Logseq is an [[AGPLv3]] licensed knowledge management and note taking app written in [[Clojure#Clojurescript]]. - [Website](https://logseq.com/) - [Source](https://github.com/logseq/logseq) - [Documentation](https://docs.logseq.com) - [AlternativeTo](https://alternativeto.net/software/logseq/about/) > A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration. # Notability Seems to be a fairly powerful [[Org Mode]] based system. Has some really cool [[#Features]], but none of them overcome the [[#Missing Features]] when compared to [[Obsidian Editor]] unfortunately. # Philosophy Overall I would say that there is this weird "waiting for the shoe to drop" vibe about Logseq, but there is absolutely no hard evidence of malfeasance. Everything is fully open source under an extremely copyleft license and the currently available information about their future plans for monetization look completely fine to me. I just can't shake the feeling that there is going to be a heel turn at some point. But, so far it's been fine. ## Business Model In Feb [[2021]] a Logseq developer posted a question on Github about what their business model should be. > Free forever for personal use \- official landing page The app is open source, but is backed by Logseq Inc, whose privacy policy language randomly switches from first person plural to singular and lists the contact info as `[email protected]`. The actual contact page lists `[email protected]`. There is a jobs page. Where are they getting their money from? > We're proud to announce our first $4.1M seed round. The financing was led by Patrick Collison, Stripe CEO, Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, Tobias Lütke, Founder of Shopify, Sriram Krishnan, GP at A16Z, along with Craft Ventures, Matrix Partners China, Day One Ventures, Charlie Cheever, Founder of Expo/Quora, and Dave Winer, the forefather of outliners, scripting, weblogs, RSS, podcasting, etc. \- 2022 blog post[^1] ## Sync Server Licensing There are plans for a "Logseq Pro" which will include syncing, real-time collaboration, and some unspecified network and local features. They commit to keeping all local features, even the paid ones, open source. Logseq Pro is supposed to have a 3-month trial window. There is no pricing page on their website. They are currently accepting subscriptions via [[OpenCollective]]. The tiers which are allowed access to the Sync feature beta start at $5/mo. I wrote this in early [[2024]]: The server software is not planned to be open sourced. Based on various comments like this one from a Github discussion[^5]: > No though the team plans on releasing an API to make it easier to create other sync solutions in the future. So far it is still unclear to me what is going on with the sync server licensing but there have been a couple of attempts to write alternatives based on the published API. Several other users seem concerned[^7] about the server licensing problem as well. It's a sticking point that has yet to be resolved. ## Origin > Logseq was originally an open source passion project developed by Tienson Qin to build a more efficient tool for him to manage his productivity, as well as a program that was more intuitive for his children to learn. It was through Logseq’s open source community that Qin connected with his co-founder ZhiYuan Chen (Engineering, formerly Mogujie) and Huang Peng (Engineering, formerly Hoolay.cn), An Vu (formerly engineering at NASA/JPL) to create the company. \- blog post ## Development Process People started getting nervous[^6] when a year (April [[2024]]-[[2025]]) went by with no new builds and the app being removed from [[Nix]] packages for having outdated [[Electron.js]] dependencies with vulnerabilities. Builds restarted in May [[2025]]. Though there have been no new blogs or other major announcements since August [[2024]]. People have been commenting on their forum how bad the communication has been and relatively few questions are being answered. ## No Generative Slop (so far?) Unlike many of its note taking and knowledge managing cohort, Logseq has *no* [[Generative AI|Slop]] of any kind integrated into it. Weirdly though, a blog post[^1] from [[2022]] has this line as a total non-sequitur: > The platform is a fast-growing wedge to our larger AI mission. Now, this was 2022, before the AI boom really got started, so it is unclear what this really meant and there is zero context for the statement. So far (as of [[2025-06-29]]) there has been no integration with any [[LLM]] or other [[Generative AI|Slop]] system, and no official code or subprojects either. There are a couple of plugins by third parties which have been allowed in the "marketplace". There is a comment in the changelog[^4] for the [[RDF]] exporter subproject which mentions that it standardizes the labels so that it can be fed to an [[LLM]]. This is the full extent of any [[Generative AI|Slop]] touching Logseq. While it is something to keep an eye on, it is currently free from this stigmatizing infection. # Platform Support It is an [[Electron.js]] app. - Linux - Android - Windows - macOS - Browser # Features - Supports both [[Markdown]] and [[Org Mode]] note formats - Accessible via both browser and dedicated [[Electron.js]] app - Scriptable via Clojure - Simple Queries using some kind of Clojure subset - `{{query stuff}}` - `{{query (and [[page name]] "foobar")}}` - Advanced query system using [[Datascript]] on the backend and [[Datomic]] (a [[Lisp]]y dialect of [[Datalog]]) as the advanced query language - Query builder - Automatically embeds results locally, even using it in just a browser via a webpage (as demoed on their query builder section of the docs) - "Whiteboards", looks like Obsidian's canvas mode, but with added drawing tools - Right Sidebar Workspace - Pages can be opened in the right sidebar with "shift-click" (But I don't see a proper split feature?) - Items in the right sidebar stack up like vertical panes and can be closed or collapsed - `Contents` is a hard coded button there, it is *not* a table of contents for the current page, it is a kind of global pinboard for a list of links or other blocks which is *super annoying* and there is no good TOC plugin that I can find either - Blocks are a first-class feature (unlike Obsidian's blocks which feel bolted on) - Any block can be opened as a segment on the right sidebar, changes are synchronous between sideback and main page - Blocks aren't just single lines - Forward slash `/` allows you to insert any block type from paragraph to header to code block to image embeds ### Sync There is a complex process[^3] to setting up the paid synchronization feature. Presumably this will be ironed out eventually. ## Missing Features - No table of contents / outline feature!!!!!! - This is obviously a hugely requested feature and its lack is bizarre - https://discuss.logseq.com/t/outline-overview-for-sidebar/740/11 - Middle click does not seem to open links in a new tab - No syntax highlighting/styling of the current block in Org Mode (weirdly code blocks themselves are highlighted live, so clearly they have the ability to parse and style text being edited) - Web version doesn't fully support Firefox because it relies on a Chromium-specific version of the open [[File System Standard]] for web browsers - Dark theme toggle is hidden in a separate menu from the theme selector for some reason - Weirdly ugly layouts - Nested bullets are cluttered with borders, they collapse in a way that it is not clear what belongs to what bullet - Right Sidebar issues - Right sidebar is huge and eats up most of the page - Right sidebar shows a huge list of contents for the entire site rather than the table of contents for the current note - Left Sidebar issues - Left sidebar is just a top level nav, and when collapsed the whole thing disappears, there is no icon-only mode - Some links have visible square brackets around them `[[Link Name]]`, others don't, I think the difference is the way the link is defined, ironically making internal links stand out more than potentially external links - I think that all of these issues are due to the influence of [[Roam Research]] which looks very similar - Bad Navigation - Maybe this is from some other system, but wasting `Ctrl-p` and `Ctrl-n` on up/prev and down/next seems wild to me - Overall finding your way around the app is Not Fun and feels very complex with many things hidden - There's no folder hierarchy, just a single giant list of all pages, and the graph view which is pretty rough looking # Tips ## Folder Layout Logseq has its own way of doing things and it is hard coded to use these directories in the parent folder of your choice: - `journals` - `pages` - `assets` It can read files under the parent directory, but will only create new files in this structure. ## Configuration File Format > An EDN file, or Extensible Data Notation file, stores structured information in a plain text format that follows Clojure style. EDN uses a syntax with lists, maps, and vectors that is both human‐readable and easy for tools to parse. \- [[FileExt]] [[Extensible Data Notation]] is a subset of [[Clojure]] syntax used by the [[Datomic]] (a *closed source* [[Apache v2]] licensed and relatively obscure database) and [[Logseq]]. - https://github.com/edn-format/edn - https://clojuredocs.org/clojure.edn # Resources ## Alternative Sync Servers - https://github.com/scratchmex/logseq-sync - https://github.com/bcspragu/logseq-sync # References - https://docs.logseq.com/#/page/faq - https://discuss.logseq.com/t/what-is-logseqs-business-model/389 - https://discuss.logseq.com/t/what-is-contents-in-the-right-side-bar/10018/3 - https://discuss.logseq.com/t/outline-overview-for-sidebar/740/24 [^1]: https://blog.logseq.com/logseq-raises-4-1m-to-accelerate-growth-of-the-new-world-knowledge-graph/ [^2]: [^3]: https://blog.logseq.com/how-to-setup-and-use-logseq-sync/ [^4]: https://github.com/logseq/rdf-export/blob/644b86e8c6408d710dcb0e8d91c26e244db2bad0/CHANGELOG.md?plain=1#L16 [^5]: https://github.com/logseq/logseq/discussions/9692 [^6]: https://github.com/logseq/logseq/discussions/11777 [^7]: https://discuss.logseq.com/t/will-logseq-sync-be-open-source/31903/10