AFFiNE.Pro — Write, Draw and Plan All at Once

AFFiNE: A Privacy-Focused, Local-First, Open-Source All-In-One Workspace

AFFiNE is a bold reimagining of how we create, connect, and organize ideas. Crafted as a privacy-focused, local-first, open-source platform, AFFiNE positions itself as a ready-to-use alternative to Notion and Miro. It invites creative minds to build, collaborate, and plan—all in one hyper-fused environment where documents, whiteboards, databases, and media live on a single, edgeless canvas. The project emphasizes ownership of data, cross-platform collaboration, and a design philosophy that blends writing, drawing, and planning into one seamless flow.

What is AFFiNE?

AFFiNE describes itself as an open-source, all-in-one workspace and operating system for the building blocks that assemble your knowledge base—and more. In short, it’s a powerful personal and team workspace that combines wiki-style knowledge management, rich documents, visual planning boards, and multi-view databases, all inside a single environment. AFFiNE’s creators frame it as an enhanced, privacy-conscious alternative to the dominant productivity and collaboration tools, offering a unified canvas where every building block can appear in any form and on an edgeless surface.

The project markets itself with a simple, memorable wordplay: AFFiNE (pronounced like “a fine” with a soft æ and fʌɪn). This is more than a phonetic nod—it signals the promise of a platform where ideas flow freely, unconfined by rigid app boundaries. The tagline Write, Draw and Plan All at Once captures the core promise: you can compose documents, sketch visual ideas, and map out plans—simultaneously, in the same space.

A quick glance at AFFiNE’s positioning shows a few defining traits. It’s an open-source project with a strong emphasis on local-first data and privacy. It supports real-time collaboration, but you own the data on your disk rather than defaulting to a cloud-first approach. AFFiNE also invites self-hosting and customization, with a growing ecosystem of plugins and community blocks that extend its capabilities. In practice, this means you can shape AFFiNE to fit your workflow—whether you’re building knowledge bases, designing roadmaps, mapping curricula, or generating interactive presentations.

Releases badge image

Getting started and staying tuned with us is easy. Star AFFiNE on GitHub to receive release notifications immediately, ensuring you never miss new features, improvements, or bug fixes. The AFFiNE team also maintains a blog, live demos, and documentation to help you navigate the platform’s breadth.

A Few Core Pillars

A true canvas for blocks in any form. AFFiNE merges docs and whiteboard capabilities into a single, edgeless canvas. Rich text, sticky notes, embedded web pages, multi-view databases, linked pages, shapes, and even slides can all sit side by side on one flexible surface.
Multimodal AI partner ready to assist. AFFiNE AI helps you push creativity to the edge of possibility. It can transform outlines into expressive slides, summarize long articles into mind maps, and help you prototype apps or web pages directly from prompts. This AI companion slides into the workflow as a prompt-powered co-creator rather than a separate tool.
Local-first and real-time collaborative. You retain ownership of your data on your device, but collaboration remains fast and reliable across web and cross-platform clients. Real-time sync enables teams to work together smoothly, even when some contributors are offline momentarily.
Self-host and shape your own AFFiNE. The platform invites you to self-host, fork, and customize AFFiNE. A plugin community and third-party blocks are on the horizon, expanding the platform’s reach beyond its core features.

A Vision of Unified Blocks

AFFiNE’s concept centers on “everything is a block” but with a twist. The platform lets you place any building block on the canvas, and those blocks aren’t confined to a single silo. Instead, you can mix documents, notes, data sheets, mind maps, and visuals into one cohesive workspace. The experience is designed to feel like a living, breathing notebook where ideas evolve in real time and across formats. This blended approach helps remove the friction that often comes when you have to toggle between specialized apps for writing, planning, and designing.

Multimodal AI: From Outline to Presentation

One of AFFiNE’s standout features is its multimodal AI partner. This AI assistant is designed to adapt to diverse workflows—whether you’re drafting a professional report, transforming an outline into a slide deck, or reorganizing a mind map for clarity. The AI also supports summarization and restructuring of content, making it easier to produce polished outputs without leaving the AFFiNE canvas. The AI capability aligns with AFFiNE’s broader ethos: enable creativity by providing smart, context-aware support that stays within the same workspace where your ideas live.

