Product Documentation.

Every modern browser can run HermesMarkdown. What differs is where a vault can live: opening a folder on disk needs the File System Access API, which only Chromium-based browsers implement. Everywhere else, you use a browser vault.

Install it as an app: use Install in the address bar (Chromium), Add to Dock (Safari on macOS), or Share → Add to Home Screen (iOS). The installed app opens in its own window and starts without a network connection once it has been loaded online.

Choose Browser vaults… from the command palette (or Browser Vault on the start screen), name the vault, and click Create. It works like any other vault — folders, WikiLinks, tasks, attachments — but the files live inside this browser's storage instead of a folder you can see on disk.

Imports never overwrite: a file whose name is taken is saved as name (1).md. To move a vault to another browser or device, export it as a zip there and import the zip into a new browser vault.

Need the same notes on several devices? Use a GitHub vault instead: it syncs through a repository you choose.

Choose Open Vault from the command palette and pick an existing folder, or create a new one in the picker.

The browser grants HermesMarkdown direct read/write access to that folder for the session. Nothing is uploaded — files stay where they are on disk.

Everything in the folder — your notes, your subfolders — is yours; HermesMarkdown never restructures it. The only thing it adds on its own is an assets/ folder at the vault root, created the first time you paste or drop an image into a note.

Opening folders on disk needs a Chromium-based browser. In Safari and Firefox, choose a browser vault instead.

Choose New Vault from the command palette.

Type a vault name (this becomes the folder name on disk) and click Choose parent folder to pick where the folder will be created, then click Create Vault.

HermesMarkdown creates the folder and opens the vault on its home feed. No example content is added.

Press CTRL+ALT+N, click + on the home feed, or choose New file from the command palette. A blank note opens, ready to type, with no name prompt.

The note is saved to your vault once you finish the first line, or when you press CTRL/CMD+S. The file is named after the first line, for example Trip ideas.md. If the first line has no usable text, the date and time are used instead, like 2026-09-28 1432.md. An existing file is never overwritten: a taken name becomes Trip ideas (1).md.

The first save asks which folder the note goes in, with your default folder already selected: press Enter to accept it, or type to filter the list or name a new folder. If you dismiss the picker, the note stays an unsaved draft and nothing asks again, even after a reload; press CTRL/CMD+S when you're ready to choose.

A note you leave empty is never saved, so no empty files pile up in your vault. Renaming the first line later does not rename the file; use Rename current file for that.

No template or metadata is added. Want frontmatter? Type /frontmatter to insert a starter block. See Frontmatter. Autosave can be changed under Settings → Autosave. With autosave set to manual, a new note is saved only when you press CTRL/CMD+S.

Each row shows a note's title and the first few lines of its text. The column on the left groups notes by the day they were last changed: Today, Yesterday, the weekday for the rest of the week, then the date. If you entered your name during setup, the feed greets you with it.

At the bottom, Search or create a note… opens the command palette. Type to find a note, or type a new title and pick Create "…" to start that note. The > button opens the palette's command list, and + starts a blank note.

The Home button is at the far left of the editor's header on desktop, and at the top left on phones.

In a large vault, notes appear right away in the correct order. Their previews fill in from the top down while Indexing notes… is shown. Notes that haven't changed since last time load instantly from a cache kept in your browser.

There's no formatting toolbar above the text. Formatting happens through Markdown syntax, keyboard shortcuts, and the slash command menu.

The header shows your open notes as tabs, even when only one is open. Home is on the left, and the command palette, AI Chat (when an AI key is set), Save, and more options are on the right.

Open the dedicated Explorer with CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+E (or CTRL/CMD+B when the cursor isn't in a note, where it means Bold) or the Open Explorer command. It provides a full workspace view for browsing, organizing, renaming, moving, and deleting files and folders without covering the editor. Tasks uses a matching dedicated view; file search, tags, and headings are available through the command palette.

On phones, the file overlay also has a Views tab with Smart Workspaces: saved, rule-based filters over your notes' tags and frontmatter.

Open several files side by side: choose Open in pane from the header, drag tabs between panes, and resize with the divider.

You always edit the Markdown source, styled as you type: headings, emphasis, links, tags and dates are highlighted in place, and tables render as an editable grid. Word wrap, line numbers, font and theme live under Settings.

Dates (2026-09-27, 27/09/2026, [[2026-09-27]], @due(…)) and @priority annotations show as small pills. CTRL+Click a date to open the date picker.

Paste or drop an image and it's saved to the vault's assets/ folder and linked with ![](assets/…). Paste comma- or tab-separated data outside a table and HermesMarkdown offers to convert it into a Markdown table.

