Beyond "note-taking app": a positioning framework for three audience profiles

[ricolandia]

This builds on a discussion started in #9084 (Luhmann's Zettelkasten and Trilium Notes), where the question of Trilium's intended purpose first came up.

Note: I'm sharing this as a user observation, not a roadmap, or a "right and wrong" decision. Take it as raw material, or just a brainstorming spark for whatever direction the project wants to go.

---

Building on my previous points about positioning and the three-profile framework, I want to go a layer deeper on the vocabulary problem — because I think the words we use to describe Trilium are actively costing it users from each of those three profiles.

---

The label "note-taking app" is the first conversion killer

A researcher looking for a Zettelkasten environment, a developer looking for a programmable personal database, or even a general user looking for a "second brain" will not self-identify with "note-taking." They'll walk past Trilium without stopping.

The homepage, the GitHub description, and the README all need different vocabulary depending on who's reading. Here's what I'd suggest per profile:

---

Profile 1 - The Average User

This audience doesn't respond to acronyms or architecture diagrams.
They respond to outcomes and metaphors.

Terms that land:

• Second Brain — already has mass recognition via the BASB/Tiago Forte ecosystem; YouTube productivity communities know it immediately
• Life OS — resonates with Notion refugees who want something self-hosted and privacy-respecting
• "One place for everything you think, plan, and create" — positioning by contrast; immediately communicates privacy + ownership without a single technical word

The friction-reduction sync proposal I mentioned earlier (the 1-click PikaPods plugin) is inseparable from this. The vocabulary can open the door, but if setup requires reading three wiki pages, this audience leaves. Both need to happen together.

---

Profile 2 - The Researcher

This is arguably Trilium's most underserved audience and one of its strongest fits. Researchers need typed relationships between concepts — not folders. Trilium's attribute and relation system is exactly that, but the current messaging doesn't surface it.

Terms that land:

• PKM still works, but needs reinforcement
• Zettelkasten — humanities researchers recognize Luhmann's method immediately; Trilium's bidirectional links and hierarchical clones map onto it more naturally than Obsidian does
• Personal Research Environment (PRE) — I'd like to propose this as a new term worth adopting. It's the researcher's equivalent of an IDE: a single, configurable environment for the full research lifecycle. Self-explanatory, precise, and not yet colonized by any other tool.
• Networked Knowledge Base — captures the graph nature without alienating non-technical readers

The key message for this audience: Trilium models relationships between ideas, not just a hierarchy of documents.

---

Profile 3 - The Developer

Developers respond to technical precision, and the current description undersells Trilium badly. Three framings that would make a developer stop and look twice:

• Programmable PKM — the single strongest differentiator in the space. Unlike Obsidian (third-party plugin ecosystem) or Notion (closed
  platform), Trilium lets you write frontend and backend JavaScript natively, inside the tool, to automate your own workflows. No one else does this.
• Personal Graph Database with a UI — each note is an entity, labels are typed attributes, relations are typed edges. That's a graph database.
  Calling it a "note app" for this audience is like calling PostgreSQL "a place to store text."
• Self-hosted programmable knowledge infrastructure — which is, I think, the most honest and complete description of what Trilium actually is.

A one-liner for the GitHub description:

"Self-hosted, programmable knowledge infrastructure. Hierarchical notes with typed relations, native JS scripting, and a graph model — without the cloud dependency."

---

Summary

Profile	Anchor Term	The line that opens the door
General	Second Brain / Life OS	"One place for everything you think, plan, and create"
Researcher	Personal Research Environment (PRE)	"Model relationships between ideas, not just folders"
Developer	Programmable Knowledge Infrastructure	"A graph database you can script, that you own"

---

The core is already there, and as I noted before, it's stronger than anything else in open source combining total data ownership, a real graph model, and deep programmability. The gap is just in how it's introduced.

These are just patterns I noticed from the outside. The maintainers know the community far better than I do.

[ricolandia]

From vocabulary to positioning - and one concrete proposal

Building on my previous post about the three-profile vocabulary problem, I want to move from what words we use to what category we claim — and then to one specific product proposal I think is worth discussing.

---

The category problem

Fixing the vocabulary per audience is necessary but not sufficient. The deeper issue is that Trilium has no category it owns.

"Note-taking app" is a borrowed category that works against us: it anchors expectations to Evernote and Apple Notes, and forces comparisons with Notion and Obsidian on their terms — where they have more polish, more marketing, and more brand recognition.

