I was paying for a notes app, a to-do app, a read-later app, a screen recorder, a meeting tool and a password manager, and copying things between them all day. So I built Barside: one free desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux that does all of it and keeps the library on your computer.
What it does
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Notes that link to each other. Type
[[to link a note; a Note map shows every link. Notes hold kanban boards, tables, charts and Excalidraw drawings. - One task board. Every checklist item from every note lands on one board, grouped by due date, with reminders.
- Reading inbox. Save articles and get newsletters by email; Barside keeps a readable copy.
- Screen recording and meetings. Record into a note, trim it, share a link. Video meetings with screen sharing and live captions.
- Bring your own AI. Barside has no AI of its own. You connect Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or OpenRouter, and every change the assistant makes can be undone.
The developer bits
- MCP server. One click connects Barside to Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI or VS Code, so your agent can read and edit notes, add tasks and link notes. Agent edits show up with an Undo.
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A
barsideterminal command and an agent skill, for scripts and agents that prefer a CLI. - Electron on three systems. The same app ships as a signed Windows installer, an AppImage, a .deb and a Mac build. It docks to any screen edge; on Windows and Linux, other windows make room for it like they do for the taskbar.
- Local-first. Notes work without an account. Cloud sync is optional.
Try it
Download: https://www.barside.space
I'd love to hear what you would cut or add, and how you would want an agent to work with your notes.
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