Shortcodes

Type a shortcode and it expands in place.

Turn on Vim mode during the welcome setup, or enable it later under Settings → Appearance (or the Enable Vim mode command). It shows the current mode in a status line below the editor.

Turn on flow mode during the welcome setup, or enable it later under Settings → Appearance (or the Enable flow mode command). It's off by default.

The current paragraph is the run of non-blank lines around the caret. Everything else dims while the editor has focus and returns to full strength when you click away. Typing, deleting, undo/redo and moving with the keyboard keep the line centered; clicking or selecting with the mouse never scrolls the view.

Type /table in the slash menu, or the {table} shortcode. Both drop a 3×2 starter table and put you in its first cell.

Click any cell to edit it in place. Tab moves to the next cell, and tabbing out of the last one adds a row. Enter moves down a column. The arrow keys cross cell edges and step out of the table at its borders. The file is updated as you type, so undo, autosave and split panes always match what you see. The file on disk is still a plain Markdown pipe table.

A focused cell shows its raw Markdown, such as **bold** or links. Every other cell shows the rendered result. Ctrl/Cmd+B, I and E wrap the selection in bold, italic or code, and Ctrl/Cmd-click opens a link. A pipe you type is stored escaped, so it can't split the cell.

While you edit a table, column letters (A, B, C…) and row numbers (1, 2, 3…) appear around it, like in a spreadsheet, with the current cell's row and column highlighted. Click a letter or number for that column's or row's menu, or right-click any cell (long-press on touch). Nothing is drawn on top of the cells.

Paste a range copied from a spreadsheet (or multi-line CSV) into a cell. It fills the cells from there, adding rows and columns as needed. Smart sorting recognizes dates, currency and plain numbers. Each structural change is a single undo step.

Formulas

Start a cell with = to compute it, like a spreadsheet. The cell shows the result, and clicking it shows the formula for editing. Columns are lettered A, B, C… and the header is row 1, so the first data row is row 2, matching the letters and numbers shown around the table while you edit. Sum column in the table menu adds a totals row for you. Rows you add at the end (Tab or Enter) go above the totals row, and its ranges grow to include them.

Amounts like $2,000 or 1000 RON count as numbers, and totals keep their currency. Errors show spreadsheet-style (#REF!, #DIV/0!, #CIRCULAR!, #NAME? for an unknown function, #VALUE! for text where a number is needed). Rows containing a formula are treated as summary rows and are never moved by sorting.

AI features know this syntax too. See AI & table formulas.

Any fenced code block (/code in the slash menu, or typing ```` ```lang ```` yourself) is syntax-highlighted as you type, for any language CodeMirror recognizes from the fence's language tag. Inserting one from the slash menu offers a language picker.

Insert a diagram with /mermaid or type a ```mermaid fence. Once the fence is closed, the editor shows the rendered diagram in its place. Double-click it (or use its Edit button, or press CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+ENTER with the cursor next to it) to edit the source with a live preview. From there, Open viewer lets you zoom, fit-to-width, and download the SVG. Syntax errors show in place of the diagram.

Display math works the same way: put LaTeX between $$ lines (or on one line, as $$ E = mc^2 $$), or in a ```math fence, and it renders with KaTeX.

```mermaid
graph TD
  A[Start] --> B{Decision}
  B -->|Yes| C[Do it]
  B -->|No| D[Skip it]
```

Type /link in the slash menu to open the Add Link dialog — fill in the link text and the URL, then Insert.

Pasting a bare URL on its own does the same thing automatically: it lands as a link with a placeholder label already selected, so typing immediately replaces it with a real title instead of leaving the raw URL as the visible text.

Rest the cursor on any link and a small floating pill appears with two actions: the pencil reopens the same dialog to edit its text or URL, and the external-link icon opens it.CTRL+Click the link directly to open it without the pill.

Type [[ (or /wikilink in the slash menu) to open the WikiLink dialog, then search your vault and pick a note — or switch to creating a new note, which is created and linked in one step. The link is written as plain [[Note name]] text, compatible with other Markdown apps that support wikilinks.

CTRL+Click a wikilink to open the note. A link to a note that doesn't exist shows a “File not found” message.

Keep typing after / to fuzzy-filter by name; ↑/↓ to move the selection, Enter to insert, Escape to dismiss.

Open it from the command palette (Open Tasks). The page scans every file in the vault for Markdown task lines.

A task counts as In Progress when it's unchecked and either tagged #prog anywhere on the line or uses the [/] checkbox marker. It counts as On Hold when it's unchecked and tagged #hold. The #prog/#hold tags — along with #todo and #done, which are purely cosmetic — are stripped from the text shown on the page.

