JaRoet PKM is a fast, local-first Personal Knowledge Management tool designed for keyboard power users. It moves away from traditional folder structures, organizing your notes based on their relationships (Parents, Children, Siblings, and Related items). This creates a natural "topology" of thought that you can navigate fluidly. The functions are inspired by software like TheBrain, Workflowy, Logseq and Obsidian.
- Topological Navigation: Browse notes based on context—what links to it, what it links to, and what is related.
- Keyboard-Centric: Navigate, link, unlink, edit, and reorganize your graph without touching the mouse.
- Local & Private: All data is stored locally in your browser (IndexedDB). Nothing is sent to the cloud.
- Markdown Support: Full editor with preview support.
- Journaling Engine: Automated daily note creation with historical linking ("On This Day") and sequential navigation.
- Single File App: The entire application runs from a single HTML file.
For a detailed guide on how to use the interface, shortcuts, and features, please read the Full Documentation. Join me at Discord to discuss any remarks, questions or suggestions you have.
- Download the
index.htmlfile from the latest release. - Open it in any modern web browser.
- Start typing!
I have use different PKM tools like Obsidian, Logseq, The Brain, OneNote, Trilium Notes, Evernote and Treepad over a long time span and I tried many others. The last year I settled on Obsidian, it was good enough.
In the second half of 2025 I started a new job in a company that has strict rules about what software to install and suddenly I could not use the tools mentioned above anymore. Gone where my years of knowledge gathering and code snippets. Not actually gone but accessing them on a phone, unable to copy-past and the small screen, was not working for me.
So I thought about building one myself. I had thought that before but now, with the AI app builder revolution being underway, I could actually do it. I thought about what I liked most in all the tools mentioned and my shortlist was the following:
- No installation needed! Just download a file (or a few), copy to a folder and start working.
- No cloud storage or internet need! The app only downloads a few libraries on initial startup, so internet is needed then. But otherwise, no need for the internet and data is stored locally (IndexedDB).
- A simple app to use with an easy to undertand mental model. It is just data being entered, searched, linked, edited and read.
- Mardown support for the notes. Once you use Markdown I find it hard to go back to rich text editors :-).
- A visual-ish representation of the data as the base of the app. I want to see all the different relations of my current focused note.
With these minimal requirements set I started up AIStudio.google.com and started prompting. The results came fast and where of a quality I could not have done myself. I kept on trying and the result is the JaRoet-PKM tool. I invite you to download the Jaroet-PKM tool and use it. Love to hear what ayou think.
This is project run in the spare evening hours but I will try to respond quickly. AI is a great time-saver, I started only a few days ago, but not infallible. So let me know if you find any bugs (use the issue tracker to log them.
Enjoy !!!