Frequently asked questions

What is Intabula?#

Intabula is a Markdown notes app for Mac where you work on your notes alongside an AI agent. Your notes are local files, and any folder of them can grow into a workspace with typed fields and table or Kanban views. The agent works through a fixed set of operations, and every change it makes shows up in an activity feed with a diff. There is an iPhone app, and the vault syncs through whatever already syncs the folder, such as iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Git.

More in the docs: Documentation overview

Is Intabula free?#

Yes. There is no Intabula account to create. The agent runs on your own Claude or ChatGPT plan, or on credits you buy from OpenRouter.

Can I use Intabula without the agent?#

Yes. Notes, collections, views, search, drafts and encrypted collections all work with no provider set up. You can connect one later.

Does Intabula work with my existing Obsidian vault?#

Yes. Intabula opens an Obsidian vault as it is, with the same Markdown files, YAML frontmatter and wikilinks. You can run both apps on the same folder at the same time.

More in the docs: Using Intabula with Obsidian

What are drafts?#

Notes you start before deciding where they belong. Drafts are stored in the vault's .intabula/drafts folder, outside every collection, and you can keep several at once. When you know where one goes, Save… files it into a collection as a record. Drafts sync with the vault, so they also show up in the iPhone app, and the agent can read, edit and file them.

More in the docs: Getting started

What does "schema is inferred" mean?#

You don't design a schema up front. When the same frontmatter fields recur across a collection, Intabula offers to promote them to typed columns: string, number, boolean, date, list, select, url, or a wikilink relation to another record. A value that breaks the schema is still saved and shows up in the needs-attention inbox.

More in the docs: Data model

What file format does Intabula use?#

Plain Markdown files with YAML frontmatter, in folders you choose. Pinned schemas and saved views are JSON files in the vault's .intabula folder. The search index is a SQLite cache that Intabula rebuilds from the files, so deleting it loses nothing.

Can I have more than one vault?#

Yes. Add as many vaults as you like and switch between them in the vault manager. One vault is open at a time, and each keeps its own agent conversations.

Does it run on Intel Macs or Windows?#

No. The Mac app is built for Apple Silicon only, and there is no Windows or Linux version.

How does Intabula update?#

Automatically. On launch it checks releases.intabula.app and downloads a new version in the background. The update installs when you quit, or right away if you choose Restart Now. Check for Updates… in the Intabula menu checks by hand.

Do I need an API key to use the agent?#

Not for Claude or Codex. Intabula runs them through their command-line tools and uses the plan you are signed in with, so there is no per-token billing. For Claude, install Claude Code and run claude once in Terminal to sign in. For Codex, install the Codex CLI, run codex once and choose Sign in with ChatGPT. Intabula finds either tool on its own. The third provider, OpenRouter, runs open-weight models on an API key you add in Intabula, billed against your prepaid OpenRouter credits. The iPhone app uses OpenRouter.

More in the docs: The agent

Does the agent use up my Claude or ChatGPT plan's limits?#

Yes. Agent runs count against the same usage limits as the rest of your plan, as they would if you used Claude Code or Codex directly. Bot runs count too. OpenRouter usage is charged to your OpenRouter credits.

What can the agent do?#

It works through a fixed set of operations:

• Read, query and search your collections, drafts and past conversations.
• Create, update, rename, move and delete records.
• Pin fields into a collection's schema and save table and Kanban views.
• Edit, discard and file drafts, set up a bot, and save a conversation as a record.
• Search the web and fetch pages.
• Read files and Git history in linked folders, without writing to them.

It has no shell, and Claude's built-in file tools only read inside linked folders.

More in the docs: The agent

Is it safe to let the agent edit my notes?#

It can only change the vault through operations built to keep files intact. A field edit changes only the bytes of that field, so the rest of the file keeps its formatting. A rename updates every wikilink to the record in one step, and a journal finishes the rename on the next launch if the app crashes partway. Each change is logged in the activity feed with a before-and-after diff, and approval mode, if you turn it on, shows you each write before it is applied. Values that break a schema and links that stop resolving go to the needs-attention inbox. The feed has no restore button: to roll a change back, copy the old text from the diff or restore the file from your own backup.