The three profiles I described each need a different door. But all three doors should lead to the same room — and that room needs a name.

I'd propose: programmable knowledge infrastructure.

It's the one description that holds across all three audiences without losing any of them. A general user may not use that phrase, but the reality it describes — a system you own, that connects everything, that you can shape to your thinking — is exactly the transformation each profile is looking for.

Proposed hero headline for triliumnotes.org:

The knowledge base that thinks the way you think. Your data, your server, your structure — down to the root.

Current headline — "Organize your thoughts. Build your personal knowledge base." — could describe any app in this space. The proposed version claims the specific ground Trilium actually occupies.

---

What the three pillars look like together

Once we name the category, the differentiators fall into place naturally:

True data sovereignty — not "privacy-friendly" marketing language. Actual ownership: a SQLite file on your machine, no API deprecations, no pricing tiers, no company between you and your knowledge.

A real graph model — clones, typed relations, and attributes as first-class objects. This isn't tagging. It's the thing researchers actually need and can't find elsewhere, and the thing that makes the developer framing as a personal graph database accurate rather than hyperbolic.

Deep programmability — native JS scripting, frontend and backend, that reads and writes any note in the system. The knowledge base can act on itself. No other open-source tool in this space does this without depending on a third-party plugin ecosystem.

These three together are genuinely defensible. No open-source competitor combines all three. That's the category.

---

A concrete prototype: optional one-click sync via PikaPods

To make the discussion more tangible, I built a small onboarding prototype exploring what an optional one-click sync experience could look like inside TriliumNext.

The prototype is intentionally simple and conceptual. It's not a roadmap proposal or a request for immediate implementation — just an attempt to visualize one possible direction for reducing onboarding friction for non-technical users.

The underlying problem remains the same:

The biggest drop-off point for new users isn't necessarily the interface or the learning curve — it's the infrastructure requirement behind mobile sync. For many users, the moment the workflow requires understanding Docker, VPS setup, or sync architecture, onboarding stops before they experience what makes Trilium valuable.

At the same time, a significant portion of Discussions threads revolve around infrastructure support and sync setup.

The prototype explores a possible alternative onboarding flow:

On a second device with no server configured, the user would see two explicit paths:

1. Self-host — documentation-first, preserving the current workflow for technical users
2. PikaPods sync — an optional managed-hosting path with pricing shown upfront

The intention is not to replace self-hosting or redefine the philosophy of the project. The idea is simply to explore whether optional managed onboarding could:

• reduce support burden
• lower abandonment during onboarding
• free contributor time for development
• help general users reach the "aha moment" before infrastructure becomes a barrier

I used PikaPods specifically because they already list Trilium in their catalog, making the integration conceptually natural.

Again: this is just a prototype exploration and discussion starter, not a formal proposal or partnership initiative.

---

Setup inside TriliumNext:

1. Create a Render note
2. Create a JS Frontend note with the prototype code
3. In the Render note, add the ~renderNote relation pointing to the JS note
4. Open the Render note

What the prototype does:

It reads syncServerHost from the backend via api.getOption(). If sync is not configured, it presents two cards — self-host and PikaPods. If sync is already configured, it displays the current status with an option to change it.

The PikaPods button opens https://www.pikapods.com/pods?run=trilium-next and displays a return instruction. The self-host button opens the official documentation.

What it intentionally does not do:

It does not configure anything automatically - that would require core-level contribution. This is only a UX proof of concept for the Discussion.

Screenshot

The code:

Details

/**
 * ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
 * ║       PikaPods Sync Setup — TriliumNext              ║
 * ║       Large Typography Edition                       ║
 * ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
 */

(async function () {

    /* ── Container ─────────────────────────────────────── */

    const container =
        document.querySelector('.note-detail-render-widget-content') ||
        document.querySelector('.note-detail-render') ||
        document.querySelector('[class*="render-widget"]') ||
        document.body;

    /* ── Loading ───────────────────────────────────────── */

    container.innerHTML = `
        <div id="pps-root">
            <div id="pps-loading">
                <div class="pps-spinner"></div>
                <span>Checking sync configuration…</span>
            </div>
        </div>
    `;

    injectStyles();

