The latest product updates are here: Link Preview and Show Edit History! 📄 These features are a series of interaction boosts designed to help you more easily create content and collaborate with others. Choose how your link appears with Link Preview LinkPreview_HackMD Say goodbye to clunky copy-paste formatting—HackMD’s new Link Preview feature makes managing links smoother than ever. When you paste a URL into your note, a smart selection menu pops up, letting you instantly choose how the link should appear.

You've seen communities come and go—some flourish while others quietly fade away. Ever stop to wonder what truly makes the difference? Successful communities don't happen by accident. They're intentionally built around thoughtful choices, clear purpose, and authentic leadership. Let's dive into what separates the great ones from the rest and uncover insights you can immediately use in your community. 🫂 Culture comes first Community culture sets the tone for everything else. For example, The Turing Way is an open-source guide for reproducible data science that uses HackMD to foster an inclusive, collaborative culture. They actively encourage contributors of all levels and backgrounds to co-author content, using shared docs to eliminate gatekeeping and promote transparency. Leadership author Simon Sinek emphasizes that a strong culture is rooted in a sense of belonging and psychological safety. In HackMD-powered communities, this often looks like open invites to collaborate, clear contributor guidelines, and tools that support equal participation. Psychological safety means people feel free to share ideas, give feedback, and admit mistakes without fear. The Rust community—another HackMD user—is famous for this. They maintain a strong code of conduct and use HackMD to collaboratively draft RFCs (Request for Comments), allowing anyone to weigh in on big decisions.

March is here, and luck is officially in the air—no four-leaf clovers required (though we wouldn't turn one down). As we begin to leap into spring, we're feeling especially lucky to share exciting news of fresh partnerships, spotlight some of tech's leading voices, and unveil shiny new updates guaranteed to make your documentation feel like a pot of gold. 🌈✨ Ready to see what's at the end of this month's rainbow? Let's jump in! 🍀 -- 🌟 Visionary voices Jin gives us a look into the Metaverse with his impressive HackMD bookshelf.

So you've built a following... It may start with blog posts, open-source contributions, or technical documentation that resonates with people in your industry. Your content gets traction, likes, comments, and even discussions in DMs or GitHub issues. But engagement isn't the same as community. What if you could turn those passive interactions into a living, breathing collaboration ecosystem? This guide will walk you through building a community from the ground up. Whether you're looking to share knowledge more effectively, or grow an open-source project, this is your quick-start roadmap to creating a self-sustaining community. 🔎 Define your purpose Before building, step back and define why your community should exist. A strong community has a clear purpose that aligns with its members' needs. You aim to create a space that fosters meaningful interactions and delivers value beyond what people can get from simply following your content.

Jorge O. Castro Co-Chair Contributor Experience at Kubernetes One of the major properties of successful open source projects is their ability to be transparent with their communities. This involves everything from open governance, to values, to technical direction. In the past, OSS projects didn't have many options for tooling. The organized ones ran their own mailing lists and contributors to those projects seemingly spent as much time on their project infrastructure as they did on the projects themselves. As SaaS became more prevalent, the amount of options grew exponentially, but so did the complexity and choice overload.

January felt like it was never going to end. Was there an extra week in there? But we made it! As we stumble into February, love is in the air, not just the sappy, heart-shaped kind. We're talking about a passionate romance with documentation. Nothing says "commit" (no, I don't mean GitHub) like a well-organized note, right? This month, in addition to featuring the latest industry news, informative blogs, and community voices, we're giving you an exclusive interview with our CEO and CTO and some new updates you may have missed. Let's dive right in...

Organizing notes in HackMD just got a serious upgrade. Today we're delighted to introduce you to Folders -- a new way to organize and structure your workspace for easy navigation and management. From day one, HackMD has built features to help both teams and individuals collaborate. Whether you're juggling meeting notes, brainstorming ideas, or working on your next big project, Folders makes it easier than ever to keep everything streamlined and organized. A cleaner, smarter workspace Gone are the days of a long, scrolling list of notes. Now you can group related documents together (like projects, timeframes, or categories) for a cleaner, clutter-free workspace. And tags can seamlessly integrate into your folder workflow. Use folders for broad categories (like "Team Resources" or "2025 Events") and tags for more specific attributes (like "Design Doc," "Meetings Notes," or "Code Review"). This hybrid approach gives you multiple ways to categorize and find what you need, no matter how many documents you're managing. So say you're part of a technical team using HackMD to manage product development. With Folders, you could organize your workspace like this:

