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

Private, markdown-based note-taking app with a focus on speed, simplicity and data ownership. Write faster, think clearer.

Capture ideas quickly, organize them naturally, and build workflows around your thinking. All in a fast Markdown workspace designed to stay lightweight. I believe good software should get out of the way. It's user-focused by default — designed around how people actually think, write, and work, not around metrics or funnels. Octarine is bootstrapped . No venture capital. No growth-at-all-costs roadmap . The product answers to its users, not investors. It's opinionated by design . I make clear choices so you don't have to spend time configuring every detail. Instead of endless options and switches, it ships with defaults that are meant to feel right and stay out of your way, so you can focus…from octarine.app

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…

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