---
**Notes that stay yours.** Moldavite keeps every note as a Markdown file in a
folder you choose, on your computer. Local search, wiki-links, daily notes, a
calendar, and a built-in MCP server for the AI tools you already use.
No Moldavite account. No telemetry. Optional iCloud Drive sync on Mac. If Moldavite disappeared tomorrow,
you would still have every note, in plain text, exactly where you left it.
Local-first for macOS, iPhone and iPad, and for Windows and Linux in beta.
## Install
**macOS.** Homebrew fetches the signed, notarized build for your architecture
and puts `moldavite` on your `PATH`:
```sh
brew install --cask mauropereiira/moldavite/moldavite
```
Or take the DMG from [the latest release](https://github.com/mauropereiira/Moldavite/releases/latest).
**Windows.** Download `Moldavite_x.x.x_x64-setup.exe` from the same page. The
installer is not Authenticode-signed yet, so SmartScreen will warn you once:
choose **More info → Run anyway**. Updates delivered inside the app are
cryptographically signed and verified before they install.
**Linux (beta).** Download `Moldavite_x.x.x_amd64.AppImage` for any
distribution, `Moldavite_x.x.x_amd64.deb` for Debian and Ubuntu, or
`Moldavite-x.x.x-1.x86_64.rpm` for Fedora. All need glibc 2.38 or newer, which
means Ubuntu 24.04, Debian 13, Fedora 39 or later; the local semantic-search
runtime sets that floor. Mark the AppImage executable once, and install
`libfuse2` if your distribution does not ship it (`sudo apt install libfuse2`
on Ubuntu). In-app updates work for the AppImage. The deb and the rpm are
updated by installing the next one.
**iPhone and iPad.** Get Moldavite: Notes & Ideas from the
[App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/id6809157286) (iOS and iPadOS 17 or
later). The MCP server, plugins and the browser clipper stay on the desktop.
## Connect your AI
The app binary is also the MCP server. There is no separate daemon, and nothing
leaves your machine.
```sh
claude mcp add moldavite -- moldavite --mcp
```
Settings → AI & Agents generates the exact line for Claude Code, Claude Desktop,
Cursor, or any stdio MCP client. Use it on Windows and Linux, where the path differs. Add
`--forge "Work"` to pin a client to one local Forge rather than following the
active local Forge. MCP currently supports local Forges; pin a local Forge when
using the Mac app’s synced iCloud Forge.
| Tool | Does | Default |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------- |
| `list_notes` | Enumerate notes and locked-note placeholders, optionally by folder | On |
| `read_note` | Read one unlocked note by Forge-relative path | On |
| `search_notes` | Ranked search with snippets, semantic when that index is ready | On |
| `get_backlinks` | Every note linking to a given note | On |
| `create_note` | Create a note | **Off** |
| `write_note` | Replace a note's contents | **Off** |
| `append_to_daily_note` | Append to today's note | **Off** |
Write tools are off until you turn them on. Turning them off blocks the next
write call immediately; the tool list itself catches up when the client next
asks for it, since the server sends no list-changed notification. No tool can
read a locked note's contents; `list_notes` reports locked notes as placeholders
so an agent knows they exist without seeing inside. When an agent changes a note
you have unsaved edits in, Moldavite names the agent and asks before replacing
anything.
**[Moldavite Skills](https://github.com/mauropereiira/moldavite-skills)** teach
an agent how to use all of this. They follow the Agent Skills spec, so they work
in Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode:
```sh
/plugin marketplace add mauropereiira/moldavite-skills
/plugin install moldavite@moldavite-skills
```
Agents that read files directly and never speak MCP are covered too: one click
writes an `AGENTS.md` describing your Forge's conventions.
## The Forge
A Forge is a directory. Keep several and switch between them.
```
~/Documents/Moldavite//
daily/ YYYY-MM-DD.md
weekly/ YYYY-Www.md
notes/ everything else, subfolders and all
templates/
images/ pasted images, linked from notes as images/
.trash/ 7-day retention
.plugins/
.index/ semantic index, when you turn semantic search on
```
Real Markdown with YAML frontmatter. Point Dropbox, iCloud, git or nothing at
all at it. Edit the files in another editor while Moldavite is open and it
notices.
Open Markdown outside a Forge with Open With, a file association, a window drop,
or ⌘O (Ctrl+O). Editable files save where they are; **Add to Forge** creates a
Forge copy, and files whose formatting cannot survive an edit open view-only.
A drop whose location cannot be recovered opens read-only with **Add to Forge**;
use Open With or ⌘O (Ctrl+O) to edit the original.
