Strata is a native macOS outliner for writing, thinking, planning, and restructuring ideas quickly. It is inspired by tools like Workflowy, but built as a document-based Mac app with OPML files, native windows, native tabs, and standard keyboard shortcuts.

• Open and save regular .opml documents.
• Keep multiple documents open in native macOS tabs.
• Focus on any node and navigate back with breadcrumbs.
• Select one or many nodes with keyboard or mouse.
• Copy, cut, paste, delete, complete, merge, reorder, indent, outdent, and drag selected nodes.
• Use rich inline formatting: bold, italic, highlight, and URL links.
• Type Markdown-like shortcuts such as **bold**, *italic*, and ==highlight==; Strata converts them to rich text and removes the markers.
• Hide completed items from the View menu.
• Search the current outline.
• Export as plain text, Markdown, or HTML.

Download the latest build from GitHub Releases.

Strata currently targets macOS 26 and later.

Strata is not signed with a paid Apple Developer account yet. macOS Gatekeeper may block it the first time you open it.

If macOS says the app cannot be opened:

1. Open System Settings.
2. Go to Privacy & Security.
3. Scroll to the security message about Strata.
4. Click Open Anyway.

You can also Control-click Strata.app, choose Open, then confirm that you want to open it.

Strata uses OPML as its primary file format. It stores Strata-specific state using custom OPML attributes:

• _complete="true" for completed nodes.
• _collapsed="true" for collapsed branches.
• _strata_formatting="..." for rich-text formatting and links, including bold, italic, underline, highlight, and links.
• _note="..." for node notes.

Other OPML apps should still be able to read the outline text, though they may ignore Strata-specific metadata.

Use File > Import from Workflowy OPML... for Workflowy exports. The importer reads Workflowy notes from note or _note, completed state from _complete and common completed variants, and converts inline OPML HTML such as bold, italic, underline, links, and highlights into Strata formatting spans. Workflowy # and @ tags import as plain text. Imports open as untitled Strata documents so the original Workflowy export is not overwritten.

Requirements:

• macOS 26 or later
• Xcode with the macOS 26 SDK

Build a release app:

xcodebuild -project Strata.xcodeproj -scheme Strata -configuration Release -derivedDataPath build/DerivedData build

The built app will be at:

build/DerivedData/Build/Products/Release/Strata.app

Strata is early software. Core outlining behavior is in place, but polish and native document behavior are still being refined.