Community is the heart of human connection. Building a community in a world increasingly defined by digital interactions will be crucial in 2025, as it fosters a sense of belonging and collaboration and unlocks the power of shared knowledge and collective goals. That is why at HackMD, we’re not just about markdown editing; we’re about creating vibrant spaces where you can connect, share, and grow with like-minded individuals. Today, we are going to dive into what community building means for you and why it’s so important as technology increasingly takes over our lives. What is community building? Community building at its core is the idea of bringing people together into a shared and safe space, whether in person or online, where they can connect over similar goals, interests, or values. It’s not just about assembling a group; it’s about creating meaningful relationships that encourage collaboration and mutual support.

Markdown tools have simplified and streamlined how you take notes, draft documents, and organize information. However, no single tool can meet every need regarding collaboration, personal knowledge management, and workflow efficiency. So today, we're kicking off a series highlighting how HackMD can be used within different workflows. Starting with a Markdown tool you might be familiar with: Obsidian. Combining HackMD’s collaborative features with Obsidian’s organizational tools, you can unlock a seamless and highly productive markdown workflow tailored to you. This workflow includes collaborative document creation for teams, project planning and organization for communities, and integration of long-term knowledge management into personal workflows. Let’s dive into what makes these tools unique and how they can work together to transform your workflow. What is HackMD? A markdown tool for seamless collaboration

Can you believe it? Just like that 2024 is over and now it's time to set our sights on 2025! This month, along with featuring the latest industry news, informative blogs, and community voices, we're announcing our Holiday Giveaway winner and some new features you may have missed. Let's get to it... -- 🌟 Visionary voices kevaundray establishes a standardized definition of "commodity hardware" he believes to be suitable for the Ethereum mainnet.

As we wrap up an incredible year at HackMD, we're taking a moment to reflect on 2024 -- a year filled with growth and collaboration for you and our team. From launching some of your most-requested features to welcoming more than 160k new teams, creators, and innovators, it's been an eventful ride. And we couldn't have done it without you. 💜 Because every update and new feature is created together with you -- how you work and what you make fuels us to build a better product. We build and ship, you bring those features to life. So we're remembering what we built together, highlighting the features that defined our year, sharing exciting stats about how you've been using HackMD, and giving a sneak peek into our vision for 2025. Have you enjoyed using HackMD this past year? Take 5 minutes to fill out the survey in your email inbox. It's insights like yours that help us shape HackMD into a tool you love using. Everything we shipped in 2024 2024 was a busy year for the team. We unveiled updates to enhance your collaboration experience within the text editor -- including a few highly-requested features -- and prioritized accessibility and flexibility.

The beginning of a new year always feels like a fresh start, doesn’t it? It’s the perfect time to set some goals and dream big. Whether focusing on personal growth, team projects, or building something incredible with your community, having a solid plan is essential. Here are some practical steps to help you plan, organize, and achieve your New Year’s resolutions—especially if you’re part of a team or community of developers looking to grow and create together. Building your community in 2025 Goals are much easier to achieve when others cheer us on. In 2025, it’s all about growing together as a community. If you’re part of a team of software developers, collaborating on shared goals—learning a new framework, launching an open-source project, or improving team processes—can be a game-changer. Start by bringing everyone together to brainstorm and share ideas. Make space for each team member’s input and identify common themes or goals. Once you’ve outlined a vision, break it down into actionable steps. Regular check-ins to track progress and address challenges will keep everyone motivated and on track.

The holiday season is officially upon us, and we're here to share a little cheer. ✨ From all of us here at HackMD, we wish you happy holidays and a wonderful New Year! 'Twas the Night Before the Deadline By HackMD Enthusiasts Everywhere 'Twas the night before deadline, and all through the teams, Not a doc was yet finished—not even the schemes. The drafts were all nestled in workspaces with care, In dreams that revisions soon would be there.

Master remote teamwork with HackMD during the holidays The holiday season is here, and with it comes all the festive chaos, hot cocoa-fueled brainstorming sessions, and the occasional snowstorm throwing a wrench in your plans. Your team is heads down checking off as much from your to-do list as possible before the holiday break. And it can feel like a lot in a very short amount of time. But don’t worry—HackMD is like the Rudolph of your workflow, ready to guide your team’s productivity through any storm. Let’s explore how you can sleigh your remote teamwork goals and keep things merry and bright this winter. HackMD is built for remote collaboration Whether you’re syncing schedules for holiday projects or crafting next year’s vision, HackMD makes collaborative work easier than ever through remote-friendly tools like commenting, suggest edit, and version history - ideal for remote teams who need to stay connected and productive. When working remote, you can use the commenting system to leave notes for your teammates on specific sections of your document or fix typos with the Suggest Edit feature. As your working together, the version history ensures everyone can see the latest updates or refer back to changes without sending “just checking in” messages, freeing up time for more important things, like cookie decorating contests. Even better, you can set up task checklists directly within your documents. Assign tasks like “finalize Q4 report” or “design the team’s holiday Zoom background” so everyone knows what’s on their plate—no meetings required.

