Cognote
Privacy-first desktop knowledge management system built with Rust and Svelte 5, featuring a connected knowledge graph and offline SQLite storage
Cognote
[!NOTE] Project Status: v0.1.0 - Production Ready. Security audited and optimised for offline use.
A privacy-first, offline desktop notebook with a connected knowledge graph.
Features
- Rich-text notes — Bold, italic, headings, code blocks, lists (TipTap editor)
- Wiki-links — Type
[[to link notes; backlinks tracked automatically - Knowledge graph — Interactive Cytoscape graph of all note connections
- Mind maps — Auto-generated tree from note headings (d3-hierarchy)
- File organiser — Drag-and-drop import, image/PDF preview, open externally
- Full-text search — SQLite FTS5 with highlighted snippets (⌘K)
- Progress dashboard — Daily note count, streak, 30-day activity chart
- Notebooks & tags — Hierarchical folders + tag filtering
- Dark/light theme — Supabase-inspired design system, persisted
- 100% offline — No cloud, no telemetry, no accounts. Data in local SQLite.
- Privacy & Security — Audited for XSS and Path Traversal; sanitised inputs and secure local storage.
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘N |
New note |
⌘K |
Focus search |
⌘G |
Knowledge graph view |
⌘M |
Mind map view |
Building from Source
Prerequisites
Run in development
git clone <repo-url>
cd cognote
npm install
npm run tauri dev
Build distributable
npm run tauri build
Output: src-tauri/target/release/bundle/
- macOS:
.dmginmacos/ - Linux:
.AppImageand.debinappimage/anddeb/ - Windows:
.msiinmsi/
Data Storage
Cognote stores all data locally:
| File | Location |
|---|---|
| Database | ~/Library/Application Support/com.cognote.app/cognote.db (macOS) |
| Files vault | Same directory as the database |
To back up your data, copy the entire com.cognote.app directory.
Tech Stack
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend | Rust + Tauri v2 |
| Frontend | Svelte 5 + SvelteKit |
| Database | SQLite (rusqlite, bundled) + FTS5 |
| Editor | TipTap 2 |
| Graph | Cytoscape.js + cytoscape-dagre |
| Mind map | d3-hierarchy |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS + CSS custom properties |
Contributing
See CONTRIBUTING.md. All contributions welcome.
License
