Bamboo - Markdown notes with AI under your control

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Bamboo is a Markdown-first notes app for people who want a simple, portable workspace for ideas, documents, tasks, research, and personal knowledge. It combines a focused editor, collections, wiki links, web clipping, import/export, backups, and cross-device sync across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. AI is optional and controlled by you: connect supported providers, choose your model, and draft, rewrite, summarize, or brainstorm inside your notes.

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Hi Product Hunt! 👋 I built Bamboo because I wanted a notes app that feels simple and focused, but still powerful enough for long-term knowledge work. A lot of note-taking tools either lock your content into a proprietary system, feel too heavy, or add AI in a way that takes over the writing experience. Bamboo takes a different approach: your notes stay in Markdown, so they remain portable, readable, and easy to back up. You can write quick notes, long-form documents, tasks, research notes, meeting notes, reading highlights, and personal knowledge in one workspace. The AI features are optional and under your control. Bamboo Pro lets you connect supported AI providers, choose the model you want, and use AI to draft, rewrite, summarize, or brainstorm directly inside your notes. Bamboo is available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with Web Clipper support, collections, wiki links, import/export, backups, and cross-device sync. I’d love to hear how you manage your notes and knowledge today, and what you’d like Bamboo to support next. Thanks for checking it out!

Finally a notes app where AI feels like a helpful assistant instead of a roommate that rearranges all your furniture. 😄

I like that AI is optional and that I choose the model. One thing I could not find: can I connect a local model, like Ollama or LM Studio, or are only cloud providers supported? 

 Yes, local models are supported as long as they expose an OpenAI-compatible API.

In Bamboo, add a new provider with type “OpenAI Compatible”, then set the Base URL and model identifier manually. For example:

- Ollama:

- LM Studio: usually

One note: there is no special Ollama/LM Studio auto-discovery yet. It works through the generic OpenAI-compatible provider setup.

On iOS, “localhost” means the device itself. If the model is running on your Mac, use your Mac’s local network IP instead, for example .

 Thank you, that is perfect for me. Appreciate the clear steps, including the iOS localhost note :)

Johnny, keeping everything in plain text so my notes can move wherever I go is exactly the kind of quiet decision I appreciate. Notes that outlive the app they live in just feel right. The optional AI being there only when I want it is a lovely touch.