Zettelgarden

A human-centric, open-source personal knowledge management system that preserves human insight while leveraging modern technology. Built on zettelkasten principles, it helps you develop and maintain your own understanding of the world.

NOTE: This project is actively evolving. While stable for personal use, features may change based on community feedback and development priorities.

Core Principles

• Human-Centric Knowledge Organization: Create and connect atomic notes that reflect your understanding, not just store information.
• Thoughtful AI Integration: AI features augment your thinking process without replacing human insight.
• Built for Scale: Designed to grow from personal notes to company knowledge bases while maintaining clarity.

Demo

Watch our demo video to see Zettelgarden in action and learn about its key features.

You can also try Zettelgarden directly at zettelgarden.com using our demo account:

• Email: [email protected]
• Password: demo

Features

• Capture Information: Store diverse content types including:

  • Cards (atomic pieces of information)
  • Tasks (with recurring capability)
  • Files (PDF, images, etc.)

• Connect Information: Create meaningful links between your content, forming an interconnected web of knowledge that preserves context and insight.

• Smart Retrieval: Utilizing advanced retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and entity processing to:

  • Efficiently locate information
  • Suggest meaningful connections
  • Pre-chunk information for optimal retrieval

Why Zettelgarden?

Zettelgarden takes a measured approach to knowledge management, focusing on:

1. Atomic Notes: Small, discrete pieces of information that are easy to link and maintain
2. Personal Curation: Emphasis on reading and writing your own thoughts rather than just collecting information
3. Pre-chunked Information: Optimized for both human understanding and AI-assisted retrieval

Architecture

Built with transparency and efficiency in mind:

• zettelkasten-front: Frontend using React and TypeScript
• go-backend: Backend using Go with net/http
• python-mail: SMTP service in Python

Getting Started

Zettelgarden is designed to be self-hosted. Please see our getting started guide for more information. (Coming soon!)

Contributing

Zettelgarden is built in the open. Contributions and feedback are welcome. Please check our contribution guidelines.

Stay Updated

Follow our blog and Nick Savage's Substack for detailed updates on development and new features.