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We want to displace Notion with collaborative Markdown files

We want to displace Notion with collaborative Markdown files

by antics·Mar 3, 2026·29 points·14 comments

AI Analysis

●●●BangerZero to OneBig BrainSlick

Git-backed Markdown workspace with live React—lets Claude agents build custom UI while keeping source auditable.

Strengths
  • Genuinely novel architecture: Markdown files + jj/git + live collab editing removes the 'SaaS vs. local' tradeoff entirely
  • Agent-first design: Claude Code can edit .md files directly, generate React components, and fork collaborative workspace—no API wrapper needed
  • 60fps live collab independent of reader/writer count suggests real CRDT work, not 'Yjs glued on'
Weaknesses
  • Unproven retention: Notion succeeded on simplicity + mobility; Moment trades that for 'agents can fork your UI'—only compelling if Claude Code adoption stays strong
  • Early product risk: launch post, download-only, no metrics on collab performance under contention or large teams yet
Category
Target Audience

Teams using Claude Code / coding agents, engineers who want to build internal tools, Notion power users skeptical of SaaS

Similar To

Notion · Coda · GitBook

Post Description

Hi HN! We at Moment[1] are working on Notion alternative which is (1) rich and collaborative, but (2) also just plain-old Markdown files, stored in git (ok, technically in jj), on local disk. We think the era of rigid SaaS UI is, basically, over: coding agents (`claude`, `amp`, `copilot`, `opencode`, etc.) are good enough now that they instantly build custom UI that fits your needs exactly. The very best agents in the world are coding agents, and we want to allow people to simply use them, e.g., to build little internal tools—but without compromising on collaboration.

Moment aims to cover this and other gaps: seamless collaborative editing for teams, more robust programming capabilities built in (including a from-scratch React integration), and tools for accessing private APIs.

A lot of our challenge is just in making the collaborative editing work really well. We have found this is a lot harder than simply slapping Yjs on the frontend and calling it a day. We wrote about this previously and the post[2] did pretty well on HN: Lies I was Told About Collaborative editing (352 upvotes as of this writing). Beyond that, in part 2, we'll talk about the reasons we found it hard to get collab to run at 60fps consistently—for one, the Yjs ProseMirror bindings completely tear down and re-create the entire document on every single collaborative keystroke.

We hope you will try it out! At this stage even negative feedback is helpful. :)

[1]: https://www.moment.dev/

[2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42343953

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