A local-first Markdown note-taking app. Your notes stay on your machine — VaultNote is just a UI for reading and editing them.
- Rich Markdown editor (TipTap) with live preview
- File tree sidebar with drag-and-drop, rename, create, delete
- Full-text search across all notes
- Bookmarks
- Mermaid diagrams, code highlighting, tables, task lists
- Dark / light theme
- Auto-save (500ms debounce)
- Tabs with persistent state
| Layer | Stack |
|---|---|
| Frontend | React 19, Vite, TipTap, MobX, Tailwind CSS v4, shadcn/ui |
| Backend | Express.js, TypeScript |
| Storage | Local filesystem (DOCS_ROOT) + SQLite via Prisma (bookmarks) |
Requirements: Node.js 18+, npm
git clone https://github.com/your-username/vaultnote.git
cd vaultnote
npm install
npm run devOpen http://localhost:5173.
By default, notes are stored in the ./docs folder at the repo root.
Create a .env file in the repo root:
PORT=3001DOCS_ROOT=./docsCLIENT_URL=http://localhost:5173The client reads VITE_API_URL (defaults to http://localhost:3001).
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
PORT | 3001 | Server port |
DOCS_ROOT | ./docs | Path to your notes directory |
CLIENT_URL | http://localhost:5173 | Client origin for CORS |
Point DOCS_ROOT at any existing folder of .md files to use VaultNote as a viewer/editor for it.
vaultnote/
├── client/ # React + Vite SPA
│ └── src/
│ ├── api/ # Fetch wrappers
│ ├── components/
│ ├── store/ # MobX stores
│ └── views/
└── server/ # Express REST API
└── src/
├── controllers/
├── middleware/
└── routes/
npm run dev # Start server + client
npm run dev:server # Server only
npm run dev:client # Client only
npm run build # Build both
npm run lint # ESLint
npm run format # Prettier# Client onlycd client && npm run typecheckMIT