---
title: "tnotes vs Vimwiki · tnotes"
description: "Vimwiki or tnotes for Markdown notes? A personal wiki inside Vim: linked text files with their own syntax, a diary, todo lists and HTML export, for people who a"
canonical: https://tnotes.app/compare/tnotes-vs-vimwiki
---

[compare](/compare) / vimwiki

# tnotes vs Vimwiki

A personal wiki inside Vim: linked text files with their own syntax, a diary, todo lists and HTML export, for people who already live in Vim.

tnotes

terminal app · macOS, Linux · MIT · free · v1.3.0

[Vimwiki](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki)

editor plugin · Anywhere Vim 7.3+ or Neovim runs (Linux, macOS, Windows, BSD) · MIT · Free

Vimwiki has been the Vim answer to a personal wiki since 2008. You register one or more wikis in `g:vimwiki_list`, press `<Leader>ww` to open the index, put the cursor on a word and press Enter to turn it into a `[[link]]`, press Enter again to create and open the page, Backspace to come back. Pages are plain text with one of three syntaxes (its own, Markdown, MediaWiki); the native syntax gets the full feature set including `:Vimwiki2HTML` export, Markdown is second-best supported and has no built-in HTML converter.

Beyond links it has a diary (`<Leader>w<Leader>w` for today), checkbox lists with partial-completion states (`[.]`, `[o]`, `[X]`), tables that align themselves, folding, `:VimwikiBacklinks`, `:VimwikiRenameFile` that rewrites links, and `:tag-one:tag-two:` tags with omni-completion and `:VimwikiSearchTags`. Development is slow and maintainers few, which the README says openly; the plugin is stable rather than moving.

tnotes covers the link-and-tag core with a different interface: a two-pane TUI with mouse support, `#tags` parsed from the text, link completion after `[[`, backlinks in an overlay, and a CLI that returns JSON. It edits with edtui’s vim keys, which is a subset of Vim, not Vim. Vimwiki users who try it usually keep both on the same directory.

## Feature comparison

| Feature | tnotes | Vimwiki |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Storage format | ✓ plain .md files, folders are directories | ✓ .wiki files by default; .md with syntax = 'markdown', ext = '.md' |
| Runs in the terminal | ✓ TUI (ratatui) plus a headless CLI | ✓ it is Vim |
| \[\[Wikilinks\]\] | ✓ \[\[Title\]\] with completion; rewritten on rename | ✓ \[\[link\]\], \[\[link|description\]\], \[\[dir/page\]\], \[\[page#anchor\]\] |
| Backlinks | ✓ overlay + `backlinks` in JSON | ✓ :VimwikiBacklinks searches the wiki for links to the current page |
| #tags | ✓ #tag and nested #work/project, parsed from text | ~ :tag: syntax, not #tag; needs a .tags metadata file (:VimwikiRebuildTags) |
| Headless CLI | ✓ ls, search, cat, new, append, write, trash, restore | ✗ Vim commands only; scriptable with vim -c or a headless nvim |
| JSON output for scripts / agents | ✓ --json on every command | ✗ |
| Live reload on external edits | ✓ file watcher; dirty tabs keep their text | ✗ Vim's own autoread / :checktime |
| Vim keys | ✓ vim or emacs keys (edtui) | ✓ |
| Mouse support | ✓ click, double-click, right-click menus, drag | ~ whatever Vim gives you with set mouse=a |
| Sync | ~ any file sync: git, Syncthing, iCloud, Dropbox | ~ plain files: git, Syncthing, anything |
| Encryption | ~ encrypt the folder: FileVault, gocryptfs | ~ encrypt the directory yourself |
| Mobile app | ✗ files sync to any mobile Markdown editor | ✗ files sync to any mobile editor |
| Plugins | ✗ | ~ no plugin API; it is itself a Vim plugin, extend with Vimscript |
| Open source | ✓ MIT, Rust | ✓ MIT, Vimscript |

✓ yes · ~ partial or via the file system · ✗ no

## Choose Vimwiki if

-   You want the full Vim editing model, your own mappings, and every Vim plugin you already use; tnotes’ vim keys are edtui’s subset (insert, normal, `u`, `ctrl+r`, `.`, `/`), not Vim.
-   Native-syntax features matter: HTML export, self-aligning tables, `[.]`/`[o]` partial checkboxes, header-level folding.
-   A diary (`<Leader>w<Leader>w` for today, `<Leader>w<Leader>i` to regenerate the index) and tag search across the wiki, all from Vim’s command line.
-   You need it on Windows, BSD, or a server where you can install a Vim plugin but not a new binary.

