Ironpad

A local-first, file-based project & knowledge management system.

Ironpad stores all your notes, projects, and tasks as plain Markdown files. No cloud services, no vendor lock-in -- your data stays on your machine in a format you can read and edit with any text editor. Every change is automatically versioned with Git.

v0.3.0 -- Prompt Manager, calendar drag-and-drop rescheduling, week/day calendar views, and prompt-level Git history.
Previous (v0.2.0) -- Task comments, recurring tasks on calendar, system tray mode, and app branding. See CHANGELOG.md for details.

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Features

• File-based storage -- All data stored as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter
• Local-first -- Works fully offline, no internet required
• Git integration -- Automatic version control with 60-second commit batching, full diff viewer, push/fetch
• WYSIWYG editing -- Milkdown editor with real-time markdown rendering and formatting toolbar
• Project management -- Organize tasks and notes by project with due dates, tags, subtasks, recurrence, and comments
• Calendar view -- Month, week, and day views showing tasks by due date with color-coded urgency; drag-and-drop rescheduling; recurring tasks automatically expanded across the calendar
• Dashboard -- Cross-project overview with active task summaries
• Daily notes -- Quick capture with templates for daily journaling
• Real-time sync -- WebSocket-based live updates; edit in VS Code, see changes in the browser instantly
• External editing -- Full support for VS Code, Obsidian, Vim, or any text editor
• Search -- ripgrep-powered full-text search across all files (Ctrl+K)
• Prompt Manager -- Global and project-scoped prompt libraries with folders, tags, semantic search, variable templates ({{...}}), one-click copy, and copy-rendered output
• Dark theme -- Beautiful dark UI by default with light mode toggle
• System tray -- Runs quietly in the system tray (Windows, macOS, Linux); no console window in release builds
• Tiny footprint -- 5 MB binary, ~20 MB RAM, sub-second startup

Quick Start

Option 1: Download Release (Recommended)

1. Download the latest release for your platform from Releases
2. Extract and run the executable
3. Your browser opens automatically -- start using Ironpad

Data is stored in a data/ folder next to the executable. To use a custom location, set the IRONPAD_DATA_DIR environment variable.

Option 2: Build From Source

Prerequisites: Rust (1.70+), Node.js (18+), Git

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/OlaProeis/ironPad.git
cd ironPad

# Start the backend
cd backend
cargo run

# In a new terminal, start the frontend
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser.

Tech Stack

| Component | Technology | |-----------|------------| | Backend | Rust, Axum 0.8, Tokio | | Frontend | Vue 3, Vite, TypeScript | | Editor | Milkdown (ProseMirror-based) | | State | Pinia | | Routing | Vue Router | | Data | Markdown + YAML frontmatter | | Version Control | Git (via git2) | | Search | ripgrep |

Roadmap

Ironpad is under active development. See ROADMAP.md for detailed release plans.

Current status:

• [x] Task comments and activity summary
• [x] Recurring tasks on calendar (daily/weekly/monthly/yearly expansion)
• [x] System tray mode (Windows, macOS, Linux)
• [x] Prompt Manager (global + project prompts, semantic search, Git version history)
• [x] Prompt variables + copy-rendered workflow ({{variable_name}})
• [x] Calendar drag-and-drop rescheduling
• [x] Week and day calendar views
• [ ] UI polish and animations
• [ ] Tag extraction and filtering across projects
• [ ] Backlinks between notes
• [ ] Graph view of note connections
• [ ] Export to PDF / HTML
• [ ] Custom themes
• [ ] Global hotkey (Ctrl+Shift+Space)
• [ ] Kanban board view for tasks

See CHECKLIST.md for detailed implementation status.

Built With AI

This entire application was built using AI-assisted development -- an approach we call Open Method. We share not just the code, but the complete process: the PRD, task breakdowns, handover documents, and workflow artifacts.

Read about the method:

• The AI Development Workflow I Actually Use -- The original workflow article
• docs/ai-workflow/ -- Documentation of the AI-assisted development process used to build Ironpad

Tools used: Cursor IDE, Claude Opus 4.5/4.6, Context7 MCP

Configuration

| Setting | Default | Description | |---------|---------|-------------| | Data directory | data/ next to executable | Override with IRONPAD_DATA_DIR env var | | Backend port | 3000 (auto-increments to 3010) | Dynamic port selection | | Auto-commit | Every 60 seconds | Git commits when changes exist | | Auto-save | 1 second debounce | Frontend saves after typing stops |

Documentation

| Document | Description | |----------|-------------| | docs/API.md | Complete REST API reference | | docs/ARCHITECTURE.md | System design and technical details | | docs/ai-workflow/ | AI development workflow and methodology |

Contributing

This is an early release and contributions are welcome!

1. Check Issues for open bugs and feature requests
2. Create a branch for your feature/fix
3. Follow the code style (cargo fmt for Rust)
4. Test your changes thoroughly
5. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License

Acknowledgments

• Milkdown -- WYSIWYG Markdown editor
• Axum -- Rust web framework
• Vue.js -- Frontend framework
• Pinia -- State management
• Anthropic Claude -- AI-assisted development