Octarine – a fast, lightweight, opinionated Markdown notes app

In plain words

Octarine is a lightweight Markdown notes app designed for users who want a fast, streamlined alternative to heavy note-taking tools. Under 30MB with no Electron bloat, it features a WYSIWYG editor, built-in Git sync to GitHub or GitLab, command bar navigation, natural language dates, and multiple workspaces with graph views. Notes are stored as plain Markdown with no proprietary format, and users can back up to iCloud, Dropbox, or Syncthing. Optional AI features let users chat with their notes using their own API keys from various providers.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hey HN! I’ve been building [Octarine](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;octarine.app&#x2F;) for a little over 2 years. It started because I wanted a note-taking app that was: - Lightweight (< 30MB, fast to launch, no Electron bloat). - Opinionated (good defaults, clean UI, not a plugin bazaar). - Yours (all plain Markdown, nothing proprietary). --- - Command bar (Cmd&#x2F;Ctrl+K) to navigate and run commands quickly. - WYSIWYG editor (rich text without live preview jumping). - Git sync built-in — backups to GitHub&#x2F;GitLab, no plugins. - Natural language dates (“yesterday”, “last week”). - Multiple workspaces, templates, tags, graph view. - Backup anywhere — iCloud, Dropbox, Syncthing. - Tabs & Panes — split and rearrange notes&#x2F;graphs like a code editor. *Pro Features* - BYOK for over 9 AI providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Gemini and more! - Ask Octarine — chat with your notes (RAG, embeddings done on-device). - Writing Assistant — Sidebar assistant to help rewrite, improve or create. - Focus Mode — distraction-free, sentence spotlight. - Customisation — 30+ fresh themes, different paper types. - Locked Notes — Disallow a note from editing. - Folder Customisations — Add icons&#x2F;colors to folders, have them manage their own unique sorting. *FAQ* - Free plan gets updates forever; some features are Pro. - Pro is a one-time license (no yearly “updates tax”). - Over 130+ releases shipped. - iOS app is in development. - Overlaps with Obsidian, but follows different methodologies about having less but baked in features, over an extensible plugin system (each work for different users) --- Try it: [octarine.app](http:&#x2F;&#x2F;octarine.app) Changelog: [octarine.app&#x2F;changelog](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;octarine.app&#x2F;changelog) Documentation: [docs.octarine.app](https:&#x2F;&#x2F;docs.octarine.app) I’d love your feedback - what works, what feels off, what’s missing? Always open to ideas (and criticism).

• 
  Dograh▲592

  The open source VAPI alternative

  Dev tools · 25d ago · dograh.com

• 
  Meridian▲530

  Don't let your work go unnoticed. Get promoted!

  Dev tools · 20d ago · meridiona.com

• 
  x1▲516

  Lovable for iPhone apps go from idea to App Store

  Dev tools · 11d ago · x1.new

• 
  The GTM Co-Founder▲402

  Open-source GTM skills for technical founders

  Dev tools · 29d ago · gtmcofounder.com

• 
  Open-Source eInk Bike Computer▲390

  OpenTrailPaper is open-source bike computer firmware for the LilyGO T5S3 4.7" E-Paper PRO. It supports offline maps, GPX routes, FIT recording and Bluetooth sensors.

  Dev tools · 1d ago · opentrailpaper.com

• 
  Nuphos▲380

  The AI-Native DevOps Workspace.

  Dev tools · 24d ago · nuphos.ai

• 
  Trace▲1,556

  Workflow Automations for the Human 👾 AI Workforce

  AI · 2025 · trace.so

• IS
  I spent 6 years building a ridiculous wooden pixel display▲1,145

  I built the world's most impractical 1000-pixel display and anyone in the world can draw on it. It draws a single pixel at a time and takes 30-60 minutes to complete a single image. Anyone can participate in the project by voting for the next image to be drawn, and submitting images. https:&#x2F;&#x2F;kilopx.com&#x2F;

  Work · 2025 · benholmen.com

• 
  Indy AI by Contra▲1,070

  Job boards are dead. Your network is alive

  AI · 2025 · contra.com

• KT
  Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model▲1,003

  Kitten TTS is an open-source series of tiny and expressive text-to-speech models for on-device applications. We are excited to launch a preview of our smallest model, which is less than 25 MB. This model has 15M parameters. This release supports English text-to-speech applications in eight voices: four male and four female. The model is quantized to int8 + fp16, and it uses onnx for runtime. The model is designed to run literally anywhere eg. raspberry pi, low-end smartphones, wearables, browsers etc. No GPU required! We're releasing this to give early users a sense of the latency and voices…

  Dev tools · 2025 · github.com

• IW
  I was curious about spherical helix, ended up making this visualization▲865

  I was wondering how I can arrange objects along a spherical helix path, and read some articles on it. I ended up learning about parametric equations again, and make this visualization to document what I learned: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;visualrambling.space&#x2F;moving-objects-in-3d&#x2F; feel free to visit and let me know what you think!

  Life & fun · 2025 · visualrambling.space

• TC
  The current sky at your approximate location, as a CSS gradient▲788

  For HTML Day 2025 [1], I made a web service that displays the current sky at your approximate location as a CSS gradient. Colours are simulated on-demand using atmospheric absorption and scattering coefficients. Updates every minute, without the use of client-side JavaScript. Source code and additional information is available on GitHub: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;dnlzro&#x2F;horizon [1] https:&#x2F;&#x2F;html.energy&#x2F;html-day&#x2F;2025&#x2F;index.html

  Dev tools · 2025 · sky.dlazaro.ca