The season of giving (and markdown!) is here, and we’re back with your festive monthly roundup of fresh updates, visionary voices building on HackMD, and timely industry news. So grab a cup of cocoa, cozy up to a warm fireplace, and let’s dive into December’s Markdown Memo! 🎄✨ -- 🌟 Visionary voices BigSky7 discusses proximity and Reed-Solomon Codes. Ian-knowable discusses how to delegate NAM on mainnet. PRAGMA-org introduces Amaru an open-source project that aims to build a new fully interoperable block-producing node.

Welcome back to the latest edition of the Markdown Memo. 👋 Settle in, because we're back with your monthly roundup of fresh product updates, visionary voices building on HackMD, and timely industry news. With that said, let's get to it! -- 🌟 Visionary voices Staketab proposes a zkProver Engine.

Markdown has gained a loyal following among writers, developers, and content creators for its simplicity and flexibility. It enables users to format text using straightforward syntax, making it an excellent choice for those who want to focus on writing rather than wrestling with complex formatting options. But while Markdown is simple and straightforward to use, it can be intimidating to choose the right Markdown editor for your needs. That's why we created this beginner's guide. This guide will help you understand Markdown, why it's valuable, and how to choose a Markdown editor that aligns with your workflow. We'll also explore some of the top Markdown editors available today and highlight what sets them apart. What is Markdown? Markdown is a lightweight markup language that enables you to format plain text documents using simple syntax. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown was designed to be easy to write and read in raw form while versatile enough to convert into HTML or other rich text formats. It was created to be accessible for everyone, regardless of their technical expertise. And it's especially popular among developers and writers who value clean, distraction-free text editing environments. With Markdown, you can format headers, lists, links, images, and more using intuitive commands. For instance, typing # before a line creates a header, while surrounding a word with * or ** adds italics or bold formatting.

Research thrives on collaboration and organization. In fact, those are two research cornerstones: collaborating with others to share knowledge and push innovation forward, while creating organized, repeatable procedures to confirm findings. Yet, when it comes to the day-to-day operations like managing multiple documents, maintaining version control, and collaborating across projects or institutions it can be daunting. HackMD simplifies these challenges by offering an all-in-one solution for researchers like you. With its real-time editing, seamless collaboration, and intuitive Markdown-based structure, HackMD transforms how research teams work together. Real-time collaboration for writing research papers Writing a research paper involves distilling complex information clearly, juggling multiple drafts, and coordinating feedback from co-authors. These processes can become chaotic, especially when using traditional word processors or email to exchange files. We all know the agony of searching for the latest version of a doc or scrolling endlessly through email threads. HackMD eliminates these pain points with real-time collaborative editing. The revision history feature allows you to track changes over time and revert to earlier versions if needed, ensuring that everything is recovered. Along with that, HackMD's commenting and annotation tools allow you to provide feedback directly within the document, streamlining the review and revision process. Organizing research notes, data, and findings

Welcome back to the latest edition of the Markdown Memo. 👋 If you've been keeping up with all things HackMD, you already know that HackMD got a sleek new look. We're a little obsessed with it, but that's not what this newsletter is about, so we'll save you from our gushing... Anyway, on to the newsletter! -- 🌟 Visionary voices Rust-GCC explains what gccrs is, the goals behind it, and the benefits of using it.

The latest product updates are here: Copy Link and Floating Toolbar! 📄 These features are the first in a series designed to help you more easily create content and collaborate with others. Share specific content with Copy Link CopyLink_HackMD While you're writing or reading content, there are times when you want to share a specific section of a note. Whether it's a section within an internal doc that you'd like key stakeholders to edit or a public-facing research report with an insight you'd like to share, the new Copy Link feature makes referencing detailed points simple and efficient. You can highlight and share content in both View and Edit modes. Anyone who clicks on the link will be directed to the relevant section - no more sifting through entire documents to find what you need.