Local-first Collaboration

AFFiNE emphasizes ownership of data—files, notes, and databases remain on your local device, not locked behind a cloud service by default. This approach is paired with real-time collaboration, enabling teammates to work together on the same canvas across web and desktop clients. The blend of privacy and collaboration helps teams balance control with the benefits of collective ideation, a core tension AFFiNE seeks to resolve.

Self-hosting and Extensibility

Self-hosting remains a central theme for AFFiNE. The team highlights the ability to run AFFiNE on your own infrastructure, with documentation guiding users through Docker-based deployments and other hosting options. By externalizing the data layer and offering plug-in support, AFFiNE aims to empower organizations to tailor the platform to their standards and security policies. The ecosystem’s openness invites developers to extend AFFiNE with new blocks, templates, and integrations that align with their unique needs.

Templates, Templates, Templates

AFFiNE’s Templates feature unlocks ready-made structures that accelerate setup and adoption. The project highlights a Top 10 list of templates that resonate with users, including:

Vision board templates
One-pager templates
Sample lesson plan math templates
GRR lesson plan templates
Free editable lesson plan templates for pre-K
High note collection planners
Digital planners
ADHD planners
Reading Logs
Cornell Notes templates

These templates demonstrate AFFiNE’s breadth, from personal planning to education and knowledge capture. Templates provide starting points that new users can customize, helping teams accelerate onboarding and align on best practices.

A Rich Ecosystem and Upstreams

AFFiNE is built on a vibrant ecosystem of open-source projects. The community generously credits upstreams such as Blocksuite, y-octo (a high-performance CRDT engine), OctoBase (local-first database in Rust), yjs (CRDT foundation for state synchronization), Electron (desktop app shell), React (UI library), napi-rs (Rust bindings for Node), Jotai (atomic state management for React), and Vite (frontend tooling). This collaboration with well-known open-source components supports performance, reliability, and cross-platform experiences. AFFiNE acknowledges these upstreams and expresses gratitude to the broader community for providing powerful libraries that keep the focus on product logic and user experience.

A Community-Driven, Open-Source Path

AFFiNE invites broad participation—whether you’re a developer, tester, technical writer, or simply an enthusiastic user. The project promotes a culture of open feedback, bug reporting, feature requests, and discussions. The AFFiNE community hub, including the Discord server, is positioned as a central space for questions, discussions, and language support. The project’s philosophy emphasizes collaboration and shared learning, inviting everyone to contribute and help shape the platform’s trajectory.

Self-Hosting Details and How to Begin

For teams and individuals who want more control, AFFiNE provides practical starting points for self-hosting. Start with Docker to deploy a robust, unrestricted version of AFFiNE, and consult the official documentation for step-by-step guidance. The self-host path is designed to be approachable for teams who need on-premise deployment, custom admin controls, or a rebranding strategy that aligns with corporate policies. The documentation also covers advanced topics, including building from source and contributing to development.

Bringing AFFiNE to Life: How to Build and Contribute

AFFiNE maintains a contributor-friendly stance. The project offers guides for bug reports, feature requests, questions, and general discussions. The GitHub repository includes templates to streamline issue reporting and feedback, and there are dedicated discussions for ideas. Contributors are welcomed to submit pull requests, follow contributing tutorials, and engage with the community through the supported channels. Before contributing code, contributors are encouraged to review the Contributor License Agreement and related guidelines to ensure smooth collaboration.

Images and Visuals

AFFiNE logo: https://cdn.affine.pro/Githubheroimage2.png
Product Hunt badge: Product Hunt badge image
Releases badge: https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/toeverything/AFFiNE/total
AFFiNE artwork: https://github.com/toeverything/AFFiNE/assets/79301703/49a426bb-8d2b-4216-891a-fa5993642253
Animated GIF: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/79301703/230891830-0110681e-8c7e-483b-b6d9-9e42b291b9ef.gif
Sealos deployment badge: https://sealos.io/Deploy-on-Sealos.svg
ClawCloud deployment badge: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ClawCloud/Run-Template/refs/heads/main/Run-on-ClawCloud.svg
Open Collective contributors: https://opencollective.com/affine/contributors.svg?width=890&button=false

A Practical Path: Getting Started

AFFiNE’s onboarding path emphasizes quick wins and ongoing discovery. Start by visiting AFFiNE’s home base to explore features, watch the live demo, and read the documentation. The live demo provides a tangible sense of how documents, boards, and data blocks flow together in real time. As you begin, consider starring the project to stay updated on release notes and new capabilities. The blog is a valuable resource for practical tips, templates, and guidance on how to leverage AFFiNE AI to amplify your workflow.