More in the docs: Write safety

Can I undo a delete?#

Not inside Intabula today. Deleting a record, from the app or by the agent, removes the file from disk, and Intabula has no trash. When the agent deletes a record, the activity feed keeps the file's earlier text (up to 20,000 characters, for the most recent 300 changes) as a diff you can copy from. ⌘Z undoes edits in the editor while the note is open. To get deleted files back, keep the vault in Time Machine, in Git, or in iCloud Drive, which keeps deleted files for 30 days under Recently Deleted on iCloud.com.

More in the docs: Write safety

What can a bot touch, and when does it run?#

Only its own collection, and only while Intabula is open. A bot writes only in its collection and that collection's subcollections. It reads that collection plus any others you list in its settings, or the whole vault if you allow it. It can't run on or read an encrypted collection. Bots are off until you enable them. A run that came due while the app was quit happens once at the next check. Each run follows the bot's written charter, and results depend on how precisely the charter describes the job.

More in the docs: Bots

Does my data leave my Mac?#

Only in these cases:

• What the agent reads is sent as context to the model provider you chose.
• Web searches and pages the agent fetches go out to the web.
• The app checks releases.intabula.app for updates.
• If the vault is in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Git, that service copies the files as it always does.

Intabula has no account and no server that stores your notes. Encrypted collections sync as ciphertext and never reach the agent.

Does Intabula collect telemetry?#

No. Intabula has no analytics or crash reporting and sends no usage data to us. Claude Code and the Codex CLI follow their own vendors' data settings.

Can I keep some notes away from the agent?#

Yes, in an encrypted collection. Its records stay ciphertext on disk, so the agent, other apps and whatever the folder syncs to see only encrypted bytes. Every agent operation refuses encrypted collections, and search can't see their contents. The key comes from a password Intabula doesn't store. You unlock the collection once per session, and a lost password can't be recovered.

More in the docs: Encrypted collections

Where are agent conversations stored?#

On your Mac, in ~/.intabula/agent/. There is one folder per vault, kept outside the vault folder, so conversations don't sync or get shared with it. You can browse and search them on the Conversations page, and the agent finds earlier conversations when it searches. To keep one with your notes, save it as a record. The iPhone agent keeps its conversations on the phone.

More in the docs: Conversations

Is there an iPhone app?#

Yes. It has search, table and Kanban views, editing, drafts, backlinks and widgets, and reads the same vault folder through iCloud Drive. Its own agent runs on OpenRouter with an API key stored in the iPhone's Keychain. That agent can search and read the vault, create and edit records and drafts, and search the web, with the same automatic or ask-first approval modes as the Mac. Claude and Codex are available only on the Mac.

More in the docs: Sync, sharing and iOS

Can I open encrypted collections on iPhone?#

No. The iPhone app shows the collection and how many encrypted records it holds, but can't unlock them, and its agent can't read them. Open them in Intabula on your Mac.

How do I share a collection?#

By sharing its folder. Put the collection's folder in iCloud Drive or another synced location, share it through the system, and each person adds it to Intabula as an external collection. The schema and saved views live in a hidden .intabula folder inside the shared folder, so everyone gets the same columns. Sharing needs no Intabula account and costs nothing per person.

More in the docs: Sync, sharing and iOS

How is Intabula different from Notion?#

Both let a table row hold a full document. In Intabula the data is plain Markdown on your disk, so you can grep it, open it in other editors and keep it without an export step. You don't design the schema first: Intabula suggests typed fields from the frontmatter you already write. Sharing works by sharing a folder, and there are no seats. Notion is the better choice for teams that edit together in real time with permissions.

More in the docs: Intabula and Notion

Why not point Claude Code or Codex at my notes folder?#

You can, but they work on files with a shell. A coding agent can run any command and rewrite any file, so a rename can leave links broken and an edit can reformat a whole note. Intabula's agent has no shell. Its renames update every link under a journal, its field edits change only that field, and every change is logged as a diff. Claude Code or Codex in a code repository is a different job, and Intabula can read that repository through a linked folder.

More in the docs: Intabula and a coding agent