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tesseract-md-app

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Tesseract.md – Featurerich Markdown Editor and Graph Vizsualization with Obsidian-like and Notion-like Experience. Powered by mdvdb CLI for Agentic needs.

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# Tesseract

**Desktop knowledge base with visual knowledge graphs.**

Turn your Markdown files into an interactive, searchable knowledge graph. Your files, your machine, your data.

[![MIT License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/geckse/tesseract-md-app/main/LICENSE)
[![GitHub](https://img.shields.io/badge/GitHub-geckse%2Ftesseract--md--app-black?logo=github)](https://github.com/geckse/tesseract-md-app)
[![Obsidian Vault Compatible](https://img.shields.io/badge/Obsidian_Vault-compatible-7C3AED?logo=obsidian)](https://obsidian.md)

---

## What is Tesseract?

Tesseract is an open-source desktop app for building and exploring knowledge bases. Write in Markdown, link your ideas with wikilinks, and navigate your knowledge spatially through interactive 3D graphs. Everything runs locally on your machine — no accounts, no cloud, no lock-in.

Under the hood, Tesseract is powered by [**mdvdb**](https://github.com/geckse/markdown-vdb) — a state-of-the-art, ultra-performant Rust-based vector database purpose-built for Markdown. mdvdb handles semantic search, link graph traversal, clustering, full-text indexing, and metadata inference at near-instant speeds, giving Tesseract capabilities that would otherwise require cloud infrastructure.

## Key Features

<details>
<summary>3D Knowledge Graph</summary>

Visualize how your notes connect in an interactive WebGL 3D graph. Orbit, zoom, and drag nodes to explore your knowledge spatially. Related notes auto-group into clusters, link directions show how ideas flow, and multi-hop traversal uncovers distant relationships.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Hybrid Search (Semantic + Lexical)</summary>

Search by meaning, not just keywords. Find relevant notes even when they use completely different words. Three modes — semantic (meaning-based), lexical (keyword), and hybrid (both combined) — so you always find what you're looking for.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Frontmatter Filtering</summary>

Filter search results by frontmatter metadata. Combine semantic search with structured queries like `--filter status=published` to narrow results by any frontmatter field. Supports equality, range, set membership, and existence checks. mdvdb auto-infers your schema, so there's nothing to configure.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Notion-Like Markdown Editor</summary>

Three editing modes to match how you think:

- **Source** — CodeMirror 6 with syntax highlighting for those who think in Markdown
- **WYSIWYG** — Notion-like block editor (TipTap) with slash commands, drag-and-drop blocks, and floating toolbars
- **Preview** — Clean rendered output with Mermaid diagram support
</details>

<details>
<summary>Wikilinks & Backlinks</summary>

Type `[[page]]` to link any note. Backlinks update automatically — see every note that references the current one. Find orphaned notes before they're forgotten. Your knowledge becomes a web, not a filing cabinet.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Auto-Inferred Relationships</summary>

mdvdb automatically infers relationships between your documents — semantic similarity, shared clusters, link neighborhoods — without any manual tagging. Edges in your knowledge graph aren't just explicit links; they're discovered connections surfaced by vector embeddings and graph traversal.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Multi-Tab & Split Panes</summary>

Work across multiple documents simultaneously with VS Code-style tabs and split panes. Each tab maintains its own scroll position, cursor, and undo history. Open a graph in one pane and a document in the other.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Multi-Window</summary>

Open as many independent windows as you need (`Cmd+Shift+N`). Each window has its own tabs, layout, and session — all persisted across restarts.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Properties Panel (Frontmatter)</summary>

Document info, frontmatter editor, heading outline, links & backlinks explorer, and a local neighborhood graph — all in a collapsible sidebar.

</details>

<details>
<summary>File Tree with Sync Status</summary>

Hierarchical navigation with word counts, link counts, and index status indicators. Drag-and-drop reorganization, context menus, and asset detection for images, PDFs, and media files.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Collections</summary>

Manage multiple knowledge bases. Each collection has its own index, theme, and accent color. Switch between projects instantly.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Local-First & Private</summary>

Everything stays on your machine. No cloud sync. No account required. Plain `.md` files — take your notes anywhere.