From Notion and Miro to a Unifying Canvas

AFFiNE positions itself as an alternative to two popular tools—Notion and Miro—by offering a unifying platform that blends knowledge management with visual collaboration. Notion’s block-based approach and Miro’s whiteboard-style thinking meet a new, open, local-first paradigm in AFFiNE. By combining knowledge bases with flexible canvases, AFFiNE invites teams to create, plan, and present within a single workspace. The integrated approach reduces context switching and helps teams stay aligned as ideas evolve from notes to boards to presentations.

Templates for Rapid Adoption

The Top 10 templates demonstrate AFFiNE’s practical versatility. Whether you are a teacher, trainer, project manager, or student, templates save time and provide proven structures that you can tailor to your needs. Vision boards, one-pagers, lesson plans, ADHD planners, reading logs, and Cornell Notes templates are just a sample of templates you can deploy to accelerate your routines. These templates showcase how AFFiNE can serve education, project planning, personal productivity, and knowledge capture in a single harmonized space.

Community, Contributing, and Listening

AFFiNE’s contributor guidelines invite a broad spectrum of participation. The project highlights the importance of collective effort and acknowledges the broader ecosystem that supports AFFiNE’s growth. The community’s stance on licensing, contributions, and governance is designed to be welcoming and inclusive. The Open Collective image underscores the community-driven nature of AFFiNE and its commitment to transparency and shared responsibility.

A Glimpse of the Editions and Licensing

Edition details distinguish AFFiNE’s offerings. The Community Edition (CE) is the current freely available version under the MIT license, aligning with open-source ideals and enabling self-hosting. An Enterprise Edition (EE) is anticipated to provide advanced features, enterprise-oriented options, rebranding, SSO, and enhanced admin capabilities. This tiered approach aims to serve both individual artists and larger organizations seeking robust security and governance features. For licensing specifics, readers are directed to the LICENSE file and the project’s pricing page for potential enterprise options.

Building and Codespaces

AFFiNE’s building and contribution chapters outline practical pathways for developers. The project suggests using Codespaces for rapid experimentation from the repository’s main page. For local development, the documentation provides instructions on building AFFiNE from source. This hands-on approach enables developers to test changes, contribute features, and shape the product’s future. The combination of modern tooling—CI, codespaces, and a clear contribution path—helps attract a diverse set of contributors.

The Upstreams, the Thank Yous, and the Knowledge Base You Build

The AFFiNE project pays homage to its upstreams and the open-source libraries that enable its functionality. The project’s credits include BlockSuite, y-octo CRDTs, OctoBase, yjs, Electron, React, napi-rs, Jotai, and Vite. By acknowledging these foundational technologies, AFFiNE communicates respect for the broader ecosystem while clarifying how the platform achieves local-first reliability and real-time collaboration. This transparency is more than formality—it signals a design ethos that values interoperability, performance, and community-driven improvement.

A Note on the Visual Language and Documentation

AFFiNE’s internet presence emphasizes a concise, visual-driven language. The platform’s branding, the “everything is a block” concept, and the idea of an edgeless canvas are reinforced by visuals and documentation. The project’s blog and templates catalog provide a steady stream of practical advice, usage patterns, and creative examples. This combination of visual clarity, practical templates, and developer-friendly scaffolding invites both serious work and playful experimentation.

Live Demos, Documentation, and Community Resources

The AFFiNE ecosystem includes a live demo, a comprehensive docs site, and a thriving Discord community. These channels serve as a hub for onboarding, troubleshooting, and collaboration. For teams considering a shift away from cloud-centric tools, AFFiNE’s local-first stance can be a compelling solution that respects privacy while still enabling fast, cross-user collaboration.

