HackMD: Collaborative Markdown

Last updated Jan 17, 2025

HackMD is Google Docs for Markdown. Effective team collaboration.

Markdown is awesome, the only disadvantage is it’s not collaborative. HackMD seems to solve this.

HackMD is a real-time, multi-platform collaborative Markdown editor. You can use HackMD to write notes with other people on your computer, tablet, or phone. HackMD provides a variety of document templates and allows users to push documents to GitHub. You can import and export documents from Dropbox, Google Drive, and GitHub gists.

• Collaboration
• Markdown

HackMD supports CommonMark and other markup syntax, such as:

• MathJax for formulas
• Mermaid and Graphviz for UML diagrams
• Vega-Light for data visualizations

HackMD has a VS Code extension: Meaning you can use your favorite theme, shortcuts (vim), previews of Mermaid, and all other features from your editor, automatically synced to HackMD. I find this amazing.

See more on Changelog | HackMD Blog.

I found a way to collaborate within Obsidian and Symbolic Link on Mac/Linux. Tweet.

YouTube Video

I created a YT video about Efficient Markdown Collaboration (HackMD, Obsidian, Neovim, VSCode).

I can use the same technique with Add external folders (git-blog-book) to my Obsidian Vault via Symlink to work use Obsidian to work collaboratively with HackMD. The way I do, I create a repo in GitHub (private or public), which I clone locally and create a symlink as explained above within my Second Brain.

After I make the connection between GitHub and HackMD. This way I can change and work offline within my Second Brain on articles and upload them with normal git commit && git push.

If I want to synchronously work with someone in the HackMD document, I can use the VSCode extension, which syncs live, not only on git pull / push. But if I work on the bulk, I can use Obsidian with all my connected links, and if I work with someone else on a call, I can use VSCode or the web version. Works pretty well.

An example how it works collaboratively across HackMD, Obsidian, VSCode and Neovim.

How to connect GitHub Repo with HackMD:

How does it compare to Foam VSCode Extension as HackMD can connect to GitHub and pull and push to it? Foam is only for linked notes such as Obsidian, but not for collaboration and adding comments such as HackMD.

The most used is Google Docs which has much better comments and suggestions support. Also if many users are working together.

CodiMD is the free software version of HackMD, developed and open sourced by the HackMD team with reduced features (without book mode), you can use CodiMD for your community and own all your data. (See the origin of the name CodiMD.)

CodiMD seems to be built on top of HackMD. It allows you to use vim shortcuts:

New will be Local First wirh CRDTs,there’s an editor that uses auto merge (CRTD), implemented by the ink and switch: Universal version control and rich text on Automerge

Some features

• Dynamic history: flexibly querying document history at different zoom levels and with different groupings
• Diff visualizations: experiments with many ways of visualizing diffs in writing at small and large scale
• Edit groups: grouping sets of edits into reviewable units
• Lightweight branching: making alternate versions of a document on separate branches, using simple light interactions
• Version history as chat: making history legible and discussable

Origin:
References: Add external folders (git-blog-book) to my Obsidian Vault via Symlink
Created 2022-05-29