Muhnote

Muhnote is a cross-platform, open-source note-taking system and file format designed for personal knowledge management. It aims to provide a lightweight, portable, privacy-conscious solution for capturing, organizing, and revising information using plain-text notes and simple metadata.

The Muhnote project began as a community effort on a code-hosting platform in the early 2020s. The core idea was to separate content from presentation by using a plain-text note format (.mnote) stored in a local directory, enabling easy export, versioning, and offline access. Over time, multiple compatible editors and viewers were developed for major operating systems and mobile devices.

The Muhnote file format stores content as text with lightweight front matter metadata (title, created, modified, tags) and content in Markdown or plain text. Notes can link to other notes with internal links like [[Note Title]] and support backlinks, allowing graph-style navigation. A local index provides search across notes, and notes may be synchronized across devices using user-managed folders or trusted cloud storage, preserving privacy.

Typical use cases include personal knowledge management, journaling, meeting notes, and research archives. It is commonly associated with minimalist workflows such as the Zettelkasten method, due to its emphasis on atomic notes and linking.

Reception of Muhnote notes its portability and privacy, appealing to users who prefer plain-text formats and local storage. Criticisms include a smaller ecosystem of plugins and editors compared with more established note apps, and a learning curve to adopt its linking and formatting conventions.