# MindForger

> Open-source Markdown notebook that links related notes for you

MindForger is a free, open-source desktop notebook and Markdown editor for Linux, macOS and Windows. It splits Markdown files into notes, shows related notes from the whole workspace while you read or write, and turns mentions of other notes into links automatically. Notes stay as plain Markdown files on disk, and an optional assistant called Wingman can run a language model locally through Ollama.

- **Category:** Note-Taking Apps
- **Made by:** Martin Dvorak (since 2018)
- **Website:** https://www.mindforger.com
- **Runs on:** Linux, macOS, Windows
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 9, 2026

## Pricing

MindForger is free to use.

- **Pricing model:** Free
- **Free plan:** Free, open-source software under the GNU GPL (version 2 on GitHub). The site says it costs nothing to download and use, with no account and no subscription.
- **Free trial:** None listed.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| MindForger | $0 | The full desktop app for Linux, macOS and Windows, including the Wingman assistant, which uses a local Ollama model or a remote OpenRouter or OpenAI model. |

Read from https://www.mindforger.com/ on Oct 9, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with MindForger before buying.

## Key features

- **Associations:** While a note is being read or written, MindForger lists related notes from the whole workspace. Associations are computed locally, with no cloud service or language model needed.
- **Autolinking:** Names of notebooks and notes mentioned in the text become links in the preview automatically. Generated links are shown in green and hand-written ones in blue.
- **Wingman assistant:** An optional assistant that summarizes, explains, translates, rewrites and fixes grammar. It runs open-weight models locally through Ollama, or sends text to OpenRouter or OpenAI.
- **Organizers and knowledge graph:** Kanban boards and Eisenhower matrix views sort notebooks and notes by their tags, and a force-directed graph shows notebooks, notes and tags with their relationships.
- **Markdown editor with refactoring:** The editor has live preview, syntax highlighting, offline KaTeX math, Mermaid diagrams and spell check. Notes can be cloned, promoted, demoted, moved and extracted from the keyboard.
- **Plain Markdown workspaces:** Notes are GitHub Flavored Markdown files on disk. MindForger opens its own workspace, any Markdown directory or a single file, and exports notebooks to HTML or Markdown.

## Good for

- People who keep private notes as Markdown files on their own disk
- Keyboard-driven users who want IDE-style restructuring of notes
- Running an AI assistant over notes with a local Ollama model
- Linux users: packages cover Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and more

## Worth knowing

- Desktop only: the site lists Linux, macOS and Windows with no mobile or web app, and leaves syncing to Git or a cloud drive of your choice.
- The macOS app is not signed or notarized by Apple: after each .dmg install Gatekeeper blocks it until it is allowed by hand, and it has left the official Homebrew cask repository.
- The macOS .dmg is built for Intel and runs on Apple Silicon through Rosetta 2; the Windows installer is for 64-bit x64 only.
- Wingman needs a language model set up first: Ollama installed locally, or a remote provider, which the docs warn sends your text to a third party.

## Works with

Ollama, OpenRouter, OpenAI

**Tags:** Open source, Local-first, Keyboard-first, Notes, Markdown, Linked notes, AI features

## Alternatives

- [Obsidian](https://toolgpa.com/tools/obsidian): Markdown note-taking app that keeps your files on your device. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mindforger-vs-obsidian)
- [Logseq](https://toolgpa.com/tools/logseq): Open-source outliner for linked notes stored as local files. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/logseq-vs-mindforger)
- [QOwnNotes](https://toolgpa.com/tools/qownnotes): Open-source Markdown notes app with Nextcloud and ownCloud support. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mindforger-vs-qownnotes)
- [Zim](https://toolgpa.com/tools/zim): Desktop wiki that keeps linked pages as plain text files. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mindforger-vs-zim)
- [Joplin](https://toolgpa.com/tools/joplin): Open source Markdown notes with sync through a service you choose. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/joplin-vs-mindforger)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 9, 2026:

- https://www.mindforger.com/
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/index.html
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/installation.html
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/user-documentation.html
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/about.html
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/history.html
- https://www.mindforger.com/docs/releases.html
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dvorka/mindforger/master/Changelog
- https://api.github.com/repos/dvorka/mindforger
- https://api.github.com/repos/dvorka/mindforger/releases/latest

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/mindforger
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).