TextDB

TextDB is a non-destructive, completely offline, local-first text editor with built-in Markdown preview and local AI conversion. Its core promise is simple: your edits never overwrite your history. Every manual save is immutable and append-only, and autosaves are kept as a separate draft layer. It can also convert plain text to Markdown using a local Ollama model (recommended: ministral:3b). No accounts, no telemetry, no remote fonts, and no outside network calls.

Features

• Non-destructive editing: immutable manual saves + safe autosaved drafts.
• Version history panel with quick restore.
• Markdown preview mode with split view.
• Convert plain text to Markdown manually or via local Ollama (recommended model: ministral:3b).
• Sort your texts in nested folders with expandable tree; move items around via right-click.
• Open/import .txt and .md files; export to .txt or print / .pdf.
• Settings for theme, text size, and optional display of line numbers in the textarea.

Use cases

• Non-destructive notepad: jot ideas without fear of losing earlier thoughts.
• Safe editor for authors: keep every revision and compare or roll back at any time.
• Research notes: maintain evolving notes with an audit trail of changes.
• Sensitive drafts: keep local-only writing with immutable history and zero cloud sync.
• Prompt or snippet library: store and iterate on reusable text safely.

Tech stack

• Tauri v2
• React + Vite + TypeScript
• SQLite via @tauri-apps/plugin-sql

Install & run

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

2. Start the app:

npm run tauri dev

For AI based text-to-markdown conversion, install Ollama: https://ollama.com

Autosave + versioning behavior

• Typing triggers a debounced autosave (~600ms) that writes to the draft record.
• Manual saves (Cmd/Ctrl+S or the button) append a new version and clear any draft.
• Autosave only overwrites the single draft row; manual versions are never overwritten.
• History shows all manual versions plus the current draft (if any).

Local storage

• SQLite is loaded via Database.load("sqlite:text.db").
• The database file is stored in the Tauri app data directory.
• The app is fully offline by design: no telemetry, no external fonts, no CDNs.
• UI settings (theme, text size, line numbers, sidebar + folder collapse state, last selected text) are stored in localStorage.