nb is a command-line and local web tool (nb) for plain-text notes, bookmarks, and archiving, with tagging, wiki-style links, search, and Git-backed sync in one script. It is a good fit for developers keeping notes in the terminal, private bookmark archive stored as Markdown and zettelkasten-style personal knowledge base.

Yes. nb is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at xwmx/nb and is written mainly in Shell.

Yes. nb is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is nb an alternative to?

nb is an open-source alternative to Obsidian. Other open-source alternatives to Obsidian include zk, Trilium Notes and NoteDiscovery.

Is nb actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to nb was on 26 August 2026, and the latest release is 7.25.5, published on 12 August 2026. The project has 8.4k stars on GitHub.

nb: open-source alternative to Obsidian

About nb

nb is a note-taking, bookmarking, archiving, and knowledge-base tool that runs in the terminal and through a locally served web interface. It keeps everything as plain text, mainly Markdown, Org, LaTeX, and AsciiDoc files, so notes stay readable and portable without a proprietary database. It is delivered as one portable shell script under the AGPL-3.0 license.

Notes can be tagged, pinned, filtered, searched, and cross-linked with wiki-style links, and todos with tasks are supported. Every change is recorded in Git in the background, which gives versioning and syncing between machines. Bookmarks are downloaded, cleaned up, and saved as Markdown documents with full-text search over the cached page content, and notes can be password-protected with encryption.

Pandoc handles conversion to and from many document formats, and plugins and color themes allow customization. nb works on Linux and Unix systems, including macOS and Windows through WSL, MSYS, or Cygwin, and you can edit notes in whichever editor you prefer, such as Vim, Emacs, or VS Code. It suits developers and command-line users who want a private, scriptable notebook.

Key features

Plain-text notes in Markdown, Org, and other formats
Git-backed versioning and syncing
Tagging, pinning, filtering, and full-text search
Wiki-style linking between notes
Bookmark archiving with cached page content
Encrypted, password-protected notes
Local web interface alongside the CLI
Pandoc-based document conversion

Good fit for

→Developers keeping notes in the terminal
→Private bookmark archive stored as Markdown
→Zettelkasten-style personal knowledge base

Built with: Shell
Tags: note-taking; cli; bookmarks; markdown; git; knowledge-base; zettelkasten; self-hosted

nb: questions and answers

What is nb used for?: nb is a command-line and local web tool (nb) for plain-text notes, bookmarks, and archiving, with tagging, wiki-style links, search, and Git-backed sync in one script. It is a good fit for developers keeping notes in the terminal, private bookmark archive stored as Markdown and zettelkasten-style personal knowledge base.
Is nb open source?: Yes. nb is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at xwmx/nb and is written mainly in Shell.
Is nb free?: Yes. nb is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is nb an alternative to?: nb is an open-source alternative to Obsidian. Other open-source alternatives to Obsidian include zk, Trilium Notes and NoteDiscovery.
Is nb actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to nb was on 26 August 2026, and the latest release is 7.25.5, published on 12 August 2026. The project has 8.4k stars on GitHub.