nvModern is a free, native Mac app for notes and documents. It has the keyboard speed of Notational Velocity, keeps your work in plain files you own, and gives your AI agent a seat beside you.
One note and nothing else. Every panel stays out of sight until you ask for it.
27MCP tools for your agent
~90actions, each bindable to a key
10typographic themes
13+file types
0accounts or databases
01 · The palette
Find it, then tell it what to do.
In Notational Velocity, one search box found notes and created them. nvModern keeps that box and adds actions. You pick a note with ⌘K, press Tab to see what you can do with it, and choose. The palette on this page is a working miniature. Press ⌘K anywhere on this page to jump to it.
>actions for the current note
/passages inside notes
#folders
⇥step into a note's actions
⌘K
Launch plan.mdcurrent tab
Recent
Tasks.csvProjects
Notational Velocity.mdReading
Budget.mdFinance
Roadmap.orgProjects
2026-11-05.mdJournal
↩ open⇥ actionsesc close
Try it: type laun, press Tab, choose Refile to… and pick a folder.
02 · Your AI agent
Your agent can see what you are reading.
nvModern includes an MCP server. Claude Code, Codex and other MCP clients can see the note you have open and what you selected, search your workspace, open and create notes, and write in the margin beside the passages they are discussing. Connect Claude Code with one command while nvModern is running.
claude mcp add nvmodern -- /Applications/nvModern.app/Contents/MacOS/nv3 mcp
Three margin notes from an agent. They are drawn over the page and never saved into the file.
“Read the PDF I have open and mark the three weakest claims.”
Your agent highlights each passage and writes its explanation in the margin.
“Answer the questions I left in this draft.”
You leave a question by selecting text and pressing ⌘⇧M. The answer appears beside it.
“Find everything I've written about pricing and draft a one-page summary.”
Your agent searches the workspace and creates a new note.
“Open the spec next to my notes.”
The spec opens in the side stack, beside the note you are reading.
Context
get_context
get_project
list_projects
get_open_tabs
Notes
search_notes
get_active_note
get_note
create_note
open_note
list_recent
open_recent
Editor
get_selection
get_cursor_context
replace_selection
jump_in_document
Navigation
open_in_side_stack
get_backlinks
get_heading
Margin notes
annotate
list_annotations
reveal_annotation
get_questions
answer_question
export_annotations
clear_annotations
App
ping
get_help
03 · Live maths
Live maths inside your notes.
Write a calc block in any Markdown note. When you change a number, every result that depends on it updates. Results are written back as text after the arrow, so the note still reads correctly in any other editor.
Calc handles exact fractions, complex numbers, units with dimension checks, symbolic algebra, list comprehensions and plots. Move the sliders to see the idea. The app parses whatever you type.
10m/s as km/h36km/h
1//3 + 1//61//2
x^2 + 3*x @diff(x)2*x + 3
1kg + 2mincompatible dimensions
```calc
seats = 500
price = 12
monthly = seats * price →6000
costs = 4200
margin = (monthly - costs) / monthly as % →30%
distance = 420km
trip = distance / 90km/h as min →280min
signups = [40, 95, 180, 260, 410, 500]
signups as plot("bar")
```
04 · Every file
One folder, every kind of file.
Your workspace is an ordinary folder. Keep it in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or a Git repository, and nvModern follows changes made on your other devices and in other editors. Nothing is stored in a database, and there is no account to create.
Markdown
Callouts, editable tables, footnotes, LaTeX, Mermaid diagrams, frontmatter shown as properties, highlights, tags and @mentions.
Org mode
TODO states from your own #+TODO: line, SCHEDULED and DEADLINE dates, property drawers, structural lists and tables, without Emacs.
Links
Wikilinks to headings and blocks, block references, and transclusions you edit in place. Edits save back to the original note.
CSV
A native spreadsheet with formulas, row filtering, status pills, tag chips and wikilinks in cells. Saving keeps your encoding and line endings.
PDF
Remembered scroll position, an outline, full-text search, and annotations kept outside the file.
EPUB
A sandboxed reader with a table of contents and arrow-key paging.
Excalidraw
Canvases that open and save in a native tab.
Diffs
A split or unified comparison of two Markdown files.
Org mode with TODO states, dates and tags.A CSV file as a native spreadsheet.
05 · Themes
Ten ways to set a page.
Each theme is a complete typographic design. Pick one for a single document, for a file type or for everything, or write your own in CSS. Hover over a name to see the same note in that theme.
Newsprint. An editorial page set in a classic serif.
06 · The first thirty seconds
Eight shortcuts to learn first.
⌘KFind any note
⌘K⌘KEverything you can do with this note
⌘⇧FSearch inside every note and PDF
⌘⇧OJump to a heading, with a live preview
⌘MSelect several notes and act on all of them
⌘;.Insert today's date
⌘⇧MAsk your agent about the selection
⌘\Theme, width and text size for this document
Every command in the palette can be bound to a key in Settings › Shortcuts.
Plugins are plain JavaScript files with a typed API. They can add commands, system-wide hotkeys, floating capture panels and their own settings. Bug reports, themes, plugins and pull requests are all welcome.
nvModern is a free, native Mac app for notes and documents. It edits Markdown and Org, runs live maths in your notes, opens CSV, PDF, EPUB and Excalidraw files, and gives your AI agent access through a built-in MCP server. Your work stays in ordinary files in a folder you choose.
02What do I need?
A Mac with Apple Silicon and macOS 14 or later. Intel Macs are not supported.
03Can I open my Obsidian vault?
Yes. Point nvModern at the folder in Settings › Workspaces. It reads Markdown, wikilinks, block references and callouts as they are, and it never converts your files into another format.
04Where do my notes live?
In the folder you choose, as plain files. Keep that folder in iCloud Drive, Dropbox or a Git repository. nvModern notices changes made on other devices and in other editors and updates what you have open.
05Which AI agents work with it?
Any MCP client, including Claude Code and Codex. With nvModern running, one command connects Claude Code. Agents can read and create notes and edit your selection. Margin notes and answers to your questions are drawn over the document and are never written into the file.
06Is it really free?
Yes. nvModern is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. You can use, study, share and change it. The source, a guide to building it and the full feature list are on GitHub.
nvModern for Mac
Get nvModern for your Mac.
Drag nvModern to Applications and choose a folder of notes. Releases are signed and notarized, and they keep themselves up to date.