### Start syncing on Mac
In Moldavite 2.7.0 or later, open **Settings → General → Synced Forge (iCloud)** to
create a separate iCloud Forge on your Mac. Write notes there or use **Open
synced folder in Finder** to copy Markdown files into `notes/`. Your local
Forges stay separate. You can start on Mac before installing the iOS app.
Notes that are only in iCloud show a small cloud and download when you open
them and tap **Download**.
See [the Mac iCloud guide](docs/MAC_ICLOUD.md) for setup, adding existing notes,
and troubleshooting. The full iOS guide will follow separately.
## What else it does
Settings → Appearance offers seven themes, Cream, Sage, Slate, Clay, Plum,
Graphite and the seasonal Autumn, each in light and dark, and S–XL text sizes for the editor and
desktop Settings. Settings → Layout puts the icon rail on the left or the right. The home screen
has faint constellations with a sun or moon (Settings → Appearance → Home screen → Quiet home screen
hides them), and the seasonal theme adds an autumn field and falling leaves (Seasonal touches turns
them off).
Wiki-links with vault-wide rename, backlinks, a graph view, tags, templates,
Markdown tables you edit in place, daily and weekly notes, an Agenda with Apple and Google Calendar events on an hourly timeline (Apple on a Mac,
iPhone and iPad; Google everywhere), a Timeline of what happened to your notes, note locking with AES-256-GCM, export to Markdown, PDF, a ZIP archive or
an encrypted archive, a one-time Obsidian importer that copies rather than
moves, and sandboxed plugins that run in a Worker with no network unless you
grant it. Plugins come from a community directory the maintainer reviews, or
from a file you pick, and a safe mode starts Moldavite without them if one
misbehaves.
Keyword search answers from a local SQLite index kept outside the Forge, so it
stays instant as a Forge grows. Local semantic search is opt-in, downloads its
model once and then runs offline; it ships on Apple Silicon Macs, Windows and
Linux, and Intel Macs keep the keyword search.
Settings → General can make Moldavite the app that opens a double-clicked
`.md` file (on Windows it opens Default Apps settings, since Windows leaves that
choice to you).
Updates are checked quietly in the background, verified against a signing key
before they install, and a "What's New" window shows that version's notes the
first time you open it.
Pin the notes you keep coming back to and they lead the top bar above the
note, reorderable, beside your open tabs; what doesn't fit is a click away in
Open tabs. Rename a note by editing its title.
Order the sidebar A–Z, Z–A, by date modified or created, or by hand: drag
notes and folders where you want them and they stay there.
**Clip any page to a note.** A browser extension turns the page you are reading
into Markdown in the Forge you choose, links kept, images and styling dropped,
and it works whether or not Moldavite is open. Install it for Chrome, Edge or
Brave from the [Chrome Web Store](https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ngdbcbhchiifacekdkjpjbjmegkeodig). The Firefox
`.xpi` is signed by Mozilla without being listed there, and is uploaded to a
release by hand. See [docs/CLIPPER.md](docs/CLIPPER.md).
**Publish to WordPress.com** without minting a credential: sign in once in your
browser, pick a site, and the note becomes a draft. Publishing it again updates
that draft rather than scattering new ones. Self-hosted WordPress is covered by
a bundled plugin using an Application Password, since those sites have no
WordPress.com account to sign in with.
## Privacy
Every network connection the app can make is listed in
[the privacy note](https://moldavite.dev/privacy). The
short version: update checks, and whatever you explicitly connect. Fonts are
self-hosted, so no page or panel in the app calls a CDN. Your notes are never
uploaded to be indexed, including by the semantic search, which runs its model
locally.
## Contributing
Issues and pull requests welcome. `CONTRIBUTING.md` covers setup and the
conventions, `docs/ARCHITECTURE.md` how the pieces fit together,
`docs/RELEASING.md` the release process, and `docs/DESIGN_CREAM.md` the design
system. Run `npm test`, `npm run lint`, and `cargo test` before opening a PR.
Use the Node version in `.nvmrc`; `nvm use` picks it up. Node only builds and
tests the app (the shipped binary is Rust and contains no Node runtime), but on
newer versions vitest fails to hand jsdom's globals to the test context, so
`localStorage` is undefined and a couple of hundred tests fail for no real
reason while the same commit passes in CI. `npm install` warns if your version
is outside the supported range.
MIT.
### iOS development
The iOS app is on the App Store as Moldavite: Notes & Ideas (not yet in France) and is still in development, with a phone layout, touch formatting controls and local-device onboarding. See [the mobile status and build guide](docs/MOBILE.md) for implemented features and remaining release work, and [the App Store handoff](docs/IOS_APP_STORE.md) for account setup and upload instructions.
