Getting Started

Alexandria is a file-first knowledge base built with Tauri. It runs as a desktop app on macOS, Linux, and Windows, and as a well-supported Android app, and every feature is available in the app. Prebuilt binaries are not published for every platform yet, so for now you build from source (below). The akb CLI is also available, mainly for automation and testing.

Build the CLI

From the repository root:

cargo build --release

The binary is created at ./target/release/akb. You can run it directly or copy it somewhere on your PATH as akb.

Choose a workspace

A workspace is a folder containing Alexandria data:

• notes/ - Markdown notes with YAML frontmatter
• media/ - attachments
• trash/ - deleted items before permanent removal
• index/ - derived SQLite index (tag membership, search)

Pick a folder for your knowledge base before you start. Alexandria creates these subfolders as needed when it opens a workspace.

Create a first note

Run akb from inside your workspace folder, or pass the path with --root /path/to/workspace.

akb create "My First Note"
akb list notes

That creates a Markdown note in your workspace. Alexandria stores your data as plain files, not in a database.

Next steps

• Create your first note for a practical walkthrough.
• Tagging to organize notes and add structured properties.