    /* ── Backend ───────────────────────────────────────── */

    let syncInfo = { configured: false, host: null };

    try {

        syncInfo = await api.runOnBackend(() => {

            try {

                const host  = api.getOption('syncServerHost') || '';
                const token = api.getOption('syncServerAuthToken') || '';

                return {
                    configured: host.trim() !== '',
                    host: host || null,
                    hasToken: token.trim() !== ''
                };

            } catch {

                return {
                    configured: false,
                    host: null,
                    hasToken: false
                };
            }
        });

    } catch (e) {

        console.warn(
            '[PikaPods Setup] Failed to read configurations:',
            e
        );
    }

    render(syncInfo);

    /* ════════════════════════════════════════════════════ */

    function render(info) {

        const root = document.getElementById('pps-root');

        if (!root) return;

        if (info.configured) {

            root.innerHTML = renderConfigured(info);

            root.querySelector('#pps-btn-change')
                ?.addEventListener('click', () => {

                    root.innerHTML = renderOptions();
                    bindOptions(root);

                    root.classList.add('pps-animate');
                });

        } else {

            root.innerHTML = renderOptions();
            bindOptions(root);
        }

        root.classList.add('pps-animate');
    }

    /* ── Configured ────────────────────────────────────── */

    function renderConfigured(info) {

        return `
            <div class="pps-header">

                <div class="pps-icon">✓</div>

                <div>
                    <div class="pps-title">
                        Sync configured
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-subtitle">
                        Your notes are syncing
                        with an external server.
                    </div>
                </div>

            </div>

            <div class="pps-status-box">

                <div class="pps-status-row">
                    <span class="pps-label">Server</span>

                    <span class="pps-value">
                        ${info.host}
                    </span>
                </div>

                <div class="pps-status-row">

                    <span class="pps-label">
                        Authentication
                    </span>

                    <span class="pps-value ${info.hasToken ? 'pps-ok' : 'pps-warn'}">

                        ${info.hasToken
                            ? 'Token configured'
                            : 'No token'}

                    </span>
                </div>

            </div>

            <button
                id="pps-btn-change"
                class="pps-btn-secondary"
            >
                Change sync configuration
            </button>
        `;
    }

    /* ── Options ───────────────────────────────────────── */

    function renderOptions() {

        return `
            <div class="pps-header">

                <div class="pps-icon pps-icon-neutral">
                    ☁
                </div>

                <div>

                    <div class="pps-title">
                        Access your notes
                        on any device
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-subtitle">
                        Choose how you want to sync
                        TriliumNext.
                        You can change this
                        at any time.
                    </div>

                </div>

            </div>

            <div class="pps-cards">

                <!-- SELF HOST -->

                <div
                    class="pps-card pps-card-secondary"
                    id="pps-card-self"
                >

                    <div class="pps-card-icon">
                        🖥
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-title">
                        Self-host
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-desc">
                        Configure your own server.
                        Full control, zero external
                        dependencies.
                        Requires basic knowledge
                        of Docker or VPS.
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-footer">

                        <span class="pps-badge">
                            Technical
                        </span>

                        <span class="pps-badge">
                            Free
                        </span>

                    </div>

                    <button
                        class="pps-btn pps-btn-ghost"
                        id="pps-btn-selfhost"
                    >
                        View documentation →
                    </button>

                </div>

                <!-- PIKAPODS -->

                <div
                    class="pps-card pps-card-primary"
                    id="pps-card-pikapods"
                >

                    <div class="pps-card-badge-top">
                        Easier
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-icon">
                        ⚡
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-title">
                        PikaPods
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-desc">
                        One-click managed sync.
                        No server setup,
                        no Docker.
                        Your data remains yours.
                    </div>

                    <div class="pps-card-footer">

                        <span class="pps-badge pps-badge-light">
                            Plug-and-play
                        </span>

                        <span class="pps-badge pps-badge-light">
                            ~€3/month
                        </span>

                    </div>

                    <button
                        class="pps-btn pps-btn-primary"
                        id="pps-btn-pikapods"
                    >
                        Activate via PikaPods
                    </button>

                </div>

            </div>

            <div class="pps-footer-note">
                Both options keep your data
                under your control.
                TriliumNext sends nothing
                without your explicit consent.
            </div>
        `;
    }

