Symiosis

Symiosis is a desktop note-taking application inspired by Notational Velocity that combines instant search with beautiful markdown rendering. It's designed for a keyboard-driven workflow with Vim-centric defaults, but you can customize shortcuts to your taste. The built-in code editor supports vim, emacs, and basic editing modes so you can comfortably edit notes in place.

Status

Early Release (α)

The app is functional and ready to use, but things may change as improvements are made. Some features might not work perfectly yet.
Currently tested officially on macOS. Contributions / feedback for Windows & Linux support are appreciated.

Warning

Note versions are kept and care has been taken to avoid data loss, but since this is a new project, regular backups are recommended.

Features

Instant Search: Search title and contents with fuzzy matching.
Markdown Render in Place: Notes are explored and read as beautiful rendered markdown.
Code Editor: Seamlessly switch between viewing and editing modes.
Keyboard-Driven Workflow: Navigate and manage notes entirely with keyboard shortcuts.

Usage

Symiosis is designed for a keyboard-driven workflow. Defaults are Vim-centric but you can customize to taste. Usual keys like arrows etc. will also work.

Global Shortcuts

Ctrl + Shift + N: Toggle Symiosis window visibility (works system-wide).

General Navigation

Type to Search: Start typing to filter notes.
Ctrl + J / Ctrl + K: Navigate through the search results (notes list).
Enter: When a note is selected, enter edit mode for that note.
Ctrl + U / Ctrl + D: Scroll up or down currently selected note
Ctrl + P / Ctrl + N: Navigate search term highlights (if active) or Markdown headers in currently selected note. Other headers will collapse creating an outline for easy navigation.
Ctrl + H / Ctrl + L: Navigate links in currently selected note.
Ctrl + Alt + H / Ctrl + Alt + L: Navigate code blocks in currently selected note.
Escape: Exit current navigation mode (links, code blocks, headers) or clear search highlights. If no navigation is active, clear current search text.
Enter: When navigating links, opens the selected link in your default browser. Otherwise, enters edit mode for the selected note.
Ctrl + Y: Copy currently selected markdown section or code block to clipboard.

Note Management

Ctrl + Enter: Create a new note.
Ctrl + M: Rename the currently selected note.
Ctrl + O: Open the currently selected note in the system default editor.
Ctrl + X: Delete the currently selected note (requires confirmation).

Special Panels

Meta + , (Cmd + , on Mac): Open settings panel.
Ctrl + /: Open version explorer for the currently selected note.
Ctrl + .: Open recently deleted notes dialog to restore deleted notes.

Configuration

Symiosis uses a TOML configuration file located at:

Linux/macOS: ~/.config/symiosis/config.toml
Windows: %APPDATA%\symiosis\config.toml

On first run, a default configuration file is created automatically with sensible defaults.

Configuration Options

Top-Level Settings

notes_directory - Directory where notes are stored (default: ~/Documents/Notes)
global_shortcut - Global keyboard shortcut to toggle app visibility (default: "Ctrl+Shift+N")

General [general]

scroll_amount - Scroll amount as a fraction of viewport height (default: 0.4, which equals 40% of the visible area)

Interface [interface]

ui_theme - Application UI theme (default: "gruvbox-dark")
font_family - UI font family (default: "Inter, sans-serif")
font_size - UI font size in pixels (default: 14)
editor_font_family - Editor font family (default: "JetBrains Mono, Consolas, monospace")
editor_font_size - Editor font size in pixels (default: 14)
markdown_render_theme - Theme for rendered markdown content (default: "modern-dark")
md_render_code_theme - Syntax highlighting theme for code blocks (default: "gruvbox-dark-medium")

Available UI Themes

gruvbox-dark article modern-dark

Available Markdown Render Themes

modern-dark article gruvbox-dark

Available Code Highlighting Themes

Gruvbox	Dark	Light
`gruvbox-dark-hard`	`atom-one-dark`	`atom-one-light`
`gruvbox-dark-medium`	`dracula`	`github`
`gruvbox-dark-soft`	`nord`	`vs`
`gruvbox-light-hard`	`monokai`	`xcode`
`gruvbox-light-medium`	`github-dark`	`tokyo-night-light`
	`vs2015`
	`night-owl`
	`tokyo-night-dark`

Custom Theme Paths (requires restart)

custom_ui_theme_path - Path to custom UI theme CSS file (optional)
custom_markdown_theme_path - Path to custom markdown theme CSS file (optional)

When custom theme paths are provided, they take precedence over the theme names. If a custom file fails to load, the app falls back to the specified theme name.

[interface]
ui_theme = "gruvbox-dark"                              # Fallback theme
custom_ui_theme_path = "/Users/username/my-theme.css"  # Custom override
markdown_render_theme = "modern-dark"                  # Fallback theme
custom_markdown_theme_path = "/Users/username/my-md-theme.css"  # Custom override

Custom theme files must be absolute paths and have a .css extension.

