Getting Started
Atomic turns freeform markdown notes (“atoms”) into a semantically connected, AI-augmented knowledge graph.
What Is Atomic?
Section titled “What Is Atomic?”Atomic has two common ways to run:
- Desktop app - a local-first Tauri app that starts its own
atomic-serversidecar on your machine. - Self-hosted server - a headless
atomic-serverplus optional web frontend for remote access, mobile use, browser clipping, and MCP over HTTP.
Both modes use the same core engine and HTTP API. The desktop app is simpler for one-person local use. Self-hosting is better when you want access from multiple devices or integrations.
When you create or update a note in Atomic, an asynchronous pipeline can automatically:
- Chunk the content using markdown-aware boundaries
- Generate vector embeddings via your configured AI provider
- Extract and assign tags using LLM structured outputs
- Build semantic edges to related notes based on embedding similarity
This happens in the background. You can keep writing while Atomic processes the note.
Key Features
Section titled “Key Features”- Semantic Search - Find ideas by meaning, not just exact keywords.
- Wiki Synthesis - Generate articles with inline citations to your atoms.
- Agentic Chat - Converse with your knowledge base using RAG.
- Spatial Canvas - Visualize atoms and relationships as a force-directed graph.
- Auto-Tagging - Extract hierarchical tags from new content.
- Daily Briefings - Summarize recently captured atoms with citations.
- RSS and URL Ingestion - Save web pages and subscribe to feeds.
- MCP Integration - Connect Claude and other AI assistants.
- Mobile Access - Connect the iOS app to a self-hosted server.
Choose Your Setup
Section titled “Choose Your Setup”| Setup | Best For |
|---|---|
| Desktop App | Personal local use, bundled server, no separate hosting |
| Self-Hosted Server | Remote access, web UI, mobile, browser extension, MCP over HTTP |
| iOS App | Mobile reading, writing, search, and sharing to a self-hosted server |