Octarine: free lightweight Markdown/Obsidian-like app for Mac

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Posted by satis
Aug 27, 2024 at 10:56 PM

Like Obsidian you can link notes and view them in a Node Graph. Notes are stored locally in markdown, so they are portable. Unlike Obsidian it has a fast WYSIWYG editor, is small (7Mb!), easy on RAM needs. And has keyboard shortcuts for almost everything.

There’s a built in facility to send backups to Git. App is currently Mac-only. Dev has said that he was working on a Linux version but for now has “punted” on it, and a Windows version is unlikely.

The plan is for the app to be free, with a one-time Pro unlock for coming features like:

• ⁠More themes, and custom theming.

• ⁠Integrations with Linear / Github for Issues and Tickets

• ⁠Customising tags.

• ⁠Automations

• ⁠One click publish of notes

Posted by David Garner
Aug 29, 2024 at 04:38 AM

Just for grins, I checked it out. Seems developer is now supporting Linux and intends to support Windows and mobile eventually.
Has a nice Discord where developer was active when I joined and was very engaged when I asked about the project.

Posted by Prion
Aug 29, 2024 at 09:32 AM

FYI, the app is not open source, neither is Obsidian. This is not a con (depending on your viewpoint), as developing an app is an investment and the dev can do as they see fit.
Good to see that the developer is upfront about this and seems to be developing a sensible monetisation strategy. Lately lots of shiny tools have disappeared from view or are in the process of shutting down. Maybe I am getting old but this has dampened my enthusiasm somewhat.

That said, I was intrigued enough to download and try and although far from a thorough evaluation so far, I am quite impressed by what I saw. Excellent near-term roadmap, too. I’ll definitely keep an eye on it and test some more, thanks for the tip!

Any news yet regarding the price of the Pro version?

Posted by MadaboutDana
Aug 29, 2024 at 10:45 AM

Yes, I had a quick play, too, and although it’s not as sophisticated as e.g. Acreom (which also has a “forever free” tier), it’s got – as someone already pointed out – a tiny footprint! Unlike e.g. Tangent, Acreom, Capacities and other rather gorgeous but space-intensive apps such as AnyType.

I like the graph view, too – I tried it out on my Obsidian vault and was quite impressed by the results!

That’s another plus IMHO – you can designate any folder as a “vault”.

NotesHub is worth mentioning again here – another cross-platform app with a tiny, tiny footprint. But no graph view (although excellent kanban support). Single payment, no subscription. Which I hope is the route Octarine is going to take…

Prion wrote:
FYI, the app is not open source, neither is Obsidian. This is not a con
>(depending on your viewpoint), as developing an app is an investment and
>the dev can do as they see fit.
>Good to see that the developer is upfront about this and seems to be
>developing a sensible monetisation strategy. Lately lots of shiny tools
>have disappeared from view or are in the process of shutting down. Maybe
>I am getting old but this has dampened my enthusiasm somewhat.
> >That said, I was intrigued enough to download and try and although far
>from a thorough evaluation so far, I am quite impressed by what I saw.
>Excellent near-term roadmap, too. I’ll definitely keep an eye on it and
>test some more, thanks for the tip!
> >Any news yet regarding the price of the Pro version?
> >

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