaningful context. Omnibar, graph view, and search graph share the same pipeline.
• AI that fits your workflow: Inline commands, Intelligent Writing Engine (IWE) LSP features, and configurable providers with vault-context prompts — all opt-in and observable.
• Programmable surface: Plugin sandbox, toolchain manager, and command palette exposed through typed actions. Hooks for search, diagnostics, slash commands, and workspace events.
• Onboarding that respects expertise: First-run welcome guide, vault dashboard, and help dialog surface the critical paths without hiding advanced controls.

Documentation

• Getting started — first-run flow, core actions, and quick links.
• Architecture — decision tree and layering rules.
• Plugin how-to — build and ship plugins.
• Markdown syntax guide — supported syntax and embeds.

Installation

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install --cask TranscriptionFactory/tap/carbide

GitHub Releases

Download pre-built binaries from the Releases page:

Built-in auto-updater applies updates on startup.

macOS GateKeeper

Mac users will see "Carbide is damaged and cannot be opened" because carbide isn't signed with an Apple App-store registered developer key ($100/year). Run this command in Terminal:

xattr -cr /Applications/carbide.app

This removes the quarantine attribute that macOS adds to unsigned apps. After running this command, you can open Carbide normally. Alternatively, open settings, go to privacy & security and click 'open' in the 'Security' section. Thanks, github/zouwei for the idea to put this here.

Tech Stack

Features

Workflow & Orchestration

• Single action registry powers UI, menus, shortcuts, and Tauri menus for deterministic behavior across surfaces.
• Omnibar and command palette unify note search, commands, and cross-vault actions with semantic rankings.
• Vault dashboard summarizes recents, tasks, and git status; first-run welcome guide highlights core paths.
• Git-aware workflows: optional auto-commit on save, tab-close guards, and restore/version history dialogs.

Editor

• WYSIWYG Markdown with live rendering and syntax highlighting (Shiki).
• Wikilinks with backlink tracking and autocomplete.
• Split-view editing with real-time content sync and draggable tabs.
• Collapsible headings and <details>/<summary> sections with fold toggles.
• Math/LaTeX support via KaTeX.
• Drag-and-drop file embedding, including inline document and PDF embeds (![[file.pdf]]).
• Document outline navigation.
• Editor tuning panel: font, size, line height, and zoom controls.
• Block drag-and-drop with section-aware handles for reordering content.
• Zen mode for distraction-free writing (Cmd+Shift+Enter).

AI & LSP Writing Assistance

• Configurable/multi-provider LSP integration
• Intelligent Writing Engine (IWE) with LSP-based hover, completion, formatting, rename, inlay hints, and diagnostics.
• Dynamic AI provider substitution for IWE transforms with config-driven actions.
• AI-generated file tree blurbs: note descriptions displayed inline in the sidebar.
• Prompt builder for composing AI queries from vault context.

Search & Query

• Omnibar for unified file, content, and command searches.
• Full-text search (SQLite FTS5) with instant results.
• Semantic search via candle BGE-small embeddings with hybrid FTS + HNSW vector index + Reciprocal Rank Fusion.
• Block-level semantic embeddings with find_similar_blocks for discovering related content across notes.
• Fuzzy matching.
• Composable query language with parser, evaluator, saved .query files, and lens views.

Canvas and Graph

• Excalidraw canvas for freeform drawing (.excalidraw files).
• Mermaid diagram rendering in notes with LRU-cached SVG output.
• Interactive graph view of note connections (d3-force) with full-vault and neighborhood modes.
• Semantic similarity edges in graph with configurable thresholds.
• WebGL renderer with worker-based force simulation and viewport culling.

References & Linked Sources

• Linked source library with embedded sources and search inclusion toggle.
• Auto-load reference library on vault open.
• Zotero Better BibTeX integration.
• BibTeX, CSL, and RIS bibliography support via Citation.js.
• PDF annotation extraction.

Layout & UI

• 10+ layout variants: Spotlight, Cockpit, Theater, Triptych, Dashboard, and more.
• Activity bar with layout-aware positioning.
• Native macOS menu bar.
• Metadata sidebar panel in context rail.
• Hierarchical tag tree with prefix queries and @-trigger date links.
• File tree style variants: compact, macOS Finder, refined, airy minimal.
• Bases panel for base management.

Git Integration

• Auto-commit on file save.
• File version history and diff views.
• Push, pull, and fetch support.

Terminal

• Embedded terminal via xterm.js and tauri-pty.

PDF

• PDF viewing (pdfjs-dist) and export (jspdf).
• Rust-side PDF text extraction.
• Inline PDF rendering in editor via pdf.js canvas.

Tags, Diagnostics & Linting

• Tag-based note organization with sidebar panel and Rust backend.
• Unified diagnostics store merging lint and IWE sources.
• AST parse error surfacing with severity mapping.
• Unresolved link diagnostics.
• Configurable Markdown linting.

Task Management

• Markdown-native tasks ([ ]/[-]/[x]) with 3-state cycling, due dates, and editor-first mutations.
• Rich query engine with filter/sort/pagination, kanban board with custom property grouping, and schedule drag-to-reschedule.
• Task aggregates surfaced as virtual columns in bases for unified querying.

Plugin System

• Extensible plugin architecture with lifecycle management, settings UI, and iframe sandboxing.
• Plugin API extensions for search, diagnostics, and note-indexed events.
• Auto-tag plugin with TOML-configured allow/deny lists.
• Toolchain manager with binary resolver, installation, and SHA-256 verification.

Customization

• Themes (light, dark, auto) with custom JSON theme configuration.
• CSS token editor with inline editing and revert.
• Rebindable hotkeys.
• Per-vault settings with atomic writes and crash-safe persistence.
• Configurable note naming templates with strftime support.
• Auto-updater with skip version support.

Acknowledgments

Carbide is a fork of Otterly with inspiration from various tools, including file management architecture from Ferrite.