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foambubble/foam

Foam is a personal knowledge management system built on VS Code and GitHub for linking, navigating and publishing Markdown notes.

Open-source alternative to:ObsidianRoam Research

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17,472
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794
Open issues
28
Last commit
20 hours ago

What is it?

Foam turns a folder of Markdown files into a connected knowledge base inside Visual Studio Code. Notes are linked with wikilinks, and Foam provides autocompletion, link previews, backlinks, and a graph view that shows how notes relate to each other.

Foam keeps notes as plain Markdown in a workspace, which can be versioned with Git and hosted on GitHub. It handles files with the same name in different directories, updates links when files are renamed, and flags ambiguous or broken wikilinks. Panels list orphan notes, placeholders and tags, and daily notes and templates support journaling and repeatable note structures.

The project is MIT licensed and still described by its maintainers as work in progress, so some features may change or break between releases.

Key features

  • 01Graph view of how notes connect to each other.
  • 02Wikilink autocompletion, aliases and section links.
  • 03Automatic link updates when files are renamed.
  • 04Backlinks, tag explorer and orphan/placeholder panels.
  • 05Daily notes and note templates.
  • 06Generates Markdown link references usable outside Foam.

Use cases

  • Building a Zettelkasten or second brain from research notes.
  • Writing a long-form book or report as linked Markdown documents.
  • Keeping a daily journal alongside topic notes.
  • Publishing a personal wiki or notes repository through GitHub.

Quick start

  1. 1

    Install the Foam extension in Visual Studio Code

  2. 2

    Create a GitHub repository from the foam-template

  3. 3

    Clone the repository and open it in VS Code, then install the recommended extensions

Things to know

  • The README describes Foam as alpha-grade software that is still a work in progress, so some features may break.
  • The repository metadata shows no detectable license, although the README says MIT.

In collections

Static site generators & documentation tools

Topics

#note-taking#markdown#knowledge-management#vscode#zettelkasten#wikilinks#graph-view#graph-visualisation#markdown-editor#notes-app

FAQ

What is foam?
Foam is a personal knowledge management system built on VS Code and GitHub for linking, navigating and publishing Markdown notes. Foam turns a folder of Markdown files into a connected knowledge base inside Visual Studio Code. Notes are linked with wikilinks, and Foam provides autocompletion, link previews, backlinks, and a graph view that shows how notes relate to each other.
Is foam free to use? What license does it have?
foam is open source under the Other license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.
Is foam still maintained?
Actively maintained. The last commit to foam was on Nov 6, 2026.
What can I use foam for?
Building a Zettelkasten or second brain from research notes. Writing a long-form book or report as linked Markdown documents. Keeping a daily journal alongside topic notes. Publishing a personal wiki or notes repository through GitHub.
How do I install foam?
Install the Foam extension in Visual Studio Code Create a GitHub repository from the foam-template Clone the repository and open it in VS Code, then install the recommended extensions
Where can I get foam?
The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/foambubble/foam

Summary generated by AI from the project's README. GitHub stats refresh daily.

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