Plainva

Local-first · Markdown · Yours

Your notes are just files.
Plainva makes them feel like an app.

A local-first Markdown editor that opens your existing Obsidian vaults, adds Notion-style databases over plain notes, and syncs through storage you already own — and never locks you in.

Download for desktop View on GitHub

Windows · macOS · Linux No account No telemetry AGPL-3.0

Opens your Obsidian vault — and never changes it behind your back. Any upgrade — typed notes, databases — is opt-in. Your notes stay plain Markdown that opens anywhere: in Obsidian, in any text or Markdown editor, today and in ten years.

What you get

A modern app over plain files — nothing hidden, nothing owned by us.

Editor

A real Markdown editor

Live preview, a slash menu, tables with inline editing, callouts, wiki links, math & Mermaid, block drag handles, print & PDF export.

.base

Databases over plain notes

Tables, boards, calendars, galleries, timelines and a graph — with relations and computed reverse columns. The data is your notes.

Graph

See how it all connects

A context graph beside every note, plus a semantic-zoom vault map with cleanup tools for orphans, broken links and unlinked mentions.

Sync

Through your storage

WebDAV/Nextcloud, S3-compatible, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox. Offline queue, 3-way merge, visual conflict resolver. Nothing leaves your storage.

Versioning

Every write, recoverable

Automatic per-file snapshots — browse, diff and restore any version, undelete files, and daily ZIP backups by default.

Performance

Fast on large vaults

SQLite/FTS5 full-text search as you type, incremental indexing, and a measured performance budget — tens of thousands of notes stay snappy.

The data is your notes

Boards, tables and relations — stored as plain Markdown.

A .base file is a view over your notes' frontmatter. Drag a card and Plainva writes a single field back into a note — no database, no export, no lock-in. Open the same folder in Obsidian and your notes are just notes.

The promise

No account. No telemetry. No middleman.

Plainva runs on your machine and talks only to the storage you choose. There is no Plainva server between you and your notes — because there is no Plainva account to begin with.

  • Your files stay put. Nothing is uploaded anywhere except the cloud you connect.
  • Credentials in the OS keychain. Not in a config file, not on a server.
  • Plain Markdown, forever. If Plainva vanished tomorrow, every note still opens.

Bring your own cloud

Sync through storage you already pay for.

WebDAV and S3 work out of the box; OneDrive and Dropbox connect with a single sign-in. Google Drive works too, with a one-time app setup of your own.

WebDAV / Nextcloud S3 · R2 · MinIO · B2 Google Drive OneDrive Dropbox
12 themes · 10 languages
no lock-in · no phone-home

Android beta · live now

Plainva on your phone — join the Android beta.

The same plain-Markdown vault as on desktop, synced through your own cloud. Joining takes two steps: join the testers group, then install from Google Play.

Join the Android beta How it works

Free · uses your own cloud · keep a backup of your vault.

iOS & full launch

On iPhone, or want the launch heads-up?

iOS testing runs separately through TestFlight, and the full mobile launch is coming. Leave your email and we'll ping you once — no newsletter.

Almost there — please check your inbox and confirm your subscription. Then we'll email you once, when mobile is ready.

One email, only about the mobile app. No newsletter, no sharing.

Keep it independent

Plainva is funded by people, not investors.

No VC, no growth traps — grants and one-time supporters keep it alive and honest. Any amount helps; none of it buys your data.

GitHub Sponsors Ko-fi Liberapay

Recurring via GitHub Sponsors or Liberapay, or a one-time thank-you on Ko-fi — no account needed. All three are fee-friendly, so nearly everything reaches the project.

Building something commercial on Plainva? It's open source under AGPL-3.0 — if that copyleft license doesn't fit your product, a commercial license is available on request. Email us about commercial licensing →

Get Plainva

Download Plainva — your vault opens in seconds.

Free and open source, currently v0.4.1. In-app updates are signed, and you can turn them off. Prefer to build it yourself? The whole thing is on GitHub.

macOS
Download (.dmg)
Universal · Apple Silicon & Intel

All versions, checksums & formats on GitHub →

Installation help

Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”

Plainva isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen shows a blue warning on first launch. It's safe to run: click More info, then Run anyway. The .msi installs Plainva like any other app; the .exe is a portable installer alternative.

macOS says the app “cannot be opened”

The app isn't notarized yet, so Gatekeeper blocks a normal double-click. Open the .dmg, drag Plainva to Applications, then right-click the app → Open and confirm once — or allow it under System Settings → Privacy & Security. The build is universal, running on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

Linux: run the AppImage or install a package

Make the AppImage executable and run it: chmod +x Plainva*.AppImage. Prefer your package manager? Install the .deb (Debian/Ubuntu) or .rpm (Fedora/openSUSE) from the same release.

Beta · used daily on real vaults · 1,500+ tests · keep backups of irreplaceable data.