Files.md takes a swing at Obsidian with an open-source Markdown notebook
Built in Go with a server and web UI, the project is seeing near-daily commits as it positions itself as a hackable Markdown note app on GitHub.
By Ryan Merket ยท
Why it matters
Founders and engineers increasingly want note tools they can inspect, extend, and trust. A fast-moving, Go-based Obsidian alternative offers a lower-friction base for teams to self-evaluate and potentially contribute to, reducing vendor risk and enabling custom workflows.
Files.md, an open-source alternative to Obsidian, the note-taking app, is live on GitHub and moving fast, with recent commits and active docs updates this week.
The project is maintained by developer zakirullin, who has been pushing code since 2023. The repo shows 3,000+ commits and steady iteration in May, including fixes to a "brutal" theme and end-to-end test updates. It reads like a solo-built product maturing in public.
What it is
Files.md presents itself as a Markdown-first notes app aiming at the same use case as Obsidian, but with source code open from day one. The name hints at a simple model: your notes live as files, edited and rendered with a focused interface.
Under the hood
A quick scan of the codebase shows a Go project with clear separation between a server and a web client, plus a cmd directory for tooling and a test suite under tests. The presence of a go.mod and regular maintenance on dependencies suggest the author is keeping the stack lean and current.
On the UX side, recent commits reference theme work (including a brutal theme) and tweaks to inline code rendering, the sort of paper-cut fixes you only see on projects that get used daily by their creator.
Docs and getting started
The README and in-repo docs cover how to take notes and orient new users. It is early, but the documentation is growing alongside the code, with fresh explanations added this week.
If you have been looking for a hackable, open project in the Obsidian-shaped space, Files.md is worth a look while it is still small enough to understand in an afternoon. Clone the repo, skim the README, and you will have a sense of how the pieces fit together.
The bet
Proprietary tools like Obsidian have shown there is deep demand for fast, local-feeling Markdown notebooks. Files.md is a developer-led attempt to meet that demand in the open, where teams can review the code, file issues, and shape the roadmap through pull requests. Whether it stays a personal tool or grows into a community project will depend on whether early users lean in now, while the author is shipping every few days.