What is VimWiki used for?

VimWiki is a personal wiki plugin for Vim that organizes linked text files for notes, to-do lists, diaries and documentation, with HTML export. It is a good fit for keeping personal notes inside Vim, maintaining a daily diary in plain text and writing project documentation as linked files.

Is VimWiki open source?

Yes. VimWiki is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at vimwiki/vimwiki and is written mainly in Vim Script.

Yes. VimWiki is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.

What is VimWiki an alternative to?

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

Is VimWiki actively maintained?

The most recent commit to VimWiki was on 30 April 2026, and the latest release is v2024.01.24, published on 25 January 2024. The project has 9.5k stars on GitHub.

VimWiki: open-source alternative to Obsidian

About VimWiki

VimWiki is a personal wiki for Vim made of linked plain text files that have their own syntax highlighting. It turns the editor into a place to organize notes and ideas, manage to-do lists, write documentation and keep a diary, all without leaving Vim or relying on an outside application.

You jump to your index wiki file with a key mapping, create links by pressing Enter on a word or selected text, and move between pages with simple key bindings. Everything can be exported to HTML, and the plugin supports different wiki syntaxes, including a Markdown option. It is tested on Vim 7.3 and later and is known to work with Neovim, though Neovim-specific bugs are possible.

The plugin is written in Vim Script and installs through Vim packages or managers such as Pathogen, Vim-Plug and Vundle. The repository lists its licence as other, and there is a public wiki built with VimWiki as an example. It suits people who already live in Vim and prefer keyboard-driven, plain-text note taking.

Key features

Linked plain text wiki pages
Key bindings for creating and following links
To-do lists and diary support
Export to HTML
Choice of wiki syntax including Markdown
Works with Vim and Neovim

Good fit for

→Keeping personal notes inside Vim
→Maintaining a daily diary in plain text
→Writing project documentation as linked files

Built with: Vim Script
Tags: vim; wiki; note-taking; plugin; plain-text; personal-wiki; diary; todo; neovim

VimWiki: questions and answers

What is VimWiki used for?: VimWiki is a personal wiki plugin for Vim that organizes linked text files for notes, to-do lists, diaries and documentation, with HTML export. It is a good fit for keeping personal notes inside Vim, maintaining a daily diary in plain text and writing project documentation as linked files.
Is VimWiki open source?: Yes. VimWiki is open source under a custom licence. Its source code is on GitHub at vimwiki/vimwiki and is written mainly in Vim Script.
Is VimWiki free?: Yes. VimWiki is open source, so the software itself is free to use under the terms of its own licence.
What is VimWiki an alternative to?: VimWiki is an open-source alternative to Obsidian. Other open-source alternatives to Obsidian include zk, SiYuan and Trilium Notes.
Is VimWiki actively maintained?: The most recent commit to VimWiki was on 30 April 2026, and the latest release is v2024.01.24, published on 25 January 2024. The project has 9.5k stars on GitHub.