    /* ── Events ────────────────────────────────────────── */

    function bindOptions(root) {

        root.querySelector('#pps-btn-selfhost')
            ?.addEventListener('click', () => {

                window.open(
                    'https://docs.triliumnotes.org/user-guide/setup/server/installation/docker',
                    '_blank'
                );
            });

        root.querySelector('#pps-btn-pikapods')
            ?.addEventListener('click', () => {

                window.open(
                    'https://www.pikapods.com/pods?run=trilium-next',
                    '_blank'
                );

                showPostClick(root);
            });
    }

    /* ── Post Click ────────────────────────────────────── */

    function showPostClick(root) {

        const footer = root.querySelector('.pps-footer-note');

        if (!footer) return;

        footer.innerHTML = `
            <div class="pps-postclick">

                <strong>
                    PikaPods opened in a new tab.
                </strong>

                <br>

                After creating your instance,
                return here and configure the server
                address in:

                <em>
                    Menu → Options → Sync
                </em>

            </div>
        `;

        footer.style.animation =
            'ppsSlideIn 0.2s ease';
    }

    /* ── CSS ───────────────────────────────────────────── */

    function injectStyles() {

        if (document.getElementById('pps-styles'))
            return;

        const style = document.createElement('style');

        style.id = 'pps-styles';

        style.textContent = `

            @keyframes ppsSlideIn {
                from {
                    opacity: 0;
                    transform: translateY(8px);
                }

                to {
                    opacity: 1;
                    transform: translateY(0);
                }
            }

            @keyframes ppsSpin {
                to {
                    transform: rotate(360deg);
                }
            }

            #pps-root {

                max-width: 980px;

                margin: 0 auto;

                padding: 44px 36px;

                font-family:
                    var(--detail-font-family,
                    'Segoe UI',
                    sans-serif);

                color:
                    var(--main-text-color,
                    #cdd6f4);

                opacity: 0;

                transition:
                    opacity 0.2s ease;
            }

            #pps-root.pps-animate {
                opacity: 1;
            }

            /* Loading */

            #pps-loading {

                display: flex;

                align-items: center;

                gap: 18px;

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);

                font-size: 20px;

                padding: 52px 24px;
            }

            .pps-spinner {

                width: 26px;
                height: 26px;

                border: 3px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);

                border-top-color: #cba6f7;

                border-radius: 50%;

                animation:
                    ppsSpin 0.7s linear infinite;

                flex-shrink: 0;
            }

            /* Header */

            .pps-header {

                display: flex;

                align-items: flex-start;

                gap: 24px;

                margin-bottom: 40px;
            }

            .pps-icon {

                width: 72px;
                height: 72px;

                border-radius: 18px;

                background:
                    rgba(166,227,161,0.15);

                color: #a6e3a1;

                display: flex;

                align-items: center;
                justify-content: center;

                font-size: 38px;

                flex-shrink: 0;
            }

            .pps-icon-neutral {

                background:
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.12);

                color: #cba6f7;
            }

            .pps-title {

                font-size: 28px;

                font-weight: 700;

                margin-bottom: 10px;

                line-height: 1.25;
            }

            .pps-subtitle {

                font-size: 19px;

                line-height: 1.7;

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);
            }

            /* Status */

            .pps-status-box {

                background:
                    var(--accented-background-color,
                    #1e1e2e);

                border:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);

                border-radius: 14px;

                padding: 24px;

                margin-bottom: 28px;
            }

            .pps-status-row {

                display: flex;

                justify-content: space-between;

                align-items: center;

                padding: 14px 0;

                font-size: 19px;
            }

            .pps-status-row + .pps-status-row {

                border-top:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);
            }

            .pps-label {

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);
            }

            .pps-value {

                font-family: monospace;

                font-size: 18px;
            }

            .pps-ok {
                color: #a6e3a1 !important;
            }

            .pps-warn {
                color: #fab387 !important;
            }

            /* Cards */

            .pps-cards {

                display: grid;

                grid-template-columns:
                    1fr 1fr;

                gap: 22px;

                margin-bottom: 30px;
            }

            .pps-card {

                position: relative;

                border-radius: 18px;

                padding: 30px;

                display: flex;

                flex-direction: column;

                gap: 14px;

                transition:
                    transform 0.15s ease,
                    box-shadow 0.15s ease;
            }

            .pps-card:hover {
                transform: translateY(-4px);
            }

            .pps-card-secondary {

                background:
                    var(--accented-background-color,
                    #1e1e2e);

                border:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);
            }

            .pps-card-primary {

                background:
                    linear-gradient(
                        135deg,
                        rgba(203,166,247,0.12),
                        rgba(137,180,250,0.08)
                    );

                border:
                    1px solid
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.35);

                box-shadow:
                    0 8px 32px
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.08);
            }

