https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet
An open source personal productivity platform built on Markdown, turbo charged with the scripting power of Lua
https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet
end-user-programming knowledge-management lua markdown note-taking personal-knowledge-management
Last synced: 25 days ago
JSON representation
An open source personal productivity platform built on Markdown, turbo charged with the scripting power of Lua
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet
- Owner: silverbulletmd
- License: mit
- Created: 2022-02-16T09:56:34.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2025-05-07T17:14:38.000Z (about 1 year ago)
- Last Synced: 2025-05-07T17:45:47.106Z (about 1 year ago)
- Topics: end-user-programming, knowledge-management, lua, markdown, note-taking, personal-knowledge-management
- Language: TypeScript
- Homepage: https://silverbullet.md
- Size: 33.3 MB
- Stars: 3,291
- Watchers: 19
- Forks: 244
- Open Issues: 305
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-ccamel - silverbulletmd/silverbullet - An open source personal productivity platform built on Markdown, turbo charged with the scripting power of Lua (TypeScript)
- awesome-note-taking - SilverBullet - Free, open-source self-hosted PWA for markdown notes. (Open Source / Web UI)
- definitive-opensource - SilverBullet
README
[](https://deepwiki.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet)
# SilverBullet
SilverBullet is a Programmable, Private, Browser-based, Open Source, Self Hosted, Personal Knowledge Management Platform.
_Yowza!_ That surely is a lot of adjectives to describe a browser-based Markdown editor programmable with Lua.
Let’s get more specific.
In SilverBullet you keep your content as a collection of Markdown Pages (called a Space). You navigate your space using the Page Picker like a traditional notes app, or through Links like a wiki (except they are bi-directional).
If you are the **writer** type, you’ll appreciate SilverBullet as a clean Markdown editor with Live Preview. If you have more of an **outliner** personality, SilverBullet has Outlining tools for you. Productivity freak? Have a look at Tasks. More of a **database** person? You will appreciate Objects and Queries.
And if you are comfortable **programming** a little bit — now we’re really talking. You will love _dynamically generating content_ with Space Lua (SilverBullet’s Lua dialect), or to use it to create custom Commands, Page Templates or Widgets.
[Much more detail can be found on silverbullet.md](https://silverbullet.md)
## Installing SilverBullet
Check out the [instructions](https://silverbullet.md/Install).
## Developing SilverBullet
SilverBullet's frontend is written in [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/) and built on top of the excellent [CodeMirror 6](https://codemirror.net/) editor component. Additional UI is built using [Preact](https://preactjs.com). [ESBuild](https://esbuild.github.io) is used to build the frontend.
The server backend is written in Go.
## Code structure
* `client/`: The SilverBullet client, implemented with TypeScript
* `server/`: The SilverBullet server, written in Go
* `plugs`: Set of built-in plugs that are distributed with SilverBullet
* `libraries`: A set of libraries (space scripts, page templates, slash templates) distributed with SilverBullet
* `plug-api/`: Useful APIs for use in plugs
* `lib/`: Useful libraries to be used in plugs
* `syscalls/`: TypeScript wrappers around syscalls
* `types/`: Various (client) types that can be references from plugs
* `bin`
* `plug_compile.ts` the plug compiler
* `scripts/`: Useful scripts
* `website/`: silverbullet.md website content
### Requirements
* [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) 24+ and npm 10+: Used to build the frontend and plugs
* [Go](https://go.dev/): Used to build the backend
The project includes `.nvmrc` and `.node-version` files. If you use [nvm](https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm) or another Node version manager, it will automatically use the correct Node.js version:
```shell
nvm use # If using nvm
```
It's convenient to also install [air](https://github.com/air-verse/air) for development, this will automatically rebuild both the frontend and backend when changes are made:
```shell
go install github.com/air-verse/air@latest
```
Make sure your `$GOPATH/bin` is in your $PATH.
First, install dependencies:
```shell
make setup
```
To build everything and run the server (which automatically restarts upon file changing):
```shell
air
```
Alternatively, to build:
```shell
make
```
To run the resulting server:
```shell
./silverbullet
```
### Useful development tasks
```shell
# Clean all generated files
make clean
# Typecheck and lint all code
make check
# Format all code
make fmt
# Run all tests
make test
# Run benchmarks
make bench
```
### Build a docker container
Note, you do not need Node.js nor Go locally installed for this to work:
```shell
docker build -t silverbullet .
```
To run:
```shell
docker run -p 3000:3000 -v :/space silverbullet
```