Launched this week
Kuku is a truly native, local-first markdown editor for macOS — built with Tauri, not Electron. Notes are stored as plainmd files with wikilinks, backlinks, and graph view. Its AI agent doesn’t just chat — it searches, edits, and links your files, with every change shown as Cursor-style diffs you can review. Fast, lightweight, offline-first. No cloud. No lock-in. Obsidian + Cursor, without Electron.
Snapdeck
PicWish
@bigmacfive Congrats on the launch! Does it support custom Gemini API keys or is it bundled into the app price?
Snapdeck
@mohsinproduct Thanks! Custom Gemini API keys aren’t supported yet, but it’s coming very soon 👍
kuku
@mohsinproduct We're also planning "Bring Your Own AI/API" support to allow other model providers in the future
@bigmacfive
The “Obsidian + Cursor, but native” framing is perfect. The diffs idea is a big deal too - once an agent can edit files, reviewability becomes the whole product.
How are you thinking about guardrails for the agent - is it scoped to a vault/folder by default, and do you plan to add a “dry run” mode where it proposes changes before touching files?
Snapdeck
@dmitry_petrakov Exactly — reviewability is the product. The agent is scoped to the current vault/folder, and edits always go through a diff-based review. A true “dry run” / propose-first mode is very much aligned with our thinking and on the roadmap.
@bigmacfive This is the right approach: scope it, then make every change reviewable. Propose-first mode is the step that makes it feel safe. How are you imagining the review UX - a list of suggested diffs you can cherry-pick, or a single “plan” you approve?
@bigmacfive congrats on the launch. Is it BYOK or AI is included in the price?
kuku
I’m @mansuiki , the dad of @kuku
Let’s be real—Obsidian is a beast. I used it for years, customized it endlessly, but eventually, I hit a wall.
Whether it was the plugin fatigue, the Electron heaviness, or just the UI not clicking with my brain, I found myself fighting the tool rather than writing.
So, I did what any rational dev would do: I over-engineered my own solution.
Product Hunt Wrapped 2025
Obsidian feel without Electron fans spinning? I’m in. Tauri + plain .md + offline hits my brain. The AI doing real edits w/ diffs sounds sane, not chat fluff. I’ll poke at this for my daily notes. Curious how it handles a messy 10k-note vault.
kuku
@alexcloudstar Wow, 10k notes is a serious setup!
You've inspired me—I'm going to officially add a '10k Vault Benchmark' to our pre-release testing pipeline to ensure we stay snappy at that scale. Thanks for the challenge!
Minara
Love the idea of a local-first markdown editor. Curious how yo come with such neat UI design without Electron.
Snapdeck
@frank_li13 Thanks! Tauri + system WebView instead of Electron, and a lot of iteration on native-feeling interactions
kuku
@frank_li13 That’s the magic of Tauri. We use React + CSS for the UI, but instead of bundling a heavy browser, Tauri uses the native macOS webview. So we get the flexibility of web design with the performance of a native app!
PROCESIO
Congratulations 🎊
Snapdeck
@madalina_barbu Thank you so much !
kuku
@madalina_barbu Thank you! Appreciate the support.
congrats on the launch! are you going to be supporting plugins eventually or is kuku focused on core features only?
kuku
@mustassim Thanks! A plugin API is definitely on the roadmap, but right now we are focused on nailing the core experience and performance.
Is there a specific plugin or workflow you are looking for? I'd love to hear what is missing from your current setup.
@mansuiki I am an Obsidian user, and I actively use Kanban board, Excalidraw, Periodic Notes (for my daily and weekly notes) and Dataview (a plugin that lets me query notes like a database)
kuku
@mustassim Thanks for the detailed list! That's the "Holy Grail" of Obsidian setups.
Periodic Notes is definitely something we want to bake into the core experience.
For heavy UI tools like Kanban and Excalidraw, we'll need to get the Plugin API ready for you.
We'll keep these in mind as we build out the roadmap!
@mansuiki wish you guys all the best!
Snapdeck
@mustassim Thanks! Plugin support is on the roadmap. We’re still exploring what makes sense within the Tauri ecosystem, but it’s definitely something we’re actively thinking about.
Product Hunt
kuku
@curiouskitty Sync is often the "final boss" of local-first apps.
Here is our current stance:
Sync Strategy: We intentionally delegate sync to the tools you already trust (iCloud, Dropbox, or Git). Since Kuku is just a window onto your local .md files, we don't lock you into a proprietary cloud.
Conflict Handling: We rely on the file system. If a sync conflict occurs (e.g., iCloud creates a duplicate file), it simply appears in your file list for you to resolve manually. We don't try to hide it behind a proprietary database.
Snapdeck
@curiouskitty We stay file-system-native for now — use iCloud/Dropbox/Git on plain markdown. Conflicts are handled by the sync layer. Whether to build first-party sync is an open question, guided by staying truly local-first.