Pinoy Open Source Spotlight: Meet Hibi, a Writing App Built Around Freedom and Simplicity

From a personal journaling tool to a growing open source project, Hibi shows how a simple idea from a Filipino developer can become something the wider community can build upon.

Every great open source project starts somewhere

Some of the most interesting open source projects begin with a simple problem: a developer needs something that existing tools can't quite provide.

For Filipino developer May, that problem was finding a comfortable place to write.

She wanted an application that could help her keep track of everyday experiences, organize thoughts, and maintain a personal journal. At the same time, she was writing blog posts and growing frustrated with manually managing Markdown.

There were plenty of alternatives. Obsidian, Notion, and other popular writing and note-taking applications already existed. But each came with its own compromises, whether in complexity, cost, or the way it expected users to organize their work.

Instead of continuing to adapt her workflow to existing software, May decided to build something that could adapt to her.

That idea became Hibi, a free and open source desktop writing application designed to give users more control over how and where they write.

What is Hibi?

Hibi describes itself as "a place for your words."

At its core, Hibi is a desktop editor for notes, documents, personal journals, technical writing, and other forms of written content.

It combines the simplicity of a writing application with some of the flexibility commonly associated with developer tools.

Hibi supports multiple writing formats, including Markdown, LaTeX, Typst, and MDX. Users can work with source text, preview their documents, and organize files within their own workspaces.

The application is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Some of its notable capabilities include:

• Local-first file storage. Documents remain in folders on your computer rather than requiring storage on a proprietary cloud platform.
• Multiple writing formats. Write Markdown notes, prepare academic documents using LaTeX or Typst, and work with other supported formats.
• Customizable experience. Themes, extensions, and keyboard shortcuts allow users to shape the application around their preferences.
• Obsidian vault compatibility. Hibi can open existing Obsidian vaults, with compatibility currently provided on a best-effort basis.
• Developer-friendly features. Git integration, Vim-style editing, documentation export, and support for technical writing workflows.
• Free and open source. Hibi is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

Whether you're a student preparing research papers, a developer maintaining documentation, or someone who simply enjoys journaling, Hibi aims to provide a flexible environment without requiring an entirely new workflow.

Your words should belong to you

Perhaps the most interesting part of Hibi isn't its feature set. It's the philosophy behind the application.

In an era when many productivity platforms depend on subscriptions, cloud services, and proprietary data formats, Hibi takes a different approach.

Your documents are ordinary files stored on your computer.

You can organize them using your existing folders, work with familiar formats, and access your writing without depending entirely on the continued existence of a particular service.

This approach addresses a fundamental concern in software ownership: what happens to your work when the application you depend on changes, becomes unaffordable, or eventually disappears?

Open formats and local files help reduce that dependency.

Hibi also reflects an important principle of open source development: software should be adaptable to its users, rather than forcing every user into the same experience.

Through extensions and themes, the application can grow to support different needs without sacrificing its focus on writing.

And because its source code is publicly available, developers can inspect how it works, suggest improvements, fix issues, and participate in its development.

From one developer to a growing community

What started as May's personal project has gradually become a collaborative effort.

According to Hibi's official story, other maintainers joined because they believed in the same vision: creating a writing application that is simple, powerful, and belongs to its users.

Today, the project has contributors supporting different areas of development, including its Windows, Linux, and Nix environments.

The project has also reported reaching 1,000 downloads, an encouraging milestone for an independently developed application.

This is one of the things that makes open source special.

A project doesn't need to begin with a large company, a substantial budget, or an established engineering organization.

Sometimes, it begins with one developer solving a personal problem.

By sharing the source code, documenting the work, and welcoming contributions, that solution can eventually become useful to people far beyond its original creator.

Hibi is an example of that process taking shape.

Still growing, and open to contributions

Hibi is currently in beta.

As with many early-stage open source applications, users may encounter bugs, performance issues, or incomplete features. Its extension ecosystem is also still evolving.

The development team has been transparent about these limitations, and users are encouraged to report issues and contribute improvements.

There are opportunities for people interested in different aspects of open source development, including application features, extensions, themes, documentation, and testing.

For developers, projects like Hibi offer something particularly valuable: an opportunity to learn from an actual application while contributing to software used by other people.

For non-developers, testing the application, reporting problems, suggesting improvements, or simply sharing the project can be equally meaningful forms of support.

Open source communities need more than code. They need people who care enough to help projects improve.

Why we're featuring Hibi at OSSPH

At Open Source Software PH, we believe Filipino developers have the talent and creativity to build software that can serve users around the world.

But talent alone isn't enough to grow a sustainable open source ecosystem.

Projects also need visibility, contributors, mentorship, constructive feedback, and communities willing to support the people behind them.

This is why initiatives like Hibi deserve recognition.

Beyond being a useful application, Hibi represents something we want to see more of in the Philippines: developers identifying problems, building solutions, sharing their work openly, and inviting others to participate.

It also serves as a reminder that contributing to open source doesn't always mean working on large, established international projects.

There are independent projects led by Filipino developers that could benefit from our attention and contributions.

Supporting these projects helps create an environment where more local developers feel encouraged to release their own work, maintain public repositories, and collaborate openly.

The more we support Filipino open source maintainers, the more opportunities we create for the next generation of Filipino developers.

How you can support Hibi

If Hibi sounds interesting, there are several ways to get involved.

Start by visiting the official website, downloading the beta, and exploring what the application has to offer.

If you're a developer, check out its GitHub repository. Explore the codebase, read the contribution guidelines, report an issue, or consider submitting a pull request.

You can also join the project's Discord community to share feedback, ask questions, and connect with the people building it.

And if you simply appreciate what the maintainers are creating, giving the repository a star and sharing it with others can help introduce the project to new users and potential contributors.

Explore Hibi:

• Website: https://www.hibi.garden/
• The story behind Hibi: https://www.hibi.garden/story/
• GitHub repository: https://github.com/schmayterling/hibi
• Community: Join through Hibi's website

Building a stronger Filipino open source community

Every successful open source ecosystem is built on people willing to share their knowledge, collaborate, and create opportunities for others.

Projects like Hibi show that meaningful contributions can start small.

A personal challenge becomes an idea. An idea becomes a working application. The application becomes an open source repository. And eventually, other people begin helping it grow.

That's a story worth celebrating.

We hope Hibi inspires more Filipino developers to publish their projects, collaborate with fellow maintainers, and contribute to the global open source community.

Built by Filipinos. Shared with the world. Supported by the community.

This article is part of the Pinoy Open Source Spotlight series by Open Source Software PH (OSSPH), highlighting Filipino developers, maintainers, and open source projects worth discovering.

Have a Filipino-led open source project you'd like the community to know about? Share it with OSSPH. We'd love to discover and feature more homegrown projects.