Organise sources and documents
Bring in local files, RIS, BibTeX or CSL JSON, or mirror a Zotero library through a read-only local connection. How Nodus works with Zotero.
Desktop application
The Nodus App
An open source research app for scholars, researchers, students and teachers. Nodus brings sources, documents, notes, data and the work you do with them into one desktop application, while giving different kinds of work a structure of their own.
One application, clearly named
Nodus is the app behind Nodus Research.
The Nodus desktop app solves a practical problem: research material often ends up divided between a reference manager, folders, notes, spreadsheets and a manuscript. The Nodus software is built to give that material one local workspace, then separate the work into vaults so a literature review does not have to behave like a course, a study plan or a database.
- Nodus
- The application itself.
- Nodus Research
- The project and this website, where the software, documentation and research guides are published.
- Nodus App
- The downloadable desktop application for macOS, Windows and Linux.
- Open source research software
- The category Nodus belongs to: academic research software whose source is published under AGPL-3.0-only.
01 · What you can do
Work with material, not just a list of files.
The Nodus app combines a shared Library with purpose-built workspaces. These are capabilities in the current desktop application; the linked guides explain the research-specific ones in more depth.
Read and annotate
Open preserved originals or clean reading copies, highlight text or image regions, and keep notes and document chat attached to the source.
Connect notes, ideas and evidence
Build source-linked notes, an idea graph and writing projects while keeping interpretations close to the passage and page behind them. Ideas and evidence in the Academic vault.
Search your own material
Use exact and semantic search across works, passages, ideas and authors, with indexes stored on your computer. How corpus search works.
Use AI with your own sources
Choose models for bounded tasks such as extraction, relation finding, document chat and cited synthesis, or use Nodus without AI. Read the AI research guide.
Manage study workflows
Organise courses, subjects, materials, recordings and plans, then build question banks, flashcards, practice tests and spaced review from that work.
Manage teaching workflows
Plan courses and classes, keep groups and schedules, and work with gradebooks, exams, reusable rubrics and teaching units.
Build structured databases
Create typed tables with relations, formulas, rollups, filters and reusable views, then search, analyse or question the data.
The complete academic workflow, from assembling a corpus to writing with citations you can open, belongs on the Nodus for Academic Research page rather than being repeated here.
02 · Vaults
Each vault is a workspace with a purpose.
A vault is not just a folder. Its purpose decides which sections, vocabulary and workflows the application presents, while the underlying engine, settings and Toolkit remain familiar. This keeps one app useful across different kinds of academic work without flattening them into the same template.
Academic
For a research corpus, connected ideas and evidence, semantic search, literature questions and source-linked writing.
Teaching
For courses, groups, schedules, materials, assessment, gradebooks, rubrics and unit planning.
Study
For subjects, notes, recordings, deadlines, revision, practice questions, flashcards and study planning.
Databases
For structured records that need typed fields, linked tables, reusable views, analysis and data chat.
Five specialised vaults also ship in the application: Genealogy, Worldbuilding, Primary Sources, Testimony and Prosopography. See the main vaults and specialised vaults on the home page for a brief picture of each.
03 · Available platforms
Download Nodus for your desktop.
Nodus is a real desktop application, not a browser account. Choose the current installer for your operating system and open it to begin.
macOS
Apple silicon · DMG
Windows
Windows 10 or 11 · x64 EXE
Linux
x86_64 · AppImage or DEB
Release notes, checksums and previous versions are on the latest Nodus release page.
04 · The Nodus ecosystem
The desktop app sits at the centre of a broader workflow.
These integrations extend Nodus into the places where sources are collected and manuscripts are written. They complement the app rather than turn it into a hosted service.
01
Nodus Connector for Chrome
Capture the academic page or document open in Chrome, review detected metadata and files, and save it into the local Nodus Library while the desktop app is running. Install it from the Chrome Web Store.
02
Zotero connection and standalone plugin
The app can mirror a Zotero library over Zotero's local API. A separate Nodus plugin runs inside Zotero for semantic search, cited answers and evidence review. See what each Zotero integration does.
03
Microsoft Word and LibreOffice Writer
Install the writing companions from Nodus to search the active Library, bring passages and ideas into a manuscript, and manage live citations and bibliographies. Read about writing from a corpus.
04
MCP-compatible assistants
The built-in MCP server can expose approved read and writing tools for the active vault to a compatible client. It is optional and configured from the desktop app.
05 · Local-first and user control
Your workspace starts on your computer.
The Nodus desktop app stores its vaults, shared Library and search indexes locally, and it does not require an account. It works without AI. If you enable model-assisted features, you can use compatible local models through Ollama or LM Studio, or configure an external provider for the tasks you choose. The open source and local-first page explains the licence, storage model and outgoing requests in full.
06 · Who Nodus is for
One app for three parts of academic life.
Researchers and scholars
Assemble a corpus, connect interpretations to evidence, search across sources and write with citations that resolve to material in the Library.
Students
Organise subjects and course materials, take source-linked notes, plan study time and turn known material into questions, flashcards and review.
Teachers
Keep course planning, teaching materials, groups, schedules and assessment structures together in a dedicated teaching workspace.
07 · Before you download
Short answers about the application.
What is Nodus?
The Nodus research app is a downloadable desktop application for research, teaching, study and structured data. Nodus Research is the project and website around that application.
Is Nodus free?
Yes. Nodus is free and its current source is published under AGPL-3.0-only. Optional external AI providers may charge for their own services.
Which platforms does Nodus support?
The current release provides an Apple-silicon macOS DMG, a Windows 10/11 x64 installer, and Linux x86_64 builds as AppImage and DEB.
Does Nodus require an account?
No. You can install the application and create a local vault without signing up for a Nodus account.
Can Nodus use local AI models?
Yes. Compatible text and embedding models can run through Ollama or LM Studio. AI is optional, and local models still require the appropriate downloads and computer resources.
For setup details, model guidance and questions about academic use, see the complete Nodus FAQ.
Start with Nodus
Download the research app for your desktop.
Free and open source, with focused vaults for the work you actually need to do.