Koru for Linux: a free, open source notes app that works offline

Notion has no official Linux app (Notion Help), and OneNote doesn't either: Microsoft's download page lists Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android and the web, with no Linux app (Microsoft Support). On Linux that usually means a browser tab or an unofficial wrapper.

Koru is a native desktop app. Your notes live in a local database on your computer, so you can write, search and organize with no connection.

• The same app as on Windows and macOS: nested pages, #tags, full-text search, checklists, tables, code blocks, images and attachments.
• Free peer-to-peer sync between your own devices, so a Linux machine syncs with a Windows PC or a Mac.
• All of Koru's imports: Evernote (.enex), Notion, OneNote, Google Docs, Markdown and TextBundle.
• The MCP server, koru-mcp, in the folder you extract, so Claude and other MCP clients can read and edit your notes (MCP docs).
• Terminal tabs, where you can run a terminal or Claude Code beside your documents.
• A tray icon with the same menu as on Windows and macOS.
• Signed builds (minisign) with a sha256 checksum.
• A koru.desktop file in the folder, which gives Koru an entry in the app list and its own icon in the dock.
• Self-updating: Koru finds, checks and installs its own updates. It verifies each one's signature first, and goes back to the previous build if the new one fails to start.

1. Download the linux-x86_64.tar.gz from Download Koru for Linux or the latest release on GitHub.
2. Optional: check the sha256 checksum or the minisign signature.
3. Extract it into a folder of its own, such as ~/koru. The archive has no top-level folder.
4. Run ./koru from that folder.
5. To get Koru in your app list, use koru.desktop from the same folder: it gives Koru an entry in the app list and its own icon in the dock. The commands to copy it are at the top of the file.

• x86_64 Linux. There is no arm64 build yet.
• X11. On Wayland desktops such as GNOME, it runs under XWayland.
• glibc 2.35 or newer and fontconfig, so Ubuntu 22.04 or newer. The tar.gz runs on current versions of Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch and other distros; it isn't a distro package.
• Packaged as a tar.gz only for now, with no AppImage, .deb, .rpm or Flatpak yet.

Yes, for people who want new features first. The nightly is a pre-release built from the newest code. It is updated about daily and may be less stable than the stable release, which is the one most people should download. It's on Download Koru for Linux and on GitHub.

Voice input, Koru Cloud sign-in and the system keyring aren't on Linux yet. Koru is an X11 app, and text may look soft at fractional scaling. The mobile apps are in progress.

Tell us which packaging you want first in r/korudo.

Every Koru import works in the Linux build: Evernote (.enex), Notion, OneNote, Google Docs, Markdown and TextBundle. If you are weighing a switch, see how Koru compares as a OneNote alternative, an Evernote alternative and a Notion alternative.

See Import your notes.