Frequently asked questions

Short answers about Intabula — the local-first Markdown notes app with a built-in, sandboxed AI agent.

What is Intabula?

Intabula is a local-first Markdown notes app for Mac with a built-in, sandboxed AI agent. Folders become collections with typed fields, table and Kanban views, and full-text search; the agent edits the same files through sixteen typed operations instead of a shell. There's an iOS companion app, and sync works through the filesystem with no server or account.

Can an AI agent safely edit my Obsidian vault?

With Intabula, yes. Its agent has no shell and no direct file access — it works through typed operations. Field edits splice only the changed bytes so your formatting survives, renames rewrite every wikilink atomically under a crash-recovery journal, and every change is logged with a before-and-after diff. An optional approval mode shows you the exact bytes before they land. Details in Write safety.

Does Intabula work with my existing Obsidian vault?

Yes — Intabula opens an Obsidian vault as-is: same Markdown, same frontmatter, same wikilinks. Run both apps against the same folder. See Using Intabula with Obsidian.

Do I need an API key to use the agent?

No. Intabula runs on the Claude or Codex subscription you already have — sign in once and the agent is ready. No per-token billing, no separate subscription.

Is my data stored on a server?

No. Everything is plain Markdown on your machine; there is no Intabula account or server. Your files leave your machine only as context sent to the AI model provider, and only within the scope you've granted the agent.

What can the agent actually do?

Read and query collections, search the vault, create/update/rename/move/delete records, pin fields into the schema, save table and Kanban views, read linked folders and their Git history (read-only), and search the web. The complete operation list is in The agent.

What happens if the agent makes a mistake?

Every agent write is logged with a before-and-after snapshot you can inspect as a diff. Schema violations and broken links flag into a needs-attention inbox rather than being silently fixed. Approval mode, if you turn it on, shows every write before it lands. And because the vault is plain files, your existing backups and version control apply.

How do I share a collection?

Share its folder. Put it in iCloud Drive (or any synced location), share through the OS, and each person adds it as an external collection. The schema travels in a dotfile so everyone gets the same columns. No accounts, no invites, no seats.

Is there a mobile app?

Yes — an iOS companion with full-text search, table and Kanban views, editing, backlinks, and widgets. The agent runs on the desktop.

How is Intabula different from Notion?

The data model is similar — a row can hold a full document in both. The differences: local plain Markdown you can grep and leave with, schema inferred from what you write instead of designed upfront, an agent that can read your actual repository in place, and sharing as a folder rather than a seat. Full comparison: Intabula vs Notion.

What file format does Intabula use?

Plain Markdown with YAML frontmatter, in folders you choose. The index is a rebuildable SQLite cache — delete it and nothing is lost.

What does "schema is inferred" mean?

You never design a schema upfront. When the same frontmatter fields recur across a collection, Intabula offers to promote them to official typed columns — string, number, boolean, date, list, select, or a wikilink relation to another record. Violations flag to an inbox; nothing is rejected. See Data model.