Baalda

Baalda is an open-source desktop app for team notes and knowledge, published under Apache-2.0 on GitHub by naveedharri. Every note is a plain Markdown file on the user's own disk, edited together in real time and readable and writable by AI assistants. The latest release listed is v0.1.88, for macOS, Windows and Linux.

What It Is

Baalda is a local-first notes and knowledge app, positioned as a shared second brain. Notes live as ordinary .md files in a folder the user owns, with no proprietary database or block format. A local search index (SQLite FTS5) provides full-text search, backlinks and tags, and is derived from the files.

The desktop app is built with Tauri v2, a Rust core and a React/TypeScript UI, with a CodeMirror 6 editor.

How Files and Real-Time Sync Work

The .md file on disk is the durable source of truth, and a Yjs CRDT keeps every open copy in sync. A file watcher turns changes into CRDT operations, so edits from a person, a teammate or an AI merge instead of overwriting each other. Collaborators see live cursors and presence. Notes are private by default and can be shared by folder or file with Viewer or Editor access. Vaults map to teams or clients and are permissioned separately. Version checkpoints capture the whole vault and can be rolled back.

AI Access Over MCP

A local agent such as Claude Code can edit the vault's Markdown files directly on disk. Cloud and autonomous agents connect through a built-in MCP endpoint using a token created in Vault settings. The documentation lists 22 MCP tools, including read_note, search_notes, create_note and edit_note. Revision checks refuse writes against notes that changed in between. The same per-folder permissions apply to AI as to people, and attachment text can be searched and read.

Self-Hosting and Managed Backend

The backend (Node, Hono, Hocuspocus, Postgres, Better Auth) can be self-hosted via Railway one-click deploy, Docker, Compose or Coolify. A managed backend is also offered, and the desktop app can point at either server. Attachments can be stored in Postgres or S3-compatible storage. The README notes that the Windows installer is not yet code-signed, and that iOS is planned.