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I’m pleased to announce the release of SilverBullet v2, your next open source, self hosted, programmable notes application.
This release has fewer features than ever. Yes, you read that right. Rather than adding more complexity, in v2 we opted to remove a whole slew of features developed as part of the 0.x series. These include online mode, query language, template language, command links, anchors, space script, space config, attribute extractors, object decorators, live embeds, federation and others.
A lot of these previously “baked in” features has now been reimagined on the unifying foundation of Space Lua.
What is SilverBullet
If you’re new to SilverBullet, let’s back up a bit.
SilverBullet is a tool to develop, organize, and structure your personal knowledge and to make it universally accessible across all your devices.
In SilverBullet you keep your content as a collection of Markdown Pages (called a Spaces). You navigate your space using the Page Picker like a traditional notes app, or through Links like a wiki (except they are Linked Mentions).
If you are the writer type, you’ll appreciate SilverBullet as a clean Markdown editor with Live Preview. If you have more of an outliner personality, SilverBullet has Outlines tools for you. Productivity freak? Have a look at Tasks.
More of a database person? You will appreciate Objects and Space Lua/Lua Integrated Query.
And if you are comfortable (learning to) program, you will love dynamically generating content with Space Lua (SilverBullet’s Lua dialect), and use it to create custom Commands and Space Lua/Widgets, and possibly use Space Style to personalize your Space’s look and feel.
SilverBullet is a self-hosted web application. You need to install it on a server. Perhaps you do this on a Raspberry Pi you didn’t have a use for, or a VPS somewhere in the cloud. SilverBullet is distributed as a single self-contained server Install/Binary or Install/Docker container. While this is a bit more complicated to set up than simply downloading a desktop or mobile app, since your space is centrally stored on a server under your control, you can now access it from anywhere you can access your server. And it may well be your gateway to Self Hosting more interesting applications.
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What’s new
The biggest new feature in v2 is what was removed. The removal of features put extra pressure on coming up with new ways to rebuild old functionality, which in effect meant we really doubled down on Space Lua and greatly expanded its APIs.
Features previously built as Plugs (in TypeScript) are now slowly being rebuilt as SilverBullet Lua Libraries, and collected in silverbullet-libaries and community forums.
What was previously known as “sync mode” is now the default and only mode in SilverBullet v2. This means that all your content is continuously kept in sync between your clients via your server, and all processing happens locally. No internet connection? No problem, you will have access to all your notes, can edit them and everything works the same as when online.
Overall, tons of minor fixes, refinements and tweaks were made. It’s good stuff.
Installing
See the Install.
Upgrading
If you’re a 0.x (“v1”) user, upgrading to v2 will be a breaking change due removed features. See the dedicated page on this topic: Migrate from v1.
Therefore, be sure to backup before upgrading. Upgrading is as simple as following the Install and pointing at your existing Spaces.