Window Settings

always_on_top - Keep window always on top (default: false) (requires restart)
window_decorations - Show window title bar and borders (default: true) (requires restart) [Linux only - not yet implemented on macOS/Windows]

Editor [editor]

mode - Editor mode: "basic", "vim", or "emacs" (default: "basic")
theme - Editor color theme (default: "gruvbox-dark")
word_wrap - Enable word wrapping (default: true)
tab_size - Tab size in spaces (default: 2)
expand_tabs - Convert tabs to spaces (default: true)
show_line_numbers - Show line numbers in editor (default: true)

Keyboard Shortcuts [shortcuts]

All keyboard shortcuts are configurable.

create_note - Create new note (default: "Ctrl+Enter")
rename_note - Rename selected note (default: "Ctrl+m")
delete_note - Delete selected note (default: "Ctrl+x")
edit_note - Enter edit mode for selected note (default: "Enter")
save_and_exit - Save and exit edit mode (default: "Ctrl+s")
open_external - Open note in external editor (default: "Ctrl+o")
open_folder - Open notes folder (default: "Ctrl+f")
refresh_cache - Refresh syntax highlighting cache (default: "Ctrl+r")
scroll_up - Scroll up in note view (default: "Ctrl+u")
scroll_down - Scroll down in note view (default: "Ctrl+d")
up - Navigate up (vim-style) (default: "Ctrl+k")
down - Navigate down (vim-style) (default: "Ctrl+j")
navigate_previous - Navigate to previous note (default: "Ctrl+p")
navigate_next - Navigate to next note (default: "Ctrl+n")
navigate_code_previous - Navigate to previous code block (default: "Ctrl+Alt+h")
navigate_code_next - Navigate to next code block (default: "Ctrl+Alt+l")
navigate_link_previous - Navigate to previous link (default: "Ctrl+h")
navigate_link_next - Navigate to next link (default: "Ctrl+l")
copy_current_section - Copy current section to clipboard (default: "Ctrl+y")
open_settings - Open settings panel (default: "Meta+,")
version_explorer - Open version explorer for selected note (default: "Ctrl+/")
recently_deleted - Open recently deleted notes dialog (default: "Ctrl+.")

Preferences [preferences]

max_search_results - Maximum number of search results to display (default: 100)

Example Configuration

View default config.toml

notes_directory = "/Users/username/Documents/Notes"
global_shortcut = "Ctrl+Shift+N"

[general]
scroll_amount = 0.4

[interface]
ui_theme = "gruvbox-dark"
font_family = "Inter, sans-serif"
font_size = 14
editor_font_family = "JetBrains Mono, Consolas, monospace"
editor_font_size = 14
markdown_render_theme = "modern-dark"
md_render_code_theme = "gruvbox-dark-medium"
always_on_top = false
window_decorations = true

[editor]
mode = "basic"
theme = "gruvbox-dark"
word_wrap = true
tab_size = 2
expand_tabs = true
show_line_numbers = true

[shortcuts]
create_note = "Ctrl+Enter"
rename_note = "Ctrl+m"
delete_note = "Ctrl+x"
edit_note = "Enter"
save_and_exit = "Ctrl+s"
open_external = "Ctrl+o"
open_folder = "Ctrl+f"
refresh_cache = "Ctrl+r"
scroll_up = "Ctrl+u"
scroll_down = "Ctrl+d"
up = "Ctrl+k"
down = "Ctrl+j"
navigate_previous = "Ctrl+p"
navigate_next = "Ctrl+n"
navigate_code_previous = "Ctrl+Alt+h"
navigate_code_next = "Ctrl+Alt+l"
navigate_link_previous = "Ctrl+h"
navigate_link_next = "Ctrl+l"
copy_current_section = "Ctrl+y"
open_settings = "Meta+,"
version_explorer = "Ctrl+/"
recently_deleted = "Ctrl+."

[preferences]
max_search_results = 100

Development

Using Development Mode

If you're developing Symiosis and want to keep your development data separate from your personal notes, you can enable development mode:

Create a development config file:

Linux/macOS:

mkdir -p ~/.config/symiosis-dev
cp ~/.config/symiosis/config.toml ~/.config/symiosis-dev/config.toml

Windows:

mkdir "%APPDATA%\symiosis-dev"
copy "%APPDATA%\symiosis\config.toml" "%APPDATA%\symiosis-dev\config.toml"

Update the development config to use a separate notes directory:
```
notes_directory = "/Users/username/Documents/Notes-dev"
```
Development builds automatically detect the dev config:
- When running pnpm tauri dev, Symiosis will automatically use the platform-appropriate dev config if it exists:
  - Linux/macOS: ~/.config/symiosis-dev/config.toml
  - Windows: %APPDATA%\symiosis-dev\config.toml
- This separates your development data from your personal notes
- Production builds ignore the dev config and always use the regular config location
To disable development mode, simply delete or rename the dev config file for your platform.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2.0 (GPL-2.0).

See LICENSE for the full license text.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 553 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
.vscode		.vscode
resources		resources
src-tauri		src-tauri
src		src
static		static
.gitignore		.gitignore
.prettierignore		.prettierignore
README.md		README.md
eslint.config.js		eslint.config.js
jsconfig.json		jsconfig.json
package.json		package.json
pnpm-lock.yaml		pnpm-lock.yaml
prettier.config.cjs		prettier.config.cjs
svelte.config.js		svelte.config.js
typedoc.json		typedoc.json
vite.config.js		vite.config.js

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Symiosis

Status

Features

Usage

Global Shortcuts

General Navigation

Note Management

Special Panels

Configuration

Configuration Options

Available UI Themes

Available Markdown Render Themes

Available Code Highlighting Themes

Custom Theme Paths (requires restart)

Window Settings

Example Configuration

Development

Using Development Mode

License

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Symiosis

Status

Features

Usage

Global Shortcuts

General Navigation

Note Management

Special Panels

Configuration

Configuration Options

Available UI Themes

Available Markdown Render Themes

Available Code Highlighting Themes

Custom Theme Paths (requires restart)

Window Settings

Example Configuration

Development

Using Development Mode

License

About

Resources

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Releases 6

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