</details>

<details>
<summary>Open Source</summary>

MIT licensed. Audit the code, fork it, contribute.

</details>

---

## Tesseract vs Obsidian

|                         | **Tesseract**                                                                           | **Obsidian**                                      |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| **License**             | MIT open source                                                                         | Proprietary                                       |
| **Search engine**       | Semantic + lexical hybrid (mdvdb, Rust)                                                 | Keyword-only                                      |
| **Search by meaning**   | Yes — finds related ideas even with different words                                     | No                                                |
| **Knowledge graph**     | Interactive 3D (WebGL) with cluster grouping                                            | 2D flat graph                                     |
| **Auto-inferred edges** | Yes — mdvdb discovers semantic relationships, clusters, and neighborhoods automatically | No — only explicit links shown                    |
| **Clustering**          | Automatic document clustering with keyword labels via mdvdb                             | Not available                                     |
| **CLI integration**     | Native CLI (`mdvdb`) — ingest, search, status, doctor, watch from terminal              | No CLI                                            |
| **Agent-friendly**      | JSON output from CLI, designed for AI agent workflows                                   | Not designed for agents                           |
| **Vector database**     | Built-in (HNSW via usearch, zero-copy rkyv, mmap)                                       | None                                              |
| **Link graph analysis** | Multi-hop traversal, orphan detection, backlink boosting, neighborhood expansion        | Basic backlinks                                   |
| **Full-text search**    | BM25 via Tantivy with RRF fusion                                                        | Basic text matching                               |
| **Editor modes**        | Source (CodeMirror) + WYSIWYG (TipTap) + Preview                                        | Source + Preview                                  |
| **WYSIWYG editing**     | Block editor with slash commands, drag handles, bubble menus                            | Live Preview (not true WYSIWYG)                   |
| **Mermaid diagrams**    | Built-in rendering                                                                      | Plugin required                                   |
| **Split panes**         | Yes                                                                                     | Yes                                               |
| **Multi-window**        | Yes                                                                                     | Yes                                               |
| **Local-first**         | Yes                                                                                     | Yes                                               |
| **Plain Markdown**      | Yes                                                                                     | Yes                                               |
| **Platforms**           | macOS, Windows, Linux                                                                   | macOS, Windows, Linux                             |
| **Price**               | Free                                                                                    | Free (personal), paid for commercial/sync/publish |
| **Plugin ecosystem**    | Early stage                                                                             | Extensive                                         |
| **Mobile app**          | Not yet                                                                                 | Yes                                               |

---

## Powered by mdvdb

Tesseract delegates all heavy lifting to [**mdvdb**](https://github.com/geckse/markdown-vdb), a filesystem-native vector database written in Rust:

- **HNSW vector index** (usearch) — sub-millisecond nearest-neighbor search
- **BM25 full-text search** (Tantivy) — lexical search with RRF fusion
- **Zero-copy deserialization** (rkyv + memmap2) — instant index loading
- **Link graph engine** — extraction, backlinks, multi-hop BFS, orphan detection
- **K-means clustering** (linfa) — automatic document grouping with TF-IDF labels
- **Schema inference** — auto-detect frontmatter field types across your vault
- **Content-hash skip** — only re-embed changed files (SHA-256)
- **File watcher** — incremental re-indexing on save

The CLI speaks JSON, making it a first-class tool for scripting, automation, and AI agent integration:

```bash
mdvdb ingest                          # Index your markdown files
mdvdb search "query" --json           # Semantic search
mdvdb search "query" --mode hybrid    # Combined semantic + keyword
mdvdb clusters --json                 # View document clusters
mdvdb links note.md                   # Outgoing + incoming links
mdvdb tree                            # File tree with sync status
mdvdb doctor                          # Diagnostic health check
```

---

## Getting Started

### Download

The current production release is available for macOS:

- **Apple Silicon** — arm64 `.dmg` or `.zip`
- **Intel Mac** — x64 `.dmg` or `.zip`

Windows and Linux remain in beta while their platform-specific signing, packaging, and clean-machine
checks are completed.

