Using Ornata.

Ornata runs on macOS 12 or later (Apple Silicon) and on 64-bit Windows 10 or later. On Windows, read ⌘ as Ctrl and ⌥ as Alt in these docs. Download the app from the home page and open it. The first time, choose Create new vault to make a new folder for your notes, or Open existing to use a folder of Markdown files you already have — including one from Obsidian.

Press ⌘N for a new note, type its title, and start writing. Everything saves on its own a moment after you stop typing; there is no save button.

Press ⌘K any time to jump to a note or run a command. That one shortcut gets you most places.

A vault is just a folder:

my-vault/
├── notes/       your notes — plain .md files, in real folders
└── .ornata/     app data: pasted images, note history, templates

• A note's file name is its title. There are no IDs. Renaming a note renames the file, and every link that pointed to it is rewritten.
• You can edit the same files in any other editor. Ornata picks up outside changes as they happen, and when you switch back to it. If you have unsaved typing in a note, your typing wins.
• Frontmatter from other tools is kept exactly as it is and shown read-only in a Properties panel above the note. Ornata never writes frontmatter itself.
• Deleting a note moves it to the Trash. Ornata has no built-in sync; because notes are files, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or git work as they would for any folder.
• Open a Markdown file from anywhere with ⌘O. It opens in a tab like any note, without being copied into the vault.
• Change which vault is open in Settings → Vault.

Markdown as you type

The usual Markdown shortcuts turn into formatting when you type them at the start of a line:

The suggestion menu

Type / on any line, or click the + that appears in the margin of an empty line, to open the suggestion menu: headings, lists, quotes, tables, dividers, and links to other notes. Keep typing to narrow it. Type /code to choose a code block by language — there are about thirty, plus Mermaid.

Type @ to insert a link to today's, tomorrow's, or yesterday's daily note.

Links and images

• Link to another note with /link, or type [[ and a title. Ornata stores it as a standard Markdown link, [Title](folder/note.md), so it works in any other app. A link to a heading looks like note.md#heading.
• A link to a note that doesn't exist yet is shown gray and dashed; clicking it creates the note.
• Paste or drag an image into a note. It is saved in .ornata/assets/. In Settings → Image you can instead run your own upload command, such as PicGo.

Code, math, and diagrams

• Code blocks are highlighted and have a copy button. Click the language label to select the block, copy it, collapse it, or change the language. Hover a block to fold a function or branch with the arrow in its margin; folding only changes what you see, and copying still copies everything.
• Write math with $x^2$ inline or $$ ... $$ on its own line (KaTeX).
• A code block whose language is mermaid renders as a diagram; click it to see and edit the source.

Moving around a note

• Each heading has a small arrow on its left that folds its section. Long notes also get an outline on the right edge.
• ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ move the current block, or the current list item among its siblings. One undo puts it back.
• ⌘F finds in the note; ⌘⌥F adds replace.
• The </> button at the top right switches between the editor and the raw Markdown.
• ⌘⇧F is focus mode: the sidebar and the bars fade away until you point at them.

• Linked mentions at the bottom of a note list the notes that link to it, with the linking line as context. Unlinked mentions show where other notes say its title without linking; press Link to turn one into a link.
• Under that, a small local graph shows the note and its neighbours.
• Open the whole vault as a graph from the command palette (⌘K → Link graph). Folders form colored regions, hovering a note traces its links and their direction, and you can search to fly to a note.
• Tags are read from #tag in a note's text and from a tags: line in its frontmatter. The # button in the sidebar lists them with counts.

Every open note is a tab. ⌘W closes the current one; a tab's menu has bulk close options. Your open tabs come back when you restart.

Split view

• Open a note to the side from the command palette with ⌘↵, from a tab's or a file's menu, or by ⌘-clicking a link. You can have up to four panes, depending on the window width.
• Each pane has its own header — its own back and forward arrows, breadcrumb, and actions. The pane menu (the columns icon) splits, swaps with the next pane, and lists the open panes.
• Drag a divider to resize. Adding or closing a pane shares the width evenly again.
• ⌘1–⌘4 jump to a pane, ⌘. moves to the next, and ⌘⇧\ splits the current one.
• The layout, the widths, and each pane's trail come back after a restart.

Back and forward

⌘[ and ⌘] step back and forward through the notes a pane has shown. Each pane keeps its own trail, so the arrows only move the pane they sit in, and a step that would land on a note already open in another pane skips past it.

• ⌘K searches titles and content together. Title matches come first, and titles match from shorthand: prjroad finds “project roadmap”. Choosing a content match scrolls to it. With no search typed, the palette lists your recent notes and every action.
• The sidebar can be sorted by name or by modified time (the button on the Notes header). Pin a note from its context menu to keep it at the top.
• The bar along the bottom shows the shortcuts that matter for what you are looking at. Hide it from the palette (Show or hide shortcut bar).

