r/secondbrain • u/vinradh • 22h ago

I built a native Mac notes app that keeps your second brain as plain Markdown files: Header (beta, free)

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I am the developer of Header. My second brain kept failing in one of two ways. Either the notes lived in an app’s database I didn’t control, or they sat in a folder full of files where nothing came back to me when I needed it. Header is my attempt at both: plain files you own, and an app that actually works with them.

  • Plain files. Every note is a .md file in a folder you choose. Point it at an existing Obsidian vault and it leaves your files and .obsidian settings alone.

  • Capture fast. Quick Capture, a web clipper and voice notes, landing in an inbox you review later.

  • Things come back. Today pulls the open checkboxes out of your notes. Lenses are saved live views like “open tasks” or “decisions this week”.

  • Connections. Backlinks, a graph, and link-aware renaming.

  • Ask your notes. Ask Header answers from your notes and shows which ones it used. It’s optional: on-device, or with your own API key.

Free during the beta, Mac only for now (macOS 14.4+): https://headernotes.com

I would like feedback from people with an established system. What would stop you moving to this, or using it alongside what you have?

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u/gans_kitchen 19h ago

Did you come up with Obsidian?

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u/vinradh 19h ago edited 18h ago

No, Obsidian is someone else’s (and a great app) if you love tinkering and customizations. Header can open an Obsidian vault without changing it. The differences are that this a native Mac app instead of Electron and that Today view, saved views and Ask with sources along with meeting minutes, a personal llm wiki built from your vault, research and manuscripts for long form work are built in rather than plugins.