Open-source Markdown research tool written in Rust
Ekphos
Get picks like this daily. Today's launch numbers, the top launches, AI and tech news, and a daily opportunity pick, straight to your inbox.
Want to reach these readers? Sponsor an issue.
Hi! I just made an obsdian alternative in terminal after searching for an Obsidian like TUI and got nothing. So I built one myself.
HN · launched Dec 16, 2025 · 34 upvotes (top 25%) · 0 views
Niche: markdown editors and viewers · 158 launches, 13 in the last 7 days ▲ +86% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Workflow automation
- Prosumer
- Not AI
- Hobby / open-source project
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 158 launches in markdown editors and viewers →
Could you build this?
Partial While an AI can generate basic Rust terminal boilerplate, implementing a high-performance, robust, cross-platform TUI note-taking app with markdown rendering and bidirectional linking requires idiomatic Rust systems programming.
What it would actually take: The architecture relies on Rust using terminal libraries like `ratatui` or `crossterm`, backed by a custom markdown parser (e.g., `pulldown-cmark`) and an in-memory graph index for bidirectional wikilinks. It requires expertise in low-level memory management, terminal event loops, async file I/O, and efficient index synchronization.
Discussion
15 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: Obsidian, org-roam, markdown-oxide, Neovim with plugins, Emacs with plugins
Concerns raised: Missing WikiLinks support blocks drop-in replacement for vaults, Feature parity with Obsidian still incomplete, Terminal UI limitations compared to GUI alternatives, Learning curve for users preferring existing editors
Feature requests: Org-mode file support, Standard theming options, LSP (Language Server Protocol) support, Full feature parity with Obsidian
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 183 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #66 of 184 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 43 days after the earliest competitor.
- Opal Editor, free Obsidian alternative for markdown and site publishing · hn · 2026-01-18 · 36 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- OpenKnowledge · hn · 2026-06-25 · 381 upvotes · similarity 0.51
- I built a native macOS Markdown viewer 100% with AI coding agents · hn · 2026-05-19 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- Artifact Keeper · hn · 2026-02-06 · 166 upvotes · similarity 0.49
- HermesMarkdown · ph · 2026-11-11 · 3 upvotes · similarity 0.47
- Ferrite · hn · 2026-01-11 · 241 upvotes · similarity 0.45
- I made a Rust Terminal UI for OpenSnitch, a Linux application firewall · hn · 2025-11-21 · 6 upvotes · similarity 0.42
- A TUI for Markdown view an editing · hn · 2026-04-28 · 20 upvotes · similarity 0.42
The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.