Hodnote

Hodnote is a hypothetical, open ecosystem for digital note-taking and annotation designed to be interoperable across applications and platforms. It defines a portable data model for notes, metadata, relationships, and citations.

The core aim of hodnote is to enable portable notes that can be created offline, synced across devices, and rendered consistently across tools. Hodnote emphasizes bidirectional links, backlinks, and structured citations to support knowledge management and research workflows.

History and development of hodnote traces to online discussions among knowledge-management and open-data communities in the early 2020s. A loosely organized Hodnote Initiative circulated draft specifications and reference implementations. There is no official standard or governance body, and implementations vary in scope and detail.

Data model and features of hodnote describe each note as comprising content and structured metadata, including title, author, date, tags, and links to other hodnotes. Links are designed to be bidirectional; notes can reference bibliographic sources with standard citation fields. The format is described as supporting multiple content formats (Markdown and rich text), version history, export/import in JSON and Markdown, and optional encryption or digital signing for integrity.

Adoption and impact of hodnote remain largely at the concept and community-prototype stage. Several community-driven tools propose hodnote-compatible data models or plugins, but interoperability is limited by fragmentation and the lack of formal governance. Proponents highlight portability, provenance, and workflow consistency, while critics point to governance, standardization, and adoption challenges.

See also: Zettelkasten, Personal knowledge management, Note-taking, Bi-directional linking, Metadata.