Deckard
A local-first second brain for the Markdown notes already in your VS Code workspace. Write #tags, @people, [[links]], and - [ ] tasks the way you always have; Deckard connects them into one index and gives you a Dashboard, a Task board, search pages, a notes graph, and a sidebar of related notes — without changing how your notes are written or sending them anywhere.
📖 Read the guide · 🚀 Getting started · 📝 Changelog
Why Deckard
- Your notes stay yours. Plain Markdown is the source of truth. Deckard writes to a note only when you ask it to, shows a change that reaches several notes before making it, and can take the last one back.
- Everything is connected. A tag, a person, or a project gathers every note section and task that mentions it, wherever it was written.
- Tasks where you wrote them. Checklist items become a Tasks view, a Kanban board, and a status bar count; completing one ticks the box in its note.
- Fast on big workspaces. The first scan says what it read, later starts check only what changed, and editing never waits on indexing.
Features
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| Tags, people, and entities |
#tags, @people, and namespaced tags such as #project/atlas, on headings, lines, tasks, and front matter, become one index. |
| Links and embeds |
[[Note]], [[Note#Heading]], and [[Note#^line]] complete and open; ![[Note#Heading]] shows a section in place. |
| Tasks |
Due, scheduled, and start dates, priorities, repeats, dependencies, steps, and who a task is for, in either Obsidian Tasks format — with a task editor that takes dates in plain words. |
| Task board |
Open tasks as columns by status, priority, due date, person, or any tag namespace; drag a card to rewrite the task. Or a ranked list, or a table. |
| Search |
Find in Notes searches notes, tasks, and tags as you type, and a small query language — #project/atlas AND is:open AND due < 7d — runs everywhere. |
| Search pages |
A tag's page collects everything that uses it; any search opens the same page, and one edit can change everything it found. |
| Query blocks |
A deckard code fence keeps a live list of a search's results inside a note. |
| Home and Stats |
What is overdue, due today, and open; a Home of widgets you arrange; the notes nothing links to and tags spelled two ways. |
| Related notes and the graph |
A sidebar ranks the notes most related to the one you are editing, and says why; the Notes Graph maps every connection. |
| Daily notes and reviews |
Today's note from your template, yesterday's unfinished tasks carried in, weekly and monthly reviews written for you, and a calendar page where you drag a task to another day. |
| Renaming and tidying |
Rename a tag, note, or heading everywhere it is written; merge lookalike tags; park what you are not working on. |
| AI assistants |
Copilot, Claude Code, and other MCP clients can search your notes and tasks with Deckard's queries. |
| Themes and Zen |
Eight looks for Deckard's pages, and a Zen mode that turns the chrome down in any of them. |
Task board. Drag a card between columns, or use its ⋯ menu or a key. |
A tag's page. Every note section and task that uses it, and the tags it travels with. |
Related Notes. What else you wrote about this, ranked, with each score explained. |
Notes Graph. Every note, task, and tag connection, or one note's neighborhood. |
Find in Notes. Notes, tasks, and tags as you type. |
Query blocks. A search's results, live, inside a note. |
Themes
Pick one with Deckard: Choose Theme… or Theme in any page's gear; moving through the list previews it on the open pages. The default, Corpo, takes its colors and fonts from your VS Code theme, light or dark. More on themes and Zen mode.
| Corpo |
Corpo, in a light VS Code theme |
Cooper |
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| Replicant |
Oblivion |
LCARS |
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| Tomcat |
Fellowship |
Synthwave |
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Quick start
- Install the VSIX from the latest release with
Extensions: Install from VSIX.... Deckard needs VS Code 1.134.0 or newer.
- Run
Deckard: Create a Sample Workspace for a ten-note tour you read and do — or open a folder of your own Markdown notes.
- Run
Deckard: Open Dashboard, and select the Deckard icon in the Activity Bar for Context (related notes and more), the Tasks view, the Outline, and the calendar.
- Press the ? on any Deckard page, or run
Deckard: Open Help, for the quick glance; each section's Read more opens the full guide.
A note is written the way you already write:
# Launch plan #project/atlas
Talked with @dana about the vendor shortlist. See [[Vendor review]].
- [ ] Send the proposal 📅 2026-10-09 ⏫ #status/doing
- [ ] Book the review room 🔁 every week
Private by design
Deckard reads the Markdown in your workspace and keeps its index on your machine. It sends nothing to a server; the one exception is a task's own words, sent to a language model only when you choose Suggest steps. See privacy and source safety.
License
Deckard is released under the MIT License.
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