Local-first, by default
Your notes live on your Mac, in plain Markdown. We never see them. Here's exactly what does and doesn't leave your machine.
Most apps you use today live somewhere else. You type into a browser tab, and your words travel to a server owned by a company you've never met.
Atomus doesn't work that way. Your notes are files in a folder on your Mac. When you review an atom, the scheduling state updates on your disk. We never see your notes.
Your notes are files
Open your vault in Finder. One Markdown file per note, in folders you choose. Plain text, readable in any editor. If Atomus vanished tomorrow, your notes would still open in TextEdit, VS Code, Obsidian, or whatever comes next.
No sign-up
There's no account to create and no password. Your purchase email is your license: you enter it with your license key once, and you're done.
What leaves your Mac
Only what's needed to check your license and offer updates:
- License activation and check. The first activation needs internet. After that, Atomus checks your license every few days in the background, sending your email, license key, an anonymous device ID, and your Mac's name. If it can't reach us, Atomus keeps working.
- Update check. Atomus checks whether a newer version is available.
Your notes, atoms, and review history are never sent to us. We don't know how many notes you have or what they say. More in License and updates.
What you choose to send elsewhere
Two optional features send data, and only to services you pick:
- AI: text you atomify or chat about goes straight from your Mac to OpenAI or Anthropic, with your own key. With Ollama, it stays on your Mac. See AI provider.
- Git sync: your vault is pushed to the Git remote you configure. See Sync and backup.
Neither does anything until you set it up.
A principle, not a feature
Memory is personal. Your notes are the closest record of how you think, and they should live on a device you own, in a format you can read, under rules you set.