• ⌘J opens today's note, journal/2026-10-18.md for example, creating it if needed. To start each day from a template, save one named daily (see below).
• Quick capture: ⌘⌥J works from any app. A small box appears; type a line and press Return. It is added to Inbox.md with the time.
• Tasks: any - [ ] line (or * and a space) is a task. The Tasks row in the sidebar lists every open task in the vault, grouped by note; tick one there and it is done in its note.
• Templates: from the palette, save a note as a template, start a new note from one, or open the templates folder (.ornata/templates).

• Ornata keeps snapshots of each note as it changes. The clock at the bottom right opens the note's history: pick a snapshot to compare it with the current text, and restore it if you want it back.
• Over time pasted images can end up unused. ⌘K → Clean up images lists the ones no note refers to and moves them to the Trash, where you can still get them back.

The ··· menu at the top right of a note has:

• PDF — with a bookmark outline built from the headings. Choose the paper size (A4, Letter, A5) and margins in Settings → Export. When it is done, Show in Finder (File Explorer on Windows) takes you to the file.
• HTML — a standalone page.
• Markdown, Copy as rich text, and Copy Markdown.

Ornata speaks MCP, the open standard AI agents use to reach tools. An agent can search and read your notes, see backlinks and open tasks, and — only if you allow it — create, edit, append, tick tasks, rename, move, and delete.

Connect an agent

• Click the plug in the status bar (or ⌘K → MCP settings). It is green while the server is on or an agent is connected.
• Press Connect to start the server on your computer. Pick your agent's tab and copy its line, for example:

  claude mcp add ornata --transport http http://127.0.0.1:13200/mcp \
    --header "Authorization: Bearer <your token>"

• Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and VS Code connect to the server, so Ornata must be open. Codex and Claude Desktop start Ornata themselves over stdio, which works with Ornata closed. Any other MCP client can use the URL and the header on the Other tab.

What an agent may do

You choose, per vault, in MCP Settings (or Settings → Agents):

The level is set in Ornata only, and an agent's own launch options can only lower it. Agents see only notes that really live in the vault — a symlink pointing elsewhere is ignored. Every request to the local server carries an access token; Regenerate makes a new one if it ever leaks (agents set up with the old one then need the new line).

An agent that can also run shell commands can edit any file you can, including Ornata's settings. The access level is a boundary for agents that work through these tools — give shell-capable agents only the trust you would give a person at your keyboard.

The command line

Install the ornata command from the MCP panel (it links to ~/.local/bin). The same levels apply.

ornata search "roadmap"
ornata read projects/roadmap.md
ornata tasks
echo "ship it" | ornata journal add     # append to today's note
ornata capture "buy milk"                # a timestamped line in Inbox.md
ornata help

The same list is in Settings → Shortcuts. On Windows, ⌘ is Ctrl and ⌥ is Alt.

• General — interface language (English or 简体中文) and the app version.
• Appearance — light, dark, or follow the system.
• Editor — the outline sound and the animated cursor.
• Image — keep pasted images in the vault, or run your own upload command.
• Export — PDF paper size and margins.
• Vault — which folder is open, and changing it.
• Agents (MCP) — what outside agents may do, and how to connect them.
• Shortcuts and Updates — the key list, and checking for a new version. Ornata updates itself from a signed feed; when one is ready the sidebar offers Restart to update.

An edit made elsewhere didn't show up

Ornata watches the vault and reloads a note when it changes on disk — unless you have unsaved typing in it, which always wins. Switch away from the window and back to force a check.

An agent can't connect or gets 401

• Check the plug is green: the server must be connected, and the access level must not be Off.
• A 401 means the token is missing or old. Copy the line from MCP Settings again (remove the old server from the agent first) — the token changes whenever you press Regenerate.
• If port 13200 is in use, Ornata takes the next free one; the setup lines always show the port in use.
• An agent says a tool doesn't exist: the access level is too low for it. Raise it in MCP Settings; it applies on the next call.

A link is gray and dashed

Its target note doesn't exist. Click it to create the note, or fix the link. Renaming a note from inside Ornata rewrites links for you; renaming the file in Finder or File Explorer doesn't.

Everything seems to be in the wrong place after a restart

Ornata restores your tabs, split layout, and each pane's back and forward trail. Notes deleted meanwhile are left out. Your notes themselves are never touched by this.

Still stuck? The files are plain Markdown in your vault folder, and always yours. See the FAQ, or look at what changed in Updates.

ornata