Quickstart Guide

This guide will help you get started with Glyph in just a few minutes. You’ll create your first space, write a note, and explore some of Glyph’s most useful features.

Prerequisites: Make sure you’ve installed Glyph before starting this guide.

Getting Started

Launch Glyph

Open Glyph for the first time. You’ll see the welcome screen with an animated interface.The welcome screen shows three key concepts:

Open folder - Choose your local space folder
Browse files - Open notes from your folders
Find fast - Use search and tags to navigate

Create or Open a Space

A space is a folder on your computer where Glyph stores your notes.Choose one of these options:

Create New Space - Creates a new folder for your notes
Open Existing Folder - Use an existing folder with markdown files
Continue Last Space - Return to your most recent workspace

Glyph stores notes as plain markdown files. You can open any folder containing .md files.

When you open a space, Glyph:

Scans for markdown files
Builds a search index in .glyph/index.db
Watches for file changes automatically

Create Your First Note

Once your space is open, create a new note:Using the File Tree:

Right-click in the file tree sidebar
Select “New File”
Name your file (e.g., welcome.md)

Using the Command Palette:

Press Cmd+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux)
Type “new file”
Press Enter

The command palette is your fastest way to navigate Glyph. Press Cmd+K / Ctrl+K anytime to access all commands.

Write with Markdown

Glyph uses a powerful markdown editor. Try these features:

Basic Formatting

# Heading 1
## Heading 2

**Bold text** and *italic text*

- Bullet list
- Another item

1. Numbered list
2. Second item

[Link text](https://example.com)

Slash Commands

Type / in the editor to open the slash command menu:

/h1, /h2, /h3 - Insert headings
/code - Code block
/task - Task list
/bullet - Bullet list

Task Lists

Create tasks with checkbox syntax:

- [ ] Incomplete task
- [x] Completed task
- [ ] Another task to do

All tasks are indexed and appear in the Tasks view (Cmd+Shift+T).

Explore Key Features

Daily Notes

Quickly create a note for today:

Open Today's Note

Press Cmd+D (macOS) or Ctrl+D (Windows/Linux)
Or use Command Palette → “Open daily note”

Glyph creates a new note named with today’s date (e.g., 2026-03-03.md).

Configure Daily Notes Folder (Optional)

By default, daily notes are created in your space root. To organize them:

Open Settings (Cmd+, or Ctrl+,)
Go to Daily Notes tab
Click Browse to select a folder within your space
All future daily notes will be created there

// Daily note naming format (from src/lib/dailyNotes.ts:6)
function formatDate(date: Date): string {
  const year = date.getFullYear();
  const month = String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, "0");
  const day = String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, "0");
  return `${year}-${month}-${day}`; // e.g., "2026-03-03"
}

Wikilinks

Connect your notes with wikilinks:

I'm writing about [[My Project]] and [[Ideas]].

Read more in [[project-notes|my project notes]].

Type [[ to trigger autocomplete
Glyph will suggest existing notes
Click a wikilink to navigate to that note
Backlinks are automatically indexed

Wikilinks work even if the target file doesn’t exist yet. Glyph will offer to create it when you click.

Search Everything

Glyph provides fast hybrid search across all your notes:

Open Search

Press Cmd+P (macOS) or Ctrl+P (Windows/Linux)
Or click the search icon in the toolbar

Search Your Notes

Search supports:

Full-text search - Find any content
Tag search - Use #tag syntax
Title search - Match note names
Fuzzy matching - Works with typos

The search index is built using SQLite and updates automatically when files change.

AI Chat (Optional)

If you want to chat with AI models:

Configure AI Provider

Open Settings (Cmd+, or Ctrl+,)
Go to AI tab
Choose your provider:
- OpenAI - Requires API key
- Anthropic - Claude models
- Gemini - Google AI
- Ollama - Local models (free, no API key needed)
Enter your API key (or configure Ollama endpoint)
Select a model

Open AI Panel

Click the AI icon in the sidebar
Or press Cmd+Shift+A (macOS) / Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows/Linux)

Start Chatting

Type your message and press Enter. You can:

Ask questions about your notes
Attach files as context using @filename
Save AI responses as new notes
View chat history

Use Ollama for completely local, private AI chat. No API keys or internet required.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Master these shortcuts to work faster:

Action	macOS	Windows/Linux
Command Palette	`Cmd+K`	`Ctrl+K`
Search	`Cmd+P`	`Ctrl+P`
Daily Note	`Cmd+D`	`Ctrl+D`
New File	`Cmd+N`	`Ctrl+N`
Settings	`Cmd+,`	`Ctrl+,`
Tasks View	`Cmd+Shift+T`	`Ctrl+Shift+T`
AI Panel	`Cmd+Shift+A`	`Ctrl+Shift+A`
Save	`Cmd+S`	`Ctrl+S`

Press Cmd+/ or Ctrl+/ to see all available keyboard shortcuts.

Understanding Your Space

When you open a space, Glyph creates a .glyph/ folder inside it:

your-space/
├── .glyph/
│   ├── index.db          # Search index (SQLite)
│   ├── settings.json     # Space settings
│   └── ...              # Other metadata
├── 2026-03-03.md        # Your notes
├── ideas.md
└── projects/
    └── project-a.md

Don’t delete the .glyph/ folder. It contains your search index and settings. If you do delete it, Glyph will rebuild the index automatically.

What’s Next?

Tasks & Organization

Learn how to use task lists, tags, and folders to organize your notes

AI Features

Explore AI chat modes, profiles, and context management

Customization

Customize themes, fonts, and appearance in Settings

Advanced Search

Master search syntax, filters, and the link graph

Need help?

Ask questions or report issues on GitHub

Get Started

Core Features

Advanced Features

Workspace

Quickstart

Quickstart Guide

Getting Started

Basic Formatting

Slash Commands

Task Lists

Explore Key Features

Daily Notes

Wikilinks

Search Everything

AI Chat (Optional)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Understanding Your Space

What’s Next?

Tasks & Organization

AI Features

Customization

Advanced Search

Need help?

​Quickstart Guide

​Getting Started

​Basic Formatting

​Slash Commands

​Task Lists

​Explore Key Features

​Daily Notes

​Wikilinks

​Search Everything

​AI Chat (Optional)

​Keyboard Shortcuts

​Understanding Your Space

​What’s Next?

Tasks & Organization

AI Features

Customization

Advanced Search

Need help?

Quickstart Guide

Getting Started

Basic Formatting

Slash Commands

Task Lists

Explore Key Features

Daily Notes

Wikilinks

Search Everything

AI Chat (Optional)

Keyboard Shortcuts

Understanding Your Space

What’s Next?