The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2021–2026
Files.md bets plain .md files beat Obsidian vaults: HN 730 pts, 4.1k stars
A solo dev's local-first markdown notes app went open source after 5 years and hit HN's front page, betting plain .md files beat proprietary vaults.
Files.md
What the business is
A free, open-source, local-first markdown notes app (browser PWA plus Telegram bot) for notes, journal, tasks and checklists, with optional hosted or self-hosted sync.
How it started
Solo developer zakirullin began building the app around 2021 to keep notes, journal, tasks and projects in plain .md files he would own forever; after five years of daily personal use by him and friends, he open-sourced it in May 2026 and posted to Hacker News.
What happened
A week before the Show HN he made 500+ commits polishing the UI; the thread drew 356 comments debating sync, file formats, and comparisons with TiddlyWiki, SilverBullet and Obsidian. The project ships a hosted sync server (api.files.md) and added a sponsorship button as its first monetization experiment.
How it ended up
Still live: app.files.md in beta, roughly 4.1k GitHub stars, hosted sync offered; one maintainer, no funding.
Background
Files.md is a free, open-source, local-first markdown notes app by solo developer zakirullin. Notes, journal, tasks, projects and checklists are stored as plain .md files in a folder on the user's device; the app runs as a browser PWA with a Telegram bot for quick capture and optional hosted or self-hosted sync.
The founding bet is that you should own both your data as plain files and the software that opens those files, so notes survive any app or vendor change. After about five years of daily personal use, the author open-sourced it in May 2026, rewrote the backend from a Docker/PHP/Laravel stack into a single 15MB Go binary, and made 500+ commits in the week before the launch.
The Show HN on 2026-05-18 drew 730 points and 356 comments on the front page, with discussion focused on sync architecture, file formats, and how the project compared with Obsidian, TiddlyWiki and SilverBullet. As of September 2026 the app is in beta at app.files.md with roughly 4.1k GitHub stars; a hosted sync server and a sponsorship button are its first, still-experimental monetization steps.
What has to be true
- Plain .md files are the least lock-in format in knowledge management, so the product's value survives any app or vendor change.
- Local-first plus a browser PWA removes the install, cloud and account friction that competing vault apps require.
- LLM-friendly design (AGENTS.md conventions and simple file structure) matched the 2026 agent wave and drew HN's developer audience.
- The five-year solo history and 500+ commits in the week before launch made the Show HN read as maturity, not a weekend project.
What can be applied
Own the file, not the app: plain .md data and a single-page browser app let one maintainer grow with users for years and compete with funded incumbents by refusing complexity.
Aftermath
As of September 2, 2026 Files.md is live in beta at app.files.md with roughly 4.1k GitHub stars and remains a one-person, unfunded project. It offers local-first storage, cloud-folder sync through iCloud/Dropbox/Drive, a self-hosted Go sync server, a hosted sync option, and a Telegram bot for capture. Monetization is still experimental — a sponsorship button and the hosted sync service. Adoption is real, but the project has not yet demonstrated whether plain-file notes can generate revenue against funded incumbents like Obsidian.
Sources
- Show HN: Files.md – Open-source alternative to Obsidian
- zakirullin/files.md — Private, quiet space for thinking
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card