A task can also carry a due date (@due(2026-01-31)), a priority (@priority(high|med|low)), and any number of custom #tags — all stripped from the display text and shown separately under the task. Due dates are color-coded: overdue tasks are flagged in red, tasks due today in amber.

The toolbar above the list lets you switch between grouping by status and grouping by file, filter by search text, due-date bucket (overdue, due today, upcoming, no due date), or one or more custom tags. Combine tag filters to show only tasks carrying every selected tag. Sort tasks by due date, priority, status, note, or task text in either direction. A Clear button appears once any filter is active.

Click a task's checkbox to toggle it — the change writes straight back to the source line in the file, no need to open it first. Click the task text instead to open its note and jump to that line.

Type /frontmatter to insert a starter block with title and tags and put the cursor on the title. If the file already has frontmatter, the same command unfolds it and jumps to it instead.

---
title:
tags: []
---

The editor gives frontmatter a subtle background. Enable Settings → Appearance → Collapse Frontmatter to start with the block folded into a small Metadata placeholder whenever you open a file; click it to expand.

> [!tip] Optional title
> Body text, same as a regular blockquote.

Insert one from the slash menu: /callout adds a plain [!note] callout and /collapse adds a foldable one that starts collapsed. Change note to any type below.

Add + or - after the type to make it foldable: + starts expanded, - starts collapsed. No suffix means a plain, non-foldable callout.

> [!warning]- Collapsed by default
> Click the title to expand.

The type is case-insensitive and any word works, but these have dedicated colors and icons:

Start voice input from the command palette (Start voice input) or with CTRL+SHIFT+V to start listening. Speech accumulates in an editable preview box instead of the document itself, so you can fix a mishear before it ever touches your note. Say "insert this" (or press Enter) to commit the reviewed text at the cursor, Shift+Enter to add a line break within the preview, or Escape to discard it.

Dictation is transcription only — it never inserts Markdown syntax or otherwise formats the note from speech. A small set of session-control phrases works instead, since those act on the preview buffer rather than the document:

Listening stops automatically when the pane loses focus, the tab is backgrounded, or you toggle voice input off again. If the browser denies microphone access, loses its network connection mid-session, or can't find a microphone, a toast explains why and listening stops rather than retrying silently.

Open it anywhere with CTRL/CMD+K (files) or CTRL/CMD+SHIFT+P (commands). On mobile, tap the active-file bar. The palette opens in Quick Open mode, where plain text searches note names and paths only — there is no full-text search.

Matching is fuzzy and deterministic. Recently opened files and recently run commands receive a ranking boost. Commands that need a vault, active note, selection, AI provider, voice support, or another pane remain visible when useful and explain why they are disabled. Async commands show a running state and cannot be submitted twice. Press CTRL/CMD+D to pin the selected file or command (up to five) to the top of the palette.

Searching for a note that doesn't exist? The last result, Create "…", starts a new note with that title. The > button in the search field switches between searching files and searching commands.

Use ↑/↓ (or Tab/Shift+Tab) to move through results, Enter to run the selected item, and Escape to close. The controlled clear button resets the query without closing the palette and returns focus to the search field.

Combine this with the per-context shortcuts in Keyboard shortcuts and the slash command menu (/) for inserting content, and the editor is fully operable without ever reaching for the mouse.

Any folder you open becomes a vault. Subfolders, file names, and organization are entirely yours — HermesMarkdown doesn't enforce a structure or move files around.

my-vault/
  projects/         ← yours
    roadmap.md
  daily/            ← yours
    2026-06-25.md

Every note is a plain .md file, optionally with a YAML frontmatter block. Open the folder in any other editor, sync it with Dropbox or Google Drive, or move it to another machine — nothing about it depends on HermesMarkdown being installed. The only folder HermesMarkdown creates on its own is assets/, for images you paste or drop into a note.

A browser vault holds the same plain files, just inside the browser's private storage instead of a folder you can see. Nothing is locked in: Export vault as zip hands you every file, and Import files into vault… brings a zip or folder into any vault.

Choose Connect GitHub Vault when opening a vault. You can select a repository you can access or create a new private repository. HermesMarkdown imports Markdown files and files under .hermes/; other repository files are left outside the vault workspace.

Branches

A GitHub vault opens on the repository's default branch, commonly main. The branch remains fixed for that vault workspace. Branch switching and branch creation are not available in HermesMarkdown yet; create or select the desired default branch in GitHub before connecting it.

Commit and sync

Save your notes, then use the command palette's GitHub: Commit, GitHub: Push, or GitHub: Sync command. All three create a commit directly on the connected branch, so there is no separate local Git staging area or push step.

