GETTING STARTED

Installation

Basalt is available to install via Cargo, aqua, and as pre-compiled binaries from GitHub releases.

Cargo

cargo install basalt-tui

aqua

aqua g -i erikjuhani/basalt

Pre-compiled binaries

Download the appropriate archive for your system and architecture from GitHub releases, extract it, and move the basalt binary to a location in your PATH.

Starting Basalt

Once installed, launch basalt from your terminal:

basalt

Basalt opens in the splash screen, showing a list of your Obsidian vaults discovered automatically from Obsidian's configuration. Use j/k or arrow keys to navigate and Enter to open a vault.

Navigating a vault

Once inside a vault, the interface is divided into three panes:

Explorer on the left — browse folders and notes
Note editor in the center — view the selected note with rendered markdown
Outline on the right — navigate headings in the current note

Use Tab and Shift+Tab to move focus between panes. The status bar at the bottom shows which pane is active.

Opening a note

In the Explorer, use j/k or arrow keys to move through the file list. Press Enter to open a note in the Note editor.

Switching vaults

Press Ctrl+g to open the vault selector and switch to a different vault.

Getting help

Press ? to open the help modal. It shows the available key mappings for the currently active pane.

For more on the interface, see User interface.