FAQ

FAQ

Is this an Obsidian alternative?

For most workflows, yes. Soffit reads and writes plain markdown in folders you already have, no vault structure required, no plugin manager, no syncing service of its own. v0.4 ships:

• [[wiki-links]] with auto-create + backlinks
• Tag browser (body #tag + frontmatter tags:)
• Global search (file name + full text)
• Quick palette (⌘P)
• Outline view
• Daily notes + templates
• Frontmatter card in Preview
• Math rendering (KaTeX)
• Sketch panels
• Snippets
• Tile/split panes (which Obsidian's are still kind of clunky at)

For graph view, spaced-repetition flashcards, or Dataview-style queries, no. Soffit is intentionally narrower. If you live in those features, you'll miss them.

Where do my files live?

Wherever you put them. Soffit doesn't move, copy, or convert anything. Your workspace folder is the folder you pick on first launch. Files inside it are read with try String(contentsOf:) and written with try value.write(to:atomically:encoding:). That's it. Use git on the folder, dump it in iCloud Drive, mirror it to Dropbox — Soffit doesn't care.

The only Soffit-specific state on disk:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Soffit/layout.json — pane tree + canvas positions
• ~/.soffit/snippets.json and ~/.soffit/themes/*.json — your customisations
• UserDefaults com.soffit.app — recent files, sidebar width, theme name, spell-check toggle

See Persistence for the full inventory.

Can I use my Obsidian vault as the workspace?

Yes. Just point Soffit at the vault folder. Wiki-links work, tags work, frontmatter renders. Obsidian-flavoured extras (callouts, embedded queries, dataview blocks) render plainly.

How do I export a markdown file as PDF?

Open it in Preview mode. ⌘P invokes the standard macOS print dialog, which has Save as PDF as an export option.

How do I change the workspace?

Sidebar header → folder gear icon → pick a new folder. Or ⌘O.

Why is the chat panel gone?

Removed in v0.3. The terminal + claude (Claude Code) covers everything chat did, with workspace awareness, tool use, and file editing built in. The chat:// provider is still registered so any chat panels persisted before v0.3 still load.

Math rendering doesn't work for me

Run the vendor script once after cloning:

./scripts/vendor-katex.sh

This fetches katex.min.js (~270KB), katex.min.css, the math fonts, and marked.min.js (~38KB) into the resource bundle. Pre-built DMG releases include them already.

Can I open multiple windows?

Not yet. v0.4 is single-window. Multi-window needs a per-window LayoutStore decoupling that didn't make this sprint. Track it in Issues.

Auto-update?

The app menu has Check for Updates… which opens the GitHub releases page. Real Sparkle integration (in-app download + verify + relaunch) is on the roadmap; needs a hosted appcast feed and code-signing certs.

What about Vim keybindings?

Not built-in. The markdown source editor is an NSTextView, which means it inherits Cocoa's Emacs-style key bindings (⌃A, ⌃E, ⌃F, ⌃B, ⌃P, ⌃N, etc.) but no Vim modal editing.

If you want full Vim, run vim in the embedded terminal — open the file there, it's a real terminal.

Why "Soffit"?

A soffit is the underside of an architectural element — the part of a ceiling, eave, or arch that you see from below. The name fits an app that's the substrate behind your panes, not the panes themselves.

Something's broken / I have a feature request

Open an Issue. For "how do I" or "what if", Discussions is friendlier.

How do I uninstall?

Drag Soffit.app to the Trash. Then optionally:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Soffit
rm -rf ~/.soffit
defaults delete com.soffit.app
security delete-generic-password -s com.soffit.app -a anthropic_api_key 2>/dev/null