Basalt

Basalt is my answer to a question I kept circling: what happens to a decade of notes when the app that holds them changes hands, changes terms, or just changes? It is a desktop knowledge base that reads and writes plain Markdown folders, fully compatible with Obsidian vaults, so the notes never belong to the tool.

The app is built on Tauri 2 with a React front end and a CodeMirror 6 editing core. Getting live-preview Markdown editing right, where the syntax melts away as you move through it, meant going deep on CodeMirror decorations and state fields rather than reaching for a prebuilt editor.

Basalt is AGPL licensed and aims for parity with the core features people actually rely on, plus its own plugin API. It deliberately does not chase compatibility with Obsidian's plugin ecosystem; the point is a codebase that can be understood, audited, and kept alive by its community.

What it demonstrates

Desktop application architecture across a Rust/webview boundary, serious editor internals work, and API design for extensibility. Also a thesis I hold about software: files over silos, and tools that respect the person using them.