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Simple note taking, powerful search, AI ready

46 starsRust

Kimün – A TUI note taking app Obsidian compatible and Vim friendly

by pnikosis·Jun 15, 2026·2 points·0 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidCozyNiche Gem

Rust TUI for Obsidian vaults with SQLite indexing, but terminal note apps already exist.

Strengths
  • •SQLite indexing enables near-instant full-text and structured search across Markdown files.
  • •Built-in MCP server lets local or cloud AI models scan notes and run daily reviews.
  • •Native Vim keybinding emulation plus optional Neovim backend for editing.
Weaknesses
  • •Heavy development phase means configuration and themes may break between updates.
  • •TUI note-taking is a narrow niche with existing options like vnote and terminal-based editors.
Category
Productivity
Target Audience

Terminal users and Vim enthusiasts who want lightweight note-taking

Similar To

Obsidian · Logseq · vnote

Post Description

I've been looking for a note taking app for a while that was focused mainly on writing notes, I used Obsidian for a while (and Logseq before that) but the apps always seemed they were trying to do too much. Also, I'm not a fan of Electron based apps, but maybe it's just me.

I know it is a crowded space, but still, I wrote Kimün: it works seamlessly with any Obsidian vault with the basics for note taking and navigation such as: * Markdown links * Wikilinks * Backlinks

In addition to that, it supports a query syntax that allows you to search filtering by markdown headings, so you can search notes that have text under #this_header, in addition of links, backlinks, free text with wildcards, and more. The search is decently fast.

Ah, and it is a TUI app, runs on your terminal and supports Vim either by emulating the movement keys, or by using Neovim as the backend. There are way more features (MCP and skills bundled for note management, MD syntax highlight, etc).

Finally, the core of Kimün is published as a crate (https://crates.io/crates/kimun_core), so you can use it for your own Rust project if you don't like the app, but want to embed something that supports Obsidian-like vaults.

Note, in case someone's curious: Most of the core was hand-written. The UI on the other hand has been coded with a fair amount of help from Claude and my own reviews.

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