HermesMarkdown compares the branch head recorded when the vault was opened before updating it. If somebody else advances the branch, the app stops rather than silently overwriting their changes. Run GitHub: Pull to bring in their changes, then commit again.

Privacy and access

Connecting GitHub uses OAuth with the repo permission so the signed-in user can read and write repositories they own or can access. The access token stays server-side in an encrypted HttpOnly cookie and is never written to note files, IndexedDB, or client-side application state.

title

A display title for the note. Notes save fine without it — the file name is the identifier.

tags

Free-form tags. Together with inline #tags, they feed the palette's # mode and Smart Workspace rules.

Notes created with Generate new note with AI also get status: draft, plus scope and read_when fields describing what the note covers and when it's worth reading.

Settings → Provider Config → choose a provider → paste your API key → Test Connection, then pick a model (use the refresh button to reload the list). Once a key validates, AI Chat, Generate new note, Repurpose, the Ask AI toolbar, and the AI items in the slash menu appear. The palette's AI: … actions are always listed and explain that a key is needed until one is set.

The key is stored in your browser. Each AI request passes through HermesMarkdown's servers on its way to Anthropic or Google — the key is never logged or saved there. See Privacy model for the full picture.

AI Chat

Open it with CTRL+SHIFT+B, the Open AI Chat command, or — on desktop — the 💬 Ask AI pill that appears above a text selection. The chat sees the current note and your selection. Type @ to reference another note by name, or use @folder:path / @vault to share an index (paths, titles, tags) of a folder or the whole vault. Attach images or files, ask follow-ups, and switch models per chat.

Nothing changes your note until you choose: each reply can be edited, then used to replace the selection (or insert at the cursor) or replace the whole note.

One-click actions

Common rewrites skip the conversation. Run them from the command palette (AI: …) or the slash menu; they work on the selection, or on the note where that makes sense. Each result opens in a diff review — red for removed, green for added — with Replace, Insert Below, or Cancel.

Generate new note with AI drafts a complete note from a prompt and saves it as a new file.

Ask AI Chat for a table with totals, averages or counts, and you get formulas like =SUM(B2:B5) in a totals row, not numbers the AI worked out itself. The table keeps computing correctly as you edit it. You can also ask it to add or fix a formula, or explain why a cell shows #REF! or #CIRCULAR!.

Every AI action that rewrites text (improve, fix grammar, shorten, change tone, expand, continue, fix document) is told to keep formulas exactly as written. It never swaps a =SUM(...) for its current result.

Run Repurpose note into blog / social / newsletter draft… from the command palette (only visible once a key is configured, and only with an open note that has content).

Pick one or more target formats, then Draft. The AI drafts each selected format from the current note's content and shows every draft for review before anything is saved.

Confirming writes one new file per format, named after the source note (e.g. pricing-launch-blog.md, pricing-launch-social.md). The original note is never modified.

HermesMarkdown is local-first: your vault is read and written directly from the browser, with no upload step and no HermesMarkdown database holding your notes.

System/light/dark theme controls are available in Settings → Appearance and from the command palette. System follows your operating system automatically. The editor font is set under Settings → Typography and applies to every pane in a split workspace. Word wrap, line numbers, Vim mode and flow mode also live under Appearance.

These live under Settings → Files. A folder that doesn't exist yet is created the first time a note is saved there. Your open notes are restored either way; On Vault Open only decides what you see first.

Every shortcut in HermesMarkdown is built in and not user-configurable. See Keyboard shortcuts for the full reference grouped by context.

A thin bar stays fixed at the top of the screen showing the active file's name and save status — there's no keyboard shortcut for the command palette on mobile, so tapping this bar is the one always-present way to open it. From there, Open Explorer, Search, Open Tasks, New file, and every other command work exactly as they do on desktop.

The Home button at the left of that bar takes you back to the home feed. On the feed, the search bar and the + button sit at the bottom, within reach of your thumb.

Explorer and Search open as full-screen overlays rather than docked panels.

Open the file overlay (or the command palette) and choose Browser Vault to create or reopen one. On iOS, use Share → Add to Home Screen: the installed app opens full-screen and starts without a connection.

Tables use the same in-place cell editing as desktop. Tap a cell to type in it, and tap a column letter or row number (or long-press a cell on Android) for the table menu.

Cell navigation works the same as desktop. Only the surrounding chrome changes.

On desktop, selecting text surfaces a toolbar with Ask AI. On mobile, a toolbar below the selection offers Bold, Italic, and Link instead — there's no per-selection AI toolbar on mobile yet. AI Chat and Repurpose Note are still reachable from the command palette on either platform.