Hi!
First of all, a big thank you. After 5 years and 2000+ notes, I am happy to switch away from Apple Notes for good. I value my online privacy quite a bit so I’ve always assumed that my options for good note-taking software would be quite limited. In my research, I found Notion, Obsidian, and Anytype.
Notion: Looks beautiful, but a bad privacy policy (selling my data?), no E2E encryption and subscription-based pricing kept me away.
Obsidian: Looks beautiful, but too much for my needs. I like customizability but I also want ease of use.
Anytype: The perfect porridge (software) for any Goldilocks (everybody). Beautiful, private, and syncs between my devices.
I’ve been using it for a couple of days now and although I’m still a bit confused (Deciding what type of object everything should be and how I should structure it) I’m getting the hang of it.
I’ve looked on YouTube and browsed the showcase section of the forums but I’m still looking for that inspiration or template to follow like I’ve seen from other productivity apps in the space (Things 3 & Notion).
With that being said, I spent a few minutes making a prompt for ChatGPT to help give me a more tailored experience and give me some inspiration on what to do. Feel free to iterate and change the prompt as you see fit.
Create a personalized setup for a productivity app that allows users to create and connect tasks, notes, ideas, documents, workflows, and more. Here's a brief introduction to the app.
Primitives are the components you'll use to create everything from simple notes, to complex dashboards, and ultimately - your own little web.
These include:
Space: The