IWE — Turn your thinking into queryable context

A markdown knowledge base that goes wherever you think.

The best PKM tools lock you into their editor. Your notes live in their app, queryable only through their interface — and when your AI needs them, it can't reach them. IWE keeps your knowledge in plain markdown on your disk, with a graph you and your AI can both query, from whichever editor you already use.

Write in Markdown, structure with links, give AI agents the tools to navigate your knowledge. IWE itself has no built-in AI — it works alongside Claude, Codex, Gemini, and any tool that speaks the Model Context Protocol.

• Your knowledge is yours. Plain Markdown files in a local directory. No cloud, no database, no lock-in. Version with git.
• Your editor is yours to keep. Real LSP integration with VS Code, Neovim, Zed, and Helix — search, refactor, rename, autocomplete. Same vault works from the CLI.
• Your AI works in your context. CLI tools and an MCP server give agents structured access — search, retrieve, refactor — over the same notes you edit by hand.
• Structure without folders. Link notes together and the same note can belong to multiple topics without copying the file. (How linking works)
• Fast. Built in Rust, processes 20,000 files in under a second

IWE treats your notes as a connected structure. You organize them with two types of links:

• Nesting — a link on its own line means "this topic includes that subtopic." Your notes form a tree you can browse and refactor. IWE calls these inclusion links.
• Cross-references — regular inline links connect notes across topics, creating a web of relationships
• Multiple parents — the same note can live under several places at once. A "Meditation" note can belong to both "Health" and "Productivity" without duplicating the file.
• Context from parents — when you retrieve a note, IWE can include context from the notes above it in the hierarchy

This structure makes retrieval powerful: ask for a topic and get its full context—children, parents, and related notes—in a single query.

IWE gives your editor IDE-like features for markdown notes. It works with VS Code, Neovim, Zed, Helix, and any editor that supports the Language Server Protocol (LSP).

IWE understands document structure—headers, lists, and links—and provides refactorings like extracting sections into new notes and inlining them back. It supports standard Markdown, wiki-style links, tables, and other extensions.

• Search — find notes by title or content
• Navigate — go to definition, find references (backlinks)
• Preview — hover over links to see content
• Auto-complete — link suggestions as you type
• Inlay hints — show parent references and link counts
• Extract — pull sections into new notes
• Inline — embed note content back into parent
• Rename — rename files with automatic link updates
• Format — normalize documents, update link titles
• Transform — pipe text through external commands
• Templates — create notes from templates (daily notes, etc.)
• Outline conversion — switch between headers and lists

More information: Editor Features

IWE gives AI agents structured access to your notes through two interfaces: a CLI for scripting and shell-based workflows, and an integration server for native connection with AI tools. Both expose the same operations—search, retrieve, create, refactor—so you can choose whichever fits your setup.

The CLI lets you (and AI agents) work with your notes from the terminal or in scripts.

Example: preparing context for an AI conversation

iwe find auth

iwe retrieve --key authentication --depth 2

iwe tree --key oauth

Available commands:

IWE includes a server (iwec) that lets AI tools like Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf work directly with your notes. It uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard for connecting AI tools to data sources.

The server provides the same operations as the CLI—search, retrieve, create, refactor—and watches your files for changes, so edits you make in your editor are reflected immediately.

More information: Integration Server Documentation

Other AI memory tools store your notes in formats you can't read or edit. IWE keeps everything in plain Markdown files on your disk. When an AI agent asks for information, it gets the exact notes that are connected to the topic—not "maybe relevant" guesses based on text similarity.

You stay in control. Your notes are plain text files you can read, edit, and version with git. AI agents become collaborators that navigate your knowledge alongside you, not black boxes that absorb it.

More information:

• Working with AI
• CLI Reference
• Integration Server

1. Install the CLI and LSP server:

   Using Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

   brew tap iwe-org/iwe
   brew install iwe

   Or using Cargo:

   cargo install iwe iwes iwec

2. Initialize your workspace:

   cd ~/notes
   iwe init

3. Configure your editor — VS Code · Neovim · Helix · Zed

4. Teach your AI agent — ask it to learn the iwe command using its built-in help

• Getting Started — Installation and setup
• Usage Guide — Editor features and workflows
• CLI Reference — Command-line tools
• Working with AI — AI agent integration
• MCP Server — Native AI tool integration via Model Context Protocol
• Configuration — Settings and customization
• Examples — Example projects and case studies

IWE is open source and community-driven. Join the discussions, report issues, or contribute to the documentation.

Community: Twitter/X · Reddit · Discussions

Editor plugins: VS Code · Neovim · Zed

Agentic skills: iwe-org/skills — agentic AI skills for knowledge graph management. Contributors welcome.

Apache License 2.0