Links point both ways
Type a wikilink and the note on the other end grows a backlink, with the sentence around it. Link something you haven't written and it becomes a ghost on the graph — click it and the note exists.
nodum · Latin for knot
Notes are the knots.
The value is the rope between them. Nodum is an open-source knowledge base for the browser — markdown notes, [[wikilinks]], backlinks and a GPU-rendered graph of everything you know.
MIT licensed · import an Obsidian vault · self-host in one command
[[Note]]
link two ideas
[[Note|alias]]
link, call it something else
#tag/nested
group them
![[image.png]]
drop a file in
> [!note]
call it out
Have a go
This one is real. Try it.
The same GPU graph the app runs on, with a small vault loaded. Drag a node, hover a file — and give a folder a colour to watch its notes change in the graph.
EXPLORER
- Research
- Writing
- Projects
- Journal
waking the graph…
@cosmos.gl/graph on WebGL2 · the engine your vault renders with
What it does
Write it once. Find it from everywhere.
A graph that reads like a map
Your whole vault as a GPU force simulation, smooth at tens of thousands of notes. Colour a folder in the explorer and its notes carry that colour into the graph.
Plain markdown, always yours
Drop in an Obsidian vault as a zip and every link resolves across the batch. Ask for it back and you get a folder-true zip. Files stay files.
Run it yourself
Your vault, your server.
One compose file brings up the API, Postgres, Redis, MinIO and a Caddy edge with automatic TLS. Docker or Podman, dev through production.
Read the deploy guidenodum/deploy
$ git clone https://github.com/nodummd/nodum
$ cd nodum/deploy
$ ./compose.sh prod up -d --build
# api · postgres · redis · minio · caddyComing from somewhere else
How it compares, honestly.
Every comparison below says what the other tool does better, because a page that claims to win on everything is worth nothing to someone actually deciding.
Versus
Start from the idea
The glossary defines the vocabulary; the FAQ answers the rest.
The short answers
What is Nodum?
Nodum is a free, open-source, web-based knowledge base. You write markdown notes, connect them with [[wikilinks]], get backlinks automatically, and explore the whole vault as a GPU-rendered knowledge graph. It is MIT licensed, runs in any modern browser, and can be self-hosted with one Docker Compose command.
Is Nodum free?
Yes. Nodum is free and open source under the MIT licence, with no paid tier holding features back and no per-seat pricing. You can use the hosted instance or run your own, in which case the only cost is the server you run it on.
Is Nodum open source?
Yes — the whole stack. The FastAPI backend and the Next.js frontend are both MIT licensed and published in one public repository, with no open-core split and no separate proprietary server. You can read it, fork it, audit it and run it.
Can I import my Obsidian vault?
Yes. Zip your Obsidian vault folder and import it from Settings → Vault → Import. Nodum resolves wikilinks across the whole batch rather than file by file, unwraps a redundant root folder, detects .obsidian config directories, imports .md, .markdown and .txt as notes, and brings PDFs in as attachments plus a note of their extracted text.
Does Nodum have a graph view?
Yes — global and local, rendered on WebGL2 through a GPU force simulation, so it stays smooth into the tens of thousands of notes. Node size follows link count, unresolved links appear as ghost nodes you can click to create, and folder colours carry through from the explorer into the graph.
Does Nodum have AI features?
Yes, and they run on your own API key. The assistant searches, reads, creates and extends notes in your vault, streams its replies with live tool status, and works with Claude, OpenAI, Gemini or Qwen. Keys are encrypted at rest and can be set per vault.
Can I self-host Nodum?
Yes, with one command. ./compose.sh prod up -d --build brings up the API, PostgreSQL, Redis, MinIO and a Caddy edge proxy that provisions and renews TLS certificates automatically. Caddy is the only container that binds a host port, and schema migrations run in a one-shot container everything else waits on.
Start tying things together.
A vault takes about ten seconds to make. Bring notes with you, or start with one.