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What is Melanite

Melanite is a local-first, tag-based file & note manager that combines the strengths of the file manager Eagle and the note app Obsidian.

Images, PDFs, Office files, and Markdown notes all live in the same library, organized with tags instead of folders.

Four key ideas

Organize with tags

Melanite has no folder hierarchy. Tags are the only way to classify items.

You can put any number of tags on one item, so you never have to agonize over whether an invoice belongs in the "Invoices" folder or the "Client A" folder — just tag it with both.

When tags pile up, you can loosely group them with tag groups (one level only).

Everything fits

Markdown, images, videos, audio, PDFs, Office files, and any other extension. Import any file and handle it with the same list, the same search, and the same tags. Drop a whole folder and its folder names become tags (see Import a whole folder).

Edit instantly

Markdown notes are editable the moment you open them. There is no switching from a "view mode" to an "edit mode". Saving is automatic, too.

Editing is always plain text (WYSIWYG is deliberately not built). When you want to see the formatted result, open the read-only preview.

Local-first

A library is just a folder. No cloud account, no sign-in — copying the folder is a complete backup.

Files are stored in their original format, so even if Melanite ever becomes unavailable, your files can be pulled straight out of the folder.

When Melanite goes online

Three things use the network — map background tiles, the map's place search (both OpenStreetMap), and importing from a URL — and each only follows something you did. There is no usage tracking and no update check. When offline, the map background simply doesn't render; nothing else is affected.

→ Privacy

What Melanite deliberately doesn't do

To avoid mismatched expectations, here is what is intentionally not built.

Not built Reason / alternative
Folder hierarchies Tags only. For things that truly need a hierarchy (source code, etc.), use Git or other tools
Cloud sync The app itself doesn't sync (keeping the library in Dropbox etc. is possible)
Markdown WYSIWYG Editing is always plain text; formatted output is a read-only preview
Collaboration / multi-user Single user, single process
Mobile Windows / macOS desktop only

The layout

Melanite has a three-pane layout.

┌────────────┬──────────────────────────────┬───────────────┐
│ Sidebar    │ Main (grid / list /          │ Inspector     │
│            │       calendar / map / editor)│              │
│ All        │ ┌──────────────────────────┐ │ Preview       │
│ Favorites  │ │ Toolbar:                 │ │               │
│ Untagged   │ │ search | sort | views    │ │ File name     │
│ ── Kinds ──│ └──────────────────────────┘ │ Tags [+add]   │
│ Notes      │                              │ Memo          │
│ Images     │   □ □ □ □ □ □               │ Links         │
│ Videos     │   □ □ □ □ □ □               │ Location      │
│ Audio      │   □ □ □ □ □ □               │ ───────────  │
│ Documents  │      (virtual scrolling)     │ Kind / size   │
│ Other      │                              │               │
│ Trash      │                              │               │
│ ── Tags ── │                              │ Dates         │
│ ▼ Projects │                              │ [Open in      │
│   ClientA  │                              │  app] [Reveal]│
└────────────┴──────────────────────────────┴───────────────┘
  • Sidebar (left) — All / Favorites / Untagged / kinds / smart filters / tags / Trash. At the bottom: "Statistics…" and "Settings…"
  • Main (center) — Four views: grid, list, calendar, and map. Opening a note switches to the editor
  • Inspector (right) — Details of the selected item: tags, memo, links, and location. With nothing selected it shows the item count and an "Import…" button

Drag the divider at either edge of the center pane to resize the sidebar and the Inspector. Widen the sidebar when long tag names get cut off.

  • Double-click a divider to restore its default width
  • Dividers are reachable with Tab: Left / Right nudge them, Shift+Left / Shift+Right move them in bigger steps, and Enter restores the default
  • The center pane always keeps a minimum width, so widening a panel never squeezes the list away. A narrower window shrinks the panels automatically, and they return to your chosen widths once there is room again
  • Widths are saved per computer, not in the library

Where to go next