Markdown Notes With Tables, Diagrams, and Live Charts
Markdown is great for plain text, but real notes often need more: a comparison table, a flow diagram, a chart of how a number changed over time. Folio lets you write notes in plain Markdown (and HTML) while rendering tables, diagrams, and live charts inline, all stored as plain files in one folder on your Mac.
You keep the simplicity and ownership of Markdown, and you get the expressive layout you would otherwise reach for a heavier app to do.
What you can put in a note
- Tables. Standard Markdown tables for quick comparisons and structured data.
- Diagrams. Flowcharts, sequences, and other diagrams rendered from text, so the source stays in your file.
- Live charts. Charts that render inline in the note, turning a table of numbers into something you can read at a glance.
- HTML when you want more. For layouts Markdown cannot express, author the note in HTML. It is a richer, more expressive canvas for the same folder of notes.
Everything stays as plain .md or .html on disk. Nothing is locked in a proprietary block format, so your notes remain portable.
Why keep it in plain files
Rich notes are most useful when they are also durable and open. Because Folio stores everything as plain files:
- You can back up, version, and move your notes freely. (More on local-first note-taking.)
- Other tools can open them, including an AI coding agent (Claude Code, Cursor) that can work in the same folder, no API key or plugin required. See a notebook your AI agent can use.
- The visual richness lives in text-based sources (diagram and chart definitions), so the note stays readable and editable.
This is where HTML earns its place alongside Markdown: it is a wider, more expressive shared medium for notes that both you and an agent can write, without giving up the plain-files model.
Rich content options at a glance
| Element | How you write it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Table | Markdown table syntax | Comparisons, structured data |
| Diagram | Text-based diagram block | Flows, architecture, sequences |
| Live chart | Inline chart from your data | Trends, distributions, dashboards |
| Custom layout | HTML note | Anything Markdown cannot express |
Around the content, Folio adds backlinks, a graph view, and full-text search, so a rich note is also a connected one.
A practical example
Say you keep a weekly project log. In one Markdown note you can:
- Track tasks in a table.
- Sketch the system in a diagram so newcomers (or your agent) get oriented fast.
- Chart a key metric inline so the trend is obvious.
- Link out to related notes, with backlinks showing what references this log.
It is one plain file, fully yours, and rich enough that you do not need to leave it.
Frequently asked questions
- Are the charts live or static images?
- Folio renders charts inline from your data, so they are part of the note rather than pasted screenshots.
- Are my notes still plain text underneath?
- Yes. Notes are stored as plain
.mdand.htmlfiles. The rich elements are defined in text-based sources inside those files. - Can I use HTML instead of Markdown?
- Yes. You can author notes in HTML when you want a richer layout, in the same folder as your Markdown notes.
- Can an AI agent edit these rich notes?
- Yes. Because they are plain files, agents like Claude Code and Cursor can read and write them directly, and per-note history shows what changed.
- Is Folio free?
- Folio is free for personal use, on macOS today.
Your notes, on your disk, ready for your agent.
Free for personal use. Open a folder and start writing. No account, nothing to sign up for.
On an Intel Mac? Get that build · Windows and Linux coming soon