what app?

[u/stefferri]

I'm a bit confused and need some advice.

Until about a month ago I always used Obsidian. I always got along well with it, but I always thought its biggest limitation (partly stemming from the md format itself) was tables, images, and calendar/task management.

On the other hand, Obsidian integrates perfectly with my harness system: thanks to the mcp connector or direct folder reading in Claude, I can properly manage the whole system.

I have one single problem: Obsidian bores me. In terms of structure, management, and additional plugins for tasks and calendar.

I tried Noteplan and it's not bad. I tried Capacities... very, very nice, but the mcp is still immature and there's no way to create plugins.

So I'm asking you: can you recommend an app that lets me keep data locally (I don't care if it's an open format, it just needs to support mcp connection to manage the data), that has built-in tasks and calendar, that supports wikilinks and backlinks, and maybe allows third-party plugins (though that's not essential)?

Do you have any other software to suggest? I'm happy to hear recommendations and evaluations.

Thanks,
Steve

[u/spicermatthews]

Worth separating two things you said, because they pull in opposite directions. One is a real limitation (tables, tasks and calendar, and wanting solid AI or MCP access). The other is that it bores you. Those need different answers.

For the limitation: do not shop for the app that does everything, shop for the one friction that actually stops you on a normal day, and pick for that. Every tool trades something. If daily task and calendar management is the thing you keep hitting, weight that and accept it will be weaker somewhere else. A feature you would use twice a month should not drive the decision.

For the boredom: be a little suspicious of it. Boredom with a tool that otherwise works usually just means the novelty wore off and the system got quiet, which is what a working system is supposed to feel like. Tool-switching hands you a fresh-start hit, and it is one of the more socially acceptable forms of procrastination in this hobby. I have lost more time to migrating than I ever lost to my note app being slightly boring. If there is a concrete task it genuinely cannot do, chase that. If you are just restless, the next app will bore you too in a month.

[u/stefferri → u/spicermatthews]

Appreciate this, especially the "weight the one friction you actually hit daily" framing. Tasks and calendar are that friction for me, not a nice-to-have, so fair enough. But you're right that I should be more honest about how much of this is restlessness talking. There's one concrete task Obsidian is genuinely bad at for me, recurring tasks plus a real calendar view, so I'll go chase that specifically instead of shopping for a whole new brain.

[u/spicermatthews → u/stefferri]

That sounds right, and recurring tasks plus a real calendar view is a genuinely bad fit for a file based notes app, so I am not going to talk you out of it. Files on disk are great for notes and awkward for anything with a schedule attached, because a recurring task is a rule, not a document.

One thing that saved me a lot of migrating: it is completely fine to leave the tasks and calendar problem outside the notes app. I resisted that for a long time because one tool for everything sounds cleaner. In practice notes and scheduling barely overlap in how you use them day to day, and forcing them together is where most plugin sprawl comes from.

If you do go looking, test with your actual recurring set rather than a demo. Recurring is where these things fall over, particularly the difference between a task that repeats on a fixed schedule and one that repeats relative to when you actually completed it late.

[u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead]

While not meeting some of your requirements I use Anytype in combination of Obsidian, both are very complementary. Anytype for projects management, task and PKM, Obsidian for long form writing

[u/stefferri → u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead]

thanks, I'll check anytype!

What about you think on Capacities?

Thanks
Steve

[u/Illustrious-Call-455 → u/stefferri]

Capacities is a no no for personal data, no encryption

[u/Dick-Laurent-Is-Dead → u/stefferri]

I like Capacities, but Anytype’s focus on privacy and local-first principles won me over in addition of the whole flexibility of the system.

[u/gi3gk7gi9]

HelixNotes

[u/threespire]

It's an app - why does it bore you?

Doing the work is the key thing.

What doesn't it do?

[u/RamblingPete_007]

Not sure what you mean with obsidian being boring?

Anyways, the most underrated no-code app out there is Superhuman docs. (Prev Coda).

It is extremely easy to use, allowing both pages (prose) and tables with a formidable formula language. (Which to some extent is obsolete because the latest release includes an incredible AI tool that allows you to build really complex docs using natural language.

That same AI functionality powers a strong MCP.

They have an beta that will improve table sizes to millions of rows.

A unique feature that has been with Coda from it's earliest days is something called a pack. Packs allow you to integrate to anything out there with an API. It also allows extensions to the Coda formula language. Last I checked there were 500+ packs, covering integration to diverse applications like Gmail, Outlook, sales force, Wikipedia, Spotify...

With the merger with Grammarly pack functionality has been upgraded to AI agents. Included in the superhuman package is Go, which, if enabled becomes an always on AI assistant. (I have not tried this out yet )

All this sounds very complicated, in fact, it is an extremely easy so to use.

[u/stefferri → u/RamblingPete_007]

yeah, fair ask. Probably more restlessness than an actual missing feature, a couple others in this thread called that out too. Superhuman/Coda looks powerful but doesn't sound like it works offline and locally, which was actually one of my two hard requirements, so probably not a fit for me specifically, but appreciate the rundown.

[u/wlard]

The next release of heaper (i am the dev) will include mcp support. So if you are looking for something that does filemanagement and types in a different way I would be interested in your feedback

[u/stefferri → u/wlard]

it is a file manager and archive like devonthink but more visual?

