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PSA: Trilium Notes (FLOSS alternative to Obsidian) is now heavily AI coded with Claude (slrpnk.net)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/foss@beehaw.org
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In the past I'd recommended Trilium Notes as a good FLOSS alternative to Obsidian for a note taking database app, but unfortunately today after failing to restore a trilium backup file to a new install, and finding that the documentation on backups isn't accurate (as in, there are not buttons in the app that the documentation claims are there, and nothing I have tried has worked to restore the backup), I discovered on the github a Claude.md in the repository, and the commit history shows that in the past few months Claude has become one of the most prolific contributors on the project.

If anyone is using this app based on my previous recommendation, I'd personally suggest migrating to a different note-taking app that isn't vibe-coded (and exports backups to plain text, instead of some database format), perhaps CherryTree?

all 34 comments

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[–] 54 points 2 months ago (1 child)

Well that’s a shame. The developer considered it (approximately) feature complete and handed it off to a collection of devs for maintenance and this what they did with it?

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    • [–] 16 points 2 months ago* (8 children)

    I've really been enjoying https://helixnotes.com/ Kinda like Obsidian but looks nicer and its simpler and easier to use, IMO.

    I think @rockyroad226@lemmy.world is the dev?

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  • [+] 14 points 2 months ago (4 children)
    [deleted]
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    • [–] 11 points 2 months ago

    I wanted to like Trillium, and was even willing to forgoe the database style back-end... But it can't even handle markdown style notes and previews as graciously as Obsidian.

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    [–] 10 points 2 months ago

    I've been a Joplin user for years, looked at Trilium once or twice, but the complexity and (iirc) database-backed storage kinda kept me away. The latter also always slightly irked me about Joplin, but at least you can export the whole notebook to markdown.

    Which I did, when Joplin declared slop contributions OK (and a bunch of plugins were also on the slop teat, and you kind of need plugins). Then I started up SilverBullet and I haven't looked back.

    In terms of "I want an alternative for Obsidian" I think it might actually come closest.

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    [–] 8 points 2 months ago

    Why not just use folder structure and markdown in textbundle files?

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    [–] 7 points 2 months ago

    Well, shit. I only recently started using Trilium. If it were only some Claude commits, I would probably ignore it. But with your documented bad/issue experience, I guess I'll seek alternatives.

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    [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    Yeah I've been using this for a while and it's noticeably gone to shit recently. This would certainly explain it. Time to find an alternative

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    [–] 11 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    I picked Logseq as the markdown note app when I started. It’s Foss, and I’ve been quite happy with it.

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  • [–] [S] 16 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

    Unfortunately Logseq also has a claude section in their github, so they are using LLM's too, though I do not know to what extent (the cloude bot has few direct commits, but the devs could be using it for their own pull requests).

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    • [–] 7 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Referring to sqlite is "some database format" feels wrong

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    It's correct though, isn't it? And sure, it's free and open, and it allows you to do things that are hard/slow/impossible with just a bunch of markdown files, but it is an extra layer, and one that's more difficult than just opening a plaintext file.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    I've never interacted with database software directly before, I wouldn't have the expertise to tell the difference between any database formats without doing some research.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    SQLite is the single most widely deployed piece of software on Earth. You don't need to know everything about every database format, or even how to open a SQLite file for viewing (many FOSS apps that can do this), but you should at least know what it is.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 2 months ago*

    I mean, I'm sure there's a very common stitch pattern used in most people's clothing, but I'm guessing most people wouldn't be familiar with it. 🤷

    I've never had cause to work with anything related to databases. I'm familiar with SQlite being a database software, but I haven't ever had to open a .db file before, so I wouldn't have known .db is specifically the SQLite format.

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    • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    I gave up on notes platforms like this a couple of years ago. I just have a bunch of well-sorted Markdown files that I edit with nano on desktop and Markor on mobile.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    I'm wondering why I don't do the same. I write all my notes using Markdown syntax anyway, have Syncthing set up to sync, and am comfortable with raw text editors on every platform. Why am I even bothering with the likes of Joplin? What benefit is that even providing me?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Search, ordering, crosslinking, embedding or at least adding additional formats, easily sharing notes if you have the server going, web clipper, and so on.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Those are all either features of the text editors I am used to using or features that I just don't care about. I am just going to switch to manually managing a synchronized folder of *.md files for a while and determine if I want to switch back.

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    • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    I just started using Zettlr and like it so far.

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    [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    The plugin ecosystem of Obsidian is hard to beat. Now if a FLOSS app could figure out how to be compatible with Obsidian plugins...

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    [–] 2 points 2 months ago

    Based

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