SiYuan

What it does

SiYuan is a notebook for your thoughts, journals, studies and plans. You write in a clean editor and can link or embed any paragraph from one note into another, so ideas connect up. It has daily notes, tables and card databases, flashcards for revision, PDF annotation and an optional AI helper. Notes stay in a folder on your own computer, with apps for desktop and phone, or a web version you run yourself.

• Link or embed any paragraph in any other note, with backlinks
• Daily notes, templates, tables and card databases
• Flashcards with spaced repetition and PDF annotation
• Desktop, phone and self-hosted web, with an optional local or cloud AI

Great for: Students, writers, journal-keepers and lifelong learners who want a private, connected notebook that works offline.

Make it yours: ideas

Pick an idea to start from, or describe your own.

• Settings, no code A daily journal with my own prompts “Set up a journal notebook where each day's page starts with 'Three good things', 'What I'm worried about' and 'Tomorrow', and show me how to open today's page with one shortcut.” Start with this idea
• Settings, no code A reading log with book covers “I want a page of all the books I've read this year as cards with covers, my star rating and a link to my notes on each one.” Start with this idea
• Settings, no code A calmer, easier-to-read look “Make SiYuan look calmer: warm off-white background, a bigger serif font, and hide the buttons I never use.” Start with this idea
• Settings, no code Ask questions about my notes with a local AI “I want to use the AI features but my journal is private. Help me set up a model that runs on my own computer so nothing leaves it.” Start with this idea
• Extend: themes, plugins, API Add a thought to today's journal from my phone “Make an iPhone shortcut that asks me for a sentence and adds it with the time to today's daily note on my home SiYuan.” Start with this idea
• Extend: themes, plugins, API Turn my study notes into flashcards “I'm studying for a nursing exam. Help me turn the bold terms in my notes into flashcards and review 20 a day.” Start with this idea

How easy is it to adapt?

Themes, CSS and JavaScript snippets, templates, plugins from the built-in marketplace and a full HTTP API let you change a lot without touching the code. The code itself is large and strict: a Go kernel plus a TypeScript front end (no framework) built with webpack, generated API contracts, and a detailed AGENTS.md with rules that agents must follow. Your AI always tries the gentlest step first, so your version stays easy to update.

1. 1

   Settings 6 options

   No code. Change it in the app or its config.

   • Light or dark theme, theme from the marketplace, font and size, icons, and 22 interface languages.
   • Full width or narrow, line numbers, spell check, list behaviour, and how embeds and backlinks show.
   • Small CSS or JavaScript tweaks, e.g. a softer heading colour or hiding a toolbar button.
   • Choose a cloud AI or a local Ollama / LM Studio model, or leave AI off.
   • A daily journal page with your own headings and prompts, created automatically each day.
   • Track books, habits or recipes as tables or cards inside your notes.
2. 2

   Extend 3 options

   Themes, plugins, webhooks and the API. Still no fork.

   • Install or write plugins that add commands, panels, toolbar buttons and settings.
   • Create notes, append to today's journal, search or export from scripts and shortcuts.
   • Let an AI agent or a script search and read your notes.
3. 3

   Code 2 options

   Your AI edits the source for anything else.

   • New screens or editor behaviour. Run pnpm run lint in app/ after changes.
   • New data or behaviour in the Go kernel. Regenerate API contracts as docs/API-CONTRACTS.md explains.

Can I trust it?

• AGPL-3.0-or-later. Free to use and change. If you run a changed version that other people use over the internet (not just you or your household), you must offer them your source code under the same licence. Private use has no extra obligations. Some features, such as SiYuan's cloud sync, need a paid membership.
• Your data: stores personal data, on your own device or server. A workspace folder: notes as .sy JSON files per notebook in workspace/data/, plus assets, templates, snippets, plugins and SQLite search indexes. In Docker, the mounted /siyuan/workspace volume.
• Other services: AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Mistral, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, Groq and others, or local Ollama / LM Studio) (optional, pay-per-use with your own key, or free with a local model); SiYuan cloud sync and membership (optional, paid membership); Community marketplace (bazaar) (optional, free); OpenID Connect sign-in (Google, Microsoft, GitHub or your own) (optional, free)
• Pinned version bfe3610. Every handover uses exactly this code, which we've reviewed.
• Always set a strong access password (SIYUAN_ACCESS_AUTH_CODE) on the Docker version, and use HTTPS through a reverse proxy before putting it on the internet.
• The AI features send the text you select or ask about to the provider you choose. Use Ollama or LM Studio to keep it on your own machine.
• Plugins, widgets and JavaScript snippets run with full access to your notes. Install only ones you trust.
• Keep the API token, AI keys and the data repo key out of AI chats and out of git.

Did it work for people?

Tell us how it went

For your AI

The project pack has the pinned version, how to run it, and where to customise it. Your prompt links to it automatically.

https://handoff.bespokeai.software/p/siyuan/bfe3610/pack.md

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