SilverBullet
A hackable, offline-first Markdown notes PWA you self-host.
About
SilverBullet is an open-source personal productivity platform by Zef Hemel, built on plain Markdown files and designed for people who like to program their tools. You self-host it on your own server and access it from any modern browser as a progressive web app that is fully offline-capable: it keeps a copy of your content in the browser's local database and syncs back when a connection returns. Notes (called pages) live as Markdown files in a folder on your server, so your data stays yours and works with any other tool.
What sets it apart is Space Lua, a Lua dialect embedded in the app: pages and objects are indexed into a queryable database, and you can generate content dynamically, write custom commands and templates, and build widgets — much of SilverBullet's own core functionality is built this way. It offers a clean live-preview Markdown editor, wiki-style [[links]] with bidirectional linked mentions, outlining, tasks, slash commands, and a command palette, all optimized for keyboard operation. It is MIT-licensed with roughly 6,300 GitHub stars and is free to self-host. Tradeoffs: self-hosting is required (there is no managed cloud), the community is smaller than the big PKM apps, and the end-user-programming power comes with a learning curve.
What it can do
- Self-hosted: notes stored as plain Markdown files in a folder on your server
- Local-first PWA: full offline operation with background sync
- Live-preview Markdown editor with slash commands and command palette
- Wiki-style [[page links]] with bidirectional linked mentions
- Objects and Space Lua: query your notes like a database and script behavior
- Tasks, outlines, and templates built in
- Keyboard-first operation (page switcher, command palette)
- Extensible via Space Lua and community Plugs
- MIT licensed, ~6.3k GitHub stars, single-maintainer-led with community
Setup
Install via Deno (deno install) or Docker on your own server — see the install guide at silverbullet.md. Your notes live as Markdown files in a folder on the server. Open it in any modern browser (desktop, tablet, or phone); the PWA caches locally for full offline use. Customize with Space Lua scripts and Plugs from the community library.
Prerequisites
A server or always-on machine (or local Deno/Docker) to host it; a modern browser to access it.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 7/10
Scored 7/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: ~6.3k GitHub stars with commits pushed October 16, 2026; MIT licensed; multiple community analyses confirm the self-hosted Markdown-on-disk model, offline-first PWA behavior, wiki linking, and the Space Lua end-user-programming system. Strengths: unique hackability, genuine data ownership, no vendor lock-in, offline-first. Docked for: (1) self-hosting is required — there is no managed option, which limits the audience; (2) smaller community and plugin library than mainstream PKM tools; (3) the programming-centric model has a real learning curve for non-technical users. License: MIT.
★ 6,326 GitHub stars
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 6.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 10.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 7.0/10
- · ~6.3k GitHub stars (Oct 16, 2026 snapshot); MIT; by Zef Hemel
- · Self-hosted Markdown-on-disk PWA, 100% offline capable; wiki links + linked mentions; Space Lua end-user programming, objects/queries
- · No managed cloud option (self-host required); smaller community; programming-centric learning curve
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.