Commonplace
Open app

Quickstart

Start with Commonplace in under a minute.

Three entry points to the same product. Pick the one that fits how you want to work — your notes stay portable Markdown either way.

Launch browser app Download desktop

Pick a path

Browser is the fastest way to look around. Desktop is the right home if you write often. Source is for contributors.

No install · 60s

Browser app

Open the live workspace in Chrome or Edge desktop. Choose a folder on your machine and Commonplace reads and writes plain Markdown files directly.

  • Best in Chromium-family desktop browsers
  • Firefox / Safari fall back to local-storage demo mode
  • Nothing leaves your machine

Open browser app

Recommended · macOS / Windows / Linux

Desktop app

The Electron build owns the filesystem watcher, the SQLite index, and the semantic memory scaffold. It's the primary direction for the project.

  • Native folder picker and watcher
  • SQLite FTS5 search, backlinks, graph
  • Multi-vault switcher under ~/Documents/Commonplace/

Latest release

Contributors · ~2 min

Build from source

Run the same renderer locally with Vite, or compile the Electron shell. Useful for verifying issues and contributing patches.

  • Node 22+ and npm
  • Single repo for browser + desktop
  • Vitest, ESLint, and TypeScript already wired up

Jump to instructions

Browser app

The fastest way to look around. Requires no install and grants Commonplace folder access via the browser.

  1. Open the app

    Visit the browser workspace. The landing screen offers two modes: pick a local folder, or run a browser-local demo if your browser doesn't support folder access.

  2. Choose or create a vault

    On Chrome or Edge desktop, the OS folder picker appears. Pick an empty folder for a fresh vault, or any existing folder of Markdown files. Commonplace scaffolds Notes/, Daily/, Attachments/, Templates/, and a .commonplace/ index folder.

  3. Write a note

    Press Ctrl/⌘ + K for the command palette, or click the new-note button in the ribbon. Notes are plain .md files — you can edit them outside the app, and Commonplace picks up external changes via watcher events on desktop.

  4. Link, search, browse

    Use [[wiki-style links]] to connect notes. Backlinks, the graph view, and the Related Notes panel surface neighborhoods. Full-text search lives behind the search box and the command palette.

Browser-local demo mode

On Firefox or Safari, Commonplace falls back to storing notes in localStorage. Import / export tools keep that data portable, but attachments aren't supported in this mode.

Desktop app

The primary direction. Native folder access, SQLite index, file watching, and persistent multi-tab workspace.

  1. Download a release

    Grab the latest macOS, Windows, or Linux build from GitHub Releases. Installers are unsigned today — see the README for verification notes.

  2. Launch and pick a vault folder

    On first launch, Commonplace offers to scaffold a default vault at ~/Documents/Commonplace/. You can also pick any existing folder of Markdown files; Commonplace adds a .commonplace/ directory next to your notes for its derived index.

  3. Set up your sync (optional)

    Commonplace doesn't ship a sync engine. Put your vault folder inside Syncthing, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive for Desktop, OneDrive, Nextcloud, or a Git repository — whichever you already trust. The watcher reconciles external edits with a stale-note banner and a conflict-safe save path.

  4. Explore the shell

    The desktop shell adds a left ribbon, a tab bar with overflow + pin support, a status bar, and a frameless titlebar that blends with OS window controls. Settings → Hotkeys lets you rebind shortcuts.

Build from source

Single repo, one install. Node 22+ recommended; the Electron build pins its own native deps.

Clone and install

git clone https://github.com/foolish-bandit/commonplace.git
cd commonplace
npm ci

Run the browser build

npm run dev          # Vite dev server on :5173

Run the Electron desktop app

npm run electron:dev # Vite + Electron in watch mode

Tests, lint, typecheck

npm run test
npm run lint
npx tsc --noEmit

Production builds

npm run build           # static browser bundle (dist/)
npm run build:site      # marketing site + browser app combined (dist-site/)
npm run electron:build  # packaged desktop app
Cloudflare Pages

The live site at commonplace-99b.pages.dev is deployed by Cloudflare Pages on every push to main, using npm run build:site with dist-site/ as the output directory.