            .pps-card-primary:hover {

                box-shadow:
                    0 12px 44px
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.16);
            }

            .pps-card-badge-top {

                position: absolute;

                top: -12px;
                right: 20px;

                background: #cba6f7;

                color: #1e1e2e;

                font-size: 14px;

                font-weight: 700;

                text-transform: uppercase;

                padding: 6px 14px;

                border-radius: 999px;
            }

            .pps-card-icon {

                font-size: 42px;

                margin-bottom: 6px;
            }

            .pps-card-title {

                font-size: 24px;

                font-weight: 700;
            }

            .pps-card-desc {

                font-size: 18px;

                line-height: 1.8;

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);

                flex: 1;
            }

            .pps-card-footer {

                display: flex;

                gap: 10px;

                flex-wrap: wrap;

                margin-top: 10px;
            }

            /* Badges */

            .pps-badge {

                font-size: 15px;

                padding: 6px 12px;

                border-radius: 999px;

                background:
                    var(--main-background-color,
                    #181825);

                border:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);
            }

            .pps-badge-light {

                background:
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.12);

                border-color:
                    rgba(203,166,247,0.3);

                color: #cba6f7;
            }

            /* Buttons */

            .pps-btn {

                margin-top: 18px;

                padding: 16px 22px;

                border-radius: 12px;

                font-size: 19px;

                font-weight: 600;

                cursor: pointer;

                border: none;

                width: 100%;

                transition:
                    opacity 0.12s,
                    transform 0.12s;
            }

            .pps-btn:hover {

                opacity: 0.92;

                transform: scale(1.02);
            }

            .pps-btn-primary {

                background: #cba6f7;

                color: #1e1e2e;
            }

            .pps-btn-ghost {

                background: transparent;

                border:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);

                color:
                    var(--main-text-color,
                    #cdd6f4);
            }

            .pps-btn-secondary {

                background: transparent;

                border:
                    1px solid
                    var(--main-border-color,
                    #45475a);

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);

                padding: 14px 22px;

                border-radius: 12px;

                font-size: 18px;

                cursor: pointer;
            }

            .pps-btn-secondary:hover {

                border-color:
                    var(--main-text-color,
                    #cdd6f4);

                color:
                    var(--main-text-color,
                    #cdd6f4);
            }

            /* Footer */

            .pps-footer-note {

                font-size: 17px;

                line-height: 1.7;

                color:
                    var(--muted-text-color,
                    #6c7086);

                text-align: center;

                padding: 0 12px;
            }

            .pps-postclick {

                background:
                    rgba(166,227,161,0.08);

                border:
                    1px solid
                    rgba(166,227,161,0.25);

                border-radius: 12px;

                padding: 20px;

                color: #a6e3a1;

                font-size: 18px;

                line-height: 1.8;

                text-align: left;
            }

            /* Responsive */

            @media (max-width: 720px) {

                .pps-cards {
                    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
                }

                .pps-title {
                    font-size: 24px;
                }

                .pps-subtitle,
                .pps-card-desc,
                .pps-btn,
                .pps-footer-note {
                    font-size: 17px;
                }
            }
        `;

        document.head.appendChild(style);
    }

})();

---

As before - these are observations from the outside. The maintainers know the community better than I do. Raw material, not a roadmap.

No commitments have been made to PikaPods on behalf of the project.

[ricolandia]

A third option: I've started a simple solution for local sync. Conceptual prototype, not intended for production use.
The post and the "plugin" is here: https://github.com/orgs/TriliumNext/discussions/9686

[ricolandia]

@eliandoran Following the discussion about having something like PikaPods: I think the simplest viable stack is Coolify + Caddy + one Docker Compose resource per user - wildcard DNS, automatic SSL, isolated volumes, resource limits, and a REST API for eventual automation.
The community could be the first users, by invitation. I'd be one of them.

For context: I run TriliumNext on a homelab, push data out via Tailscale, and keep a backup instance on a $3 Interserver VPS. I was close to signing up for PikaPods. I can wait for a community solution instead.

Oh ... side note: the Python script for Markdown backups is running well, and sync works via Syncthing across desktops, laptops, and Android, with an encrypted backup(untrusted checked) at the VPS too.