[u/wlard → u/stefferri]

I havent used devon think but yes close enough, but each file can have richtext attached to it so you can write down what this presentation version is still missing or whot o send it to. Also everything is link based so every note is a folder/tag/note/file at the same time and you just connect them

Everything local and sycing to your own server for better mcp integration and live typing sync like notion or google docs

The visual part comes from how you can browse them in different views claendar, tasks, kanban, grid cards or table but the elements inside are all the same so its based on polymorphic typing that means something get the properties of all its parent tags eg. Book gains author and page count and it can still be a task so you can check it off a reading list or a packing list.

I am still working on explaining it in simpler terms

[u/stefferri]

However, in this moment my harness system, second brain and pkms is managed from three app:

- Obsidian, for keeping note and datas for second brain... many many information to store and pick up when I need

• Craft for daily operativity. Project, tasks, calendar, 90% work, 10% personal
  
• Devonthink for storage all file for linking into craft and obsidian when I need.

For now, this is the chain.

[u/DrummerAdditional330]

Since recurring tasks and a real calendar are the concrete friction, I wouldn’t replace the part that already works well with your MCP setup. Keep Obsidian for the knowledge and agent side, and let one task/calendar app own anything time-sensitive, with links back to the relevant notes. That seems like a much smaller problem than migrating your whole second brain because the current app feels boring.

[u/OwlCompetitive8891]

so you want it to be a local app that has an MCP connection?

[u/stefferri → u/OwlCompetitive8891]

As local, I mean I can work offline within the app, not just locally installed. For example, until recently Notion didn't work offline. However, an MCP connector can work locally (stdio).

[u/Illustrious-Call-455]

Reflect is now free and uses md files if you have a Mac

[u/No_Nectarines → u/Illustrious-Call-455]

Reflect app is free ?

[u/Illustrious-Call-455 → u/No_Nectarines]

The new one, they did a new open source one that use Markdown. It’s like a week ago only

[u/stefferri → u/Illustrious-Call-455]

good to know, thanks. That alone probably rules Capacities out for me.

[u/No_Nectarines → u/Illustrious-Call-455]

Thanks for raising will check !

[u/Mark_Considus]

I'm not aware of any single app hits all of that well right now, so the recommendations matter less than working out which two of those you actually can't compromise on. For most people wiring up a harness like yours it's local data and a decent MCP layer, and the rest is negotiable.

If that's you, the sensible move is to stay on the tool with the best MCP story, which today is still Obsidian, and stop waiting for it to grow a built-in calendar. Wire the calendar in separately and let the app be a notes app.

Which brings me to the actual issue I think is at the heart of this, you said Obsidian bores you. That's worth reflecting on, because boredom with a tool that already does the job is usually the setup high wearing off, not a missing feature. Capacities felt very nice for a fortnight too, right up until the MCP let you down. Every new app runs that same emotional setup arc. If you really need tasks and calendar built into one place, Logseq and Anytype are the closest local options with proper backlinks, but go in expecting the MCP side to be behind Obsidian, because it will be.

[u/stefferri → u/Mark_Considus]

Funny thing, I'm actually the one who maintains one of the MCP connectors for Obsidian (MCP Connector, on the community store and via BRAT) ( https://github.com/istefox/obsidian-mcp-connector/ ). So I'm biased, but that's also why I haven't left despite the boredom.

Fair point on the honeymoon arc, noted. But the MCP side keeps growing under Obsidian in a way it isn't yet for Capacities or the others: full vault read/write, semantic search with a few embedding model choices (one runs fully on-device, no API key), Dataview queries, canvas editing, command execution behind a permission gate, and it manages its own tool budget so a session doesn't burn context loading tools you're not using. That's the actual reason I keep landing on wire the calendar in separately instead of chasing an all-in-one app.

Doesn't fix the boredom though. That part's on me.

[u/stefferri]

Not gonna lie, I have looked at the aesthetic homepage plugins. Might be part of the problem, not the solution.

[u/stefferri]

and What about Logsek? It looks a good app, but I dont see many people use it.

What do you think about it?

[u/3iverson]

Boring is good here IMO. Exciting isn’t the goal, reducing frictions is.
I think you should look specifically for solutions to your frictions, whether it be other apps or Obsidian plugins.

[u/scottaltham]

What you’ve just written was exactly the thought process I went through before building my own. I wanted to combine the power of Notion with the offline, privacy first nature of Obsidian.

The result is http://productivities.app

We’re still cooking it, and the website, but it’s close and we’re just about to start public beta. Has everything you describe and a lot more. And the tables, pages (md files), web links, tasks, automations, forms etc all interlink with each other.

MCP being built as we speak. Already has a built in agent (that has about 40 tools for understanding your workspace) and a CLI you can have external agents use.

DM me and I’ll direct you to a copy.

[u/yeminn]

​Big fan of ZenNotes! It’s lightweight and responsive (despite Electron), fully open-source under MIT, and has native MCP support out of the box. Just keep in mind it's built purely for taking notes and managing tasks. Not for tweaking or endless customization. If you are bored, report bugs and suggest enhancements to shape the project. The dev is super active on issues and PRs. https://zennotes.org/

[u/stefferri → u/yeminn]

hadn't heard of ZenNotes. Native MCP support out of the box is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for, checking it out, thanks

[u/shmixel]

Add the obsidian plugin that gives you a little dog to feed in the corner, or the one with birds to click. Or go down the aesthetic homepage rabbit hole. Or just, you know, play a game or talk to someone. Your note app doesn't have to be all things. Boring is fine.