> [Releases on GitHub](https://github.com/geckse/tesseract-md-app/releases)

### First-Run Setup

On first launch, Tesseract looks for a compatible `mdvdb` CLI and offers to download it from
GitHub Releases when it is missing or outdated. You do not need to install the CLI on your
`PATH`; the app also checks its managed installation directory and standard system locations.

The setup wizard then asks you to choose an embedding provider:

- **OpenAI** stores the API key in your user config at `~/.mdvdb/config`.
- **Ollama** stores its host and model settings in the same user config and runs embeddings
  locally through your Ollama server.
- **Skip** leaves semantic indexing and search unavailable until you configure a provider in
  Settings.

Collection-level settings are stored in `.markdownvdb/.config` inside that collection. API keys
saved there are plaintext and may be copied by vault-sync tools, so user-level configuration is
recommended for credentials.

### Windows SmartScreen

The Windows beta is currently unsigned. If Microsoft Defender SmartScreen warns about the
installer, confirm that it came from the official Tesseract GitHub release, then choose **More
info → Run anyway**.

### Linux

Linux releases include both an AppImage and a Debian package (`.deb`). On Ubuntu 24.04 and later,
use the Debian package: it installs the scoped AppArmor configuration required by Electron's
Chromium sandbox. Install it with `sudo apt install ./tesseract-app_*.deb`.

The AppImage is supported on Ubuntu 22.04 and distributions that permit unprivileged user
namespaces. Make it executable before launching it (`chmod +x Tesseract-*.AppImage`). Some
distributions also require FUSE. Tesseract does not disable Chromium's sandbox automatically;
do not use `--no-sandbox` as a compatibility workaround.

Tesseract's only network egress is to GitHub for CLI/app release checks and to the embedding
provider you choose. Your Markdown files and indexes remain local.

### Build from Source

```bash
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/geckse/tesseract-md-app.git
cd tesseract-md-app

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Compile the production bundles into out/
npm run build

# Package an intentionally unsigned local macOS smoke build
npm run build:mac:unsigned

# Package, sign, and notarize a macOS release (Apple credentials required)
npm run build:mac
```

Development builds can use `mdvdb` from `PATH`, the app-managed CLI directory, or a standard
system install location. The first-run installer can acquire it automatically in packaged builds.

---

## Development

```bash
npm run dev           # Start with hot reload
npm run build         # Production build
npm run build:mac     # Signed + notarized macOS package (credentials required)
npm run build:mac:unsigned # Unsigned local macOS packaging smoke test
npm run test          # Unit tests (Vitest)
npm run test:e2e      # E2E tests (Playwright)
npm run lint          # ESLint + Prettier
npm run typecheck     # TypeScript strict mode
```

### Tech Stack

| Layer             | Technology                              |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| Desktop runtime   | Electron                                |
| UI framework      | Svelte 5                                |
| Source editor     | CodeMirror 6                            |
| WYSIWYG editor    | TipTap 3 (ProseMirror)                  |
| 3D graph          | 3d-force-graph (Three.js + d3-force-3d) |
| Styling           | Tailwind 4 + CSS custom properties      |
| Build             | electron-vite (Vite 6)                  |
| Search & indexing | mdvdb (Rust CLI)                        |
| Testing           | Vitest + Playwright                     |

---

## Screenshots

<img src="git-assets/editor.png" alt="Editor" width="100%" />
 Rich Markdown editing with WYSIWYG and source modes

<img src="git-assets/base-editor.png" alt="Base Editor" width="100%" />
 Notion-like feature-rich block editor with slash commands and drag handles

<img src="git-assets/split-pane.png" alt="Split Panes" width="100%" />
 Side-by-side editing with split panes

<img src="git-assets/screenshot-3d-graph.png" alt="3D Knowledge Graph" width="100%" />
 Interactive 3D knowledge graph with cluster grouping

<img src="git-assets/search.png" alt="Semantic Search" width="100%" />
 Semantic search — find notes by meaning, not just keywords

---

## License

MIT

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