A product launch is three weeks out. The plan is a document in one app, the budget is a spreadsheet in another, the flow of the launch day is a diagram somebody drew on a whiteboard tool, and the links to the research are scattered across chat threads. Every time someone asks "where is the latest version?", the answer is a different app. osFoundry notes take a different approach: one note, several tabs, and each tab is a different kind of editor.
A note is a set of tabs
osFoundry is a desktop app that puts chat, agents, files and tools in one window. Notes live in the sidebar under Notes. Every note starts with three fixed tabs: Markdown for writing, Files for attachments and Sources for reference links. The + button at the end of the tab strip (Add note tab) adds more:
- Note: a rich-text page.
- Markdown: plain-text writing with a heading outline.
- LaTeX: a TeX project with a compiled PDF preview.
- Slides, Sheet, Mermaid, Board, Whiteboard and Design: presentation, spreadsheet, text-written diagram, data dashboard, free drawing canvas and layout canvas.
- Artifacts: custom content.
- Add from folder…: brings files in from a folder on your computer.
A note can hold more than one tab of the same type, so a launch note can have a Sheet for the budget and another Sheet for the schedule. Tabs can be dragged into a different order, renamed, archived or deleted from the tab's menu. Edits save automatically, and each tab except Files and Sources keeps its own version history, so going back to yesterday's diagram does not roll back today's text.
Markdown: the plan itself
The Markdown tab is plain text, which matters more than it sounds. The same file reads cleanly in any other editor, and an assistant can read it directly without converting anything. You can write in Edit, Split or Preview mode, search with find and replace, and use the Outline to jump between the sections of a long plan, and you can link to a heading or a range of lines, so a comment like "see the risks section" can point straight at it. Text tabs can be exported as a document (Word, PDF or .md).
Sheet: the numbers next to the words
The Sheet tab is a spreadsheet with a File, Edit and Insert menu bar. You can import a CSV or XLSX file, export to CSV, XLSX or a printable PDF, and insert a chart (bar, line, pie, area or scatter) from a range of cells. It also has conditional formatting, data validation, find and replace, links and cell comments. A sheet can feed a Board widget, so the budget table can drive a chart on a dashboard tab in the same note. It is a spreadsheet for tables that belong with a document, not a database.
Mermaid and Whiteboard: two ways to draw
For a process that should stay editable as text, the Mermaid tab takes Mermaid code and renders it. You can switch between Edit, Split and Preview, start from templates (Flow, Sequence, Class, State and Gantt), zoom, and export a PNG, an SVG or the .mmd source. A syntax error shows up as a message instead of a broken picture.
When the structure isn't settled yet, the Whiteboard is a free canvas. The Template Gallery has starter templates such as Flowchart, Architecture, Mind Map and Wireframe, and more come as Library Packs. You can import a Mermaid flowchart onto the canvas, add images, change the layout direction, export a PNG or an SVG, and look back through the canvas's version history. The arrows on a whiteboard are drawings; they don't run anything.
LaTeX: when the layout has to be exact
The LaTeX tab is a small TeX project: main.tex plus any other files you add, or a whole project imported from a ZIP. Compile builds the PDF and shows it beside the source; on the desktop app the compile runs with a local compiler, and the first build can take a minute while TeX resources download. Errors appear in a panel that links back to the source line, a note tells you when the source has changed since the last build, and you can export the .tex, the project ZIP or the compiled PDF.
Sources and Files: the evidence stays with the document
The Sources tab is the note's reading list. Paste an HTTP or HTTPS link, and Refresh page details fills in the title and description for you to review before saving. You can add your own notes to each source and copy a link to a source record to cite it elsewhere. The same URL can't be added twice.
The Files tab holds the PDFs, images and data files that go with the note. Drag files in or browse for them, preview the ones that support it, and switch between a list view and a table view with name, size and date.
A launch note, start to finish
Here is how the launch from the opening fits into one note. The Markdown tab holds the plan, with goals, timeline and risks. A Sheet holds the budget, with a chart inserted from it. A Mermaid tab has the launch-day sequence, from the press release to the support handover, and the team edits the code when the order changes. A Whiteboard has the rough sketch of the landing page. The research links sit in Sources, the signed quote from the printer sits in Files, and the one-page summary for the board is in a LaTeX tab, exported as a PDF. When someone asks where the latest version is, there is one answer.
Questions people ask first
Do I need a separate app for each tab type?
No. Every tab is an editor inside the osFoundry desktop app, and all of them belong to the same note.
Can I export what I make?
Yes, each tab from its own menu: Markdown as Word, PDF or .md; Sheet as CSV, XLSX or PDF; Mermaid as PNG, SVG or .mmd; Whiteboard as PNG or SVG; LaTeX as .tex, a project ZIP or the compiled PDF.
Does undoing one tab undo the others?
No. Each tab except Files and Sources has its own version history.
Is it free?
osFoundry is free to use on your own device. Work that runs on osFoundry's servers uses credits.
The desktop app is free to download at osfoundry.io/download.
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