A Value Proposition for Creators and Teams

Privacy and control: Your data resides where you want it, on your own device, with optional cloud sync or self-hosted deployments.
All-in-one canvas: A single surface for writing, drawing, planning, and presenting, reducing tool fragmentation.
Flexible collaboration: Real-time synchronization across devices, with a conceptually unified workspace that remains coherent as you switch between blocks.
Extensibility: A roadmap toward plugins and community-created blocks—an ecosystem that grows with your needs.
Templates and learning resources: Ready-to-use structures that accelerate adoption and best-practice workflows.

In Practice: A Day in the AFFiNE World

Imagine starting your project by sketching a vision on a broad canvas. You pull in a mind-map, a research document, and a data sheet—all on the same plane. You add a slide deck outline that morphs into a presentation scene, and you wire a task board that tracks deadlines and dependencies. Your AI assistant summarizes a workshop note into a structured outline, while sticky notes capture spontaneous ideas that others can react to in real time. Everything is stored locally, yet you can invite teammates to join the canvas to co-construct the project. The experience blends planning, note-taking, and design into one continuous thread of work, with the option to export outputs to presentations or static documents when needed.

Images and Visuals in the Experience

The AFFiNE logo anchors the brand and sets the stage for a visual-first experience.
The Product Hunt badge serves as a social signal of community interest and reception.
The badges and assets from AFFiNE’s repository showcase the ongoing evolution of the platform.
Deployment badges for Sealos and ClawCloud illustrate options for quick deployment in cloud-like environments or specialized hosting scenarios.
The Open Collective contributors image highlights the people behind the project and the collaborative spirit of the AFFiNE community.

A Call to Action: Join the AFFiNE Journey

If you’re searching for a modern, privacy-forward alternative to large, cloud-first productivity suites, AFFiNE presents a compelling narrative. It isn’t just a tool; it’s a philosophy about how knowledge, creativity, and planning can coexist on a single, flexible surface. The project invites you to explore templates, contribute to the ecosystem, and participate in a growing community that values openness and shared learning. Visit AFFiNE’s home page to explore features, live demos, and the documentation, and consider contributing to one of the templates or blocks that align with your domain.

Key Takeaways

AFFiNE is designed to be an all-in-one, edgeless canvas where writing, drawing, and planning converge.
It emphasizes local-first data ownership, with real-time collaboration across devices.
The platform is open-source and self-host-friendly, with a growing plugin and template ecosystem.
Multimodal AI capabilities augment creativity and productivity, helping turn ideas into polished outputs.
A robust community ecosystem underpins AFFiNE, with contributions, templates, and learning resources.

In Summary

AFFiNE offers a thoughtful alternative for individuals and teams seeking a unified workspace that respects privacy while delivering powerful, flexible capabilities. The blend of a true canvas, AI-assisted creativity, local-first collaboration, and self-hosting options makes AFFiNE a noteworthy entry in the landscape of knowledge management, project planning, and visual collaboration. Whether you’re building a personal knowledge base, shaping curricula, mapping product roadmaps, or designing persuasive presentations, AFFiNE invites you to write, draw, and plan all at once—on a single, cohesive surface supported by a vibrant, open-source community.

Images to explore as you read:

AFFiNE logo: https://cdn.affine.pro/Githubheroimage2.png
Product Hunt badge: https://api.producthunt.com/widgets/embed-image/v1/featured.svg?post_id=440671&theme=light
Releases badge: https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/toeverything/AFFiNE/total
AFFiNE visuals: https://github.com/toeverything/AFFiNE/assets/79301703/49a426bb-8d2b-4216-891a-fa5993642253
Animated overview: https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/79301703/230891830-0110681e-8c7e-483b-b6d9-9e42b291b9ef.gif
Sealos deployment badge: https://sealos.io/Deploy-on-Sealos.svg
ClawCloud deployment badge: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ClawCloud/Run-Template/refs/heads/main/Run-on-ClawCloud.svg
Open Collective contributors: https://opencollective.com/affine/contributors.svg?width=890&button=false

If you’d like me to adjust the tone, add more examples, or tailor this to a specific audience (educators, product teams, or developers), I can refine the draft accordingly.