## Choose tnotes if

-   You want a headless interface for scripts and agents: `tnotes search --json`, `cat`, `new`, `append`, `write` have no Vimwiki counterpart.
-   You prefer a sidebar, tabs, mouse clicks and right-click menus over `:VimwikiUISelect` and the location list.
-   You want `#tags` in the text (including nested `#work/project`) and `[[Title]]` links resolved by title, without a `.tags` index to rebuild.
-   Live reload when another device or a script changes a file, with conflict copies instead of Vim’s swap-file prompt.

## Using Vimwiki and tnotes together

Both tools edit plain Markdown, so they can share a directory. Configure a Markdown wiki with the `.md` extension and restrict Vimwiki to registered paths so it does not claim every Markdown file on the system:

```
let g:vimwiki_list = [{'path': '~/Documents/notes/', 'syntax': 'markdown', 'ext': '.md'}]
let g:vimwiki_global_ext = 0
```

```
tnotes ~/Documents/notes          # same directory as a tnotes root
vim -c VimwikiIndex               # or <Leader>ww inside Vim
```

How the two overlap on the same files:

-   `[[link]]` is the same characters in both. Vimwiki resolves `[[Weekly plan]]` to the file `Weekly plan.md` relative to the current page; tnotes resolves by note title (first line, case-insensitive), then by file stem, and names new files as a slug of the title (`# Weekly plan` becomes `weekly-plan.md`). Links that both tools follow are the ones written as the file stem: `[[weekly-plan]]`. Links by title work in tnotes only, and following one in Vimwiki creates a second file.
-   `[[link|description]]`: Vimwiki follows `link` and shows `description`. tnotes documents `[[Note title]]` only; whether it strips the `|description` part when resolving is not documented, so treat aliased links as Vimwiki-only until you have tested it.
-   Renames: `:VimwikiRenameFile` rewrites links across the wiki; tnotes rewrites `[[old title]]` when a note’s first line changes. Each tool’s rename is visible to the other as ordinary file changes.
-   Tags: Vimwiki’s `:tag-one:tag-two:` and tnotes’ `#tag` do not see each other. The `.tags` metadata file Vimwiki writes is dot-prefixed, so tnotes ignores it.
-   `diary/` shows up as a folder in tnotes. tnotes keeps trashed notes under `.Trash/` in the root; Vimwiki’s search and backlink commands may still scan that directory.
-   tnotes reloads a clean tab when Vim writes the file; Vim needs `set autoread` or `:e` to pick up a tnotes write or a `tnotes append`. Vim’s swap file will prompt if both edit the same note at once.

## FAQ

? Can Vimwiki use Markdown files?

Yes: set `'syntax': 'markdown', 'ext': '.md'` on the wiki in `g:vimwiki_list`. `[[wikilinks]]`, the diary, lists and tags work; `:Vimwiki2HTML` does not, since only the native syntax ships a converter (see `:h vimwiki-option-custom_wiki2html`). Set `g:vimwiki_global_ext = 0` or Vimwiki treats every `.md` on the machine as a wiki page.

? Does Vimwiki have backlinks?

`:VimwikiBacklinks` (also `:VWB`) searches all files of the current wiki for links to the current page and lists them; it does not maintain an index. tnotes keeps backlinks live in an overlay (`alt+enter` on a line without a link) and in the `backlinks` field of `tnotes ls --json`.

? Is there a CLI for Vimwiki notes?

No. Vimwiki is Vim commands and mappings; the closest is `vim -c` or a headless Neovim running Vimscript. Because the notes are plain files, a terminal tool that understands `[[links]]` can index the same directory: `tnotes ls --json --dir ~/vimwiki` returns id, title, tags, links and backlinks per note.

## Sources

Vimwiki facts checked on 2026-09-22 against:

-   [vimwiki README (syntaxes, markdown setup, license)](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki/blob/dev/README.md)
-   [vimwiki help: links, tags, backlinks, commands (doc/vimwiki.txt)](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki/blob/dev/doc/vimwiki.txt)

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