Product Documentation.

Vaults are read and written through the browser's File System Access API, which only Chromium-based browsers implement. Use one of the browsers below.

HermesMarkdown ships a web app manifest, so supported browsers offer an Install option in the address bar. Installing gives it its own window and app icon, but doesn't change how it works — it's the same browser-based app, not a native build.

Click the vault icon in the sidebar 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. A hidden .hermes/ directory only appears if you set up a voice profile, and holds nothing but that one file.

In the sidebar, click the vault icon and choose New Vault, or run it 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 a blank note. No example content is added.

Use the + button in the sidebar, or run New file from the command palette.

The frontmatter panel opens automatically on every new file, prompting for the fields defined in your vault's schema — title, status, and whatever else you've configured. Fill in what's relevant and skip the rest; nothing here is required beyond title.

Save manually with CTRL+S, or rely on autosave — configurable under Settings → Editor. The status bar shows whether the file has unsaved changes.

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

The sidebar (files, search, tasks) stays hidden at rest. Move the mouse to the left edge to open it, or pin it with CTRL+SHIFT+E; switching between its panels happens from the command palette rather than a row of icons.

Open several files side by side: split right from the tab bar, drag tabs between panes, and resize with the divider.

What you see is the file's actual content — headings, bold, links, and lifecycle tags are rendered inline over the text you're typing, not in a separate pane. There's nothing to toggle between.

Two column widths are available from Settings → Editor: Standard and Narrow. Below the medium breakpoint, the column collapses to full width regardless of the setting.

Type /table in the slash menu, or the {table} shortcode. Both drop a 3×2 starter table with the cursor in the first cell.

Click inside any table to get a floating toolbar over it.

Smart sorting recognizes dates, currency, and plain numbers regardless of column alignment. Output stays clean, auto-padded Markdown that respects left, center, or right alignment markers.

Open it from the command palette (Open Tasks). The pane scans every file in the vault for Markdown task lines and lists them grouped by status.

A task counts as In Progress when it's unchecked and tagged #prog anywhere on the line. The #prog tag itself — along with #todo and #done, which are purely cosmetic — is stripped from the text shown in the pane. Within each group, tasks are sorted by their note's title.

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.

Click the ✎ icon in a document's frontmatter header to open the panel. It also opens automatically on new files.

The panel renders three fields: title, status, and tags. That's the whole schema — fixed, not configurable, kept deliberately small.

Every change in the panel writes straight back to the YAML block at the top of the file — there's no separate save step for frontmatter and no risk of the panel and the raw block drifting apart.

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

Insert one from the slash menu with /callout, which defaults to note.

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) 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. Press Enter to insert the reviewed text at the cursor, Shift+Enter to add a line break within the preview, or Escape to discard it.

Most speech is inserted as plain text, but starting a phrase with one of the keywords below is parsed as a command instead:

A few words control layout and punctuation instead of inserting Markdown syntax directly:

Listening stops automatically when the pane loses focus, the tab is backgrounded, or the mic button is clicked 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.

CTRL+SHIFT+P. Keep typing to filter — matching characters are highlighted, and each entry shows its own shortcut if it has one.

Every command here is a second entry point to something also reachable another way — there's no command-only behavior.

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 with a small 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 thing HermesMarkdown ever adds is a hidden .hermes/ folder, and only if you set up a voice profile.

title

The note's primary identifier. The only field a note can't be saved without.

status

One of draft, review, active, or archived. Stays in sync with the document's lifecycle tag — change one and the other follows.

tags

Free-form domain tags, distinct from the lifecycle tag that mirrors status.

Settings → AI Features → choose a provider → paste your API key → Test Connection. Once a key validates, every AI action in the editor and command palette becomes visible.

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.

Type / and pick a command from the AI group — only visible once a key is configured.

Selection-based commands need text highlighted first. Generate title and Continue writing work without a selection — they read the surrounding note instead.

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 — reading .hermes/voice.md for tone if it exists — 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.

Three ways to set it up: Settings → AI Features → Voice & Tone, or the command palette entries Voice & Tone: Create voice.md and Voice & Tone: Draft voice.md from notes… (the second needs an AI key configured).

It's a plain Markdown file — nothing is created or overwritten automatically. Once it exists, AI commands that generate or rewrite text read it for tone guidance, including repurposing a note into a blog post, social snippet, or newsletter draft.

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.

Dark/light theme is a single toggle in Settings → Interface. Type settings live in Settings → Typography.

Settings → Editor → Display → Editor Width.

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

A single draggable button opens the command palette — Files, New File, Search, Voice, and AI Chat all live there, the same as on desktop. Drag it out of the way of what you're typing; its position is remembered between sessions.

With more than one file open, a thin indicator bar above the editor shows the active file's name and expands into a switcher on tap.

Files and Search open as full-screen overlays rather than a docked sidebar panel.

Tables use the same floating toolbar and in-place cell editing as desktop — there's no separate view to switch to. Tapping the frontmatter ✎ icon instead slides a sheet up from the bottom edge, capped to a portion of the screen height so the soft keyboard never covers it. Drag the handle down to dismiss.

Cell navigation and range selection work the same as desktop — only the surrounding chrome changes.

On desktop, selecting text surfaces a toolbar with Improve Writing, Expand, and a free-form prompt action alongside formatting. On mobile, the equivalent toolbar is pared down to Bold, Italic, and Link — AI actions on a selection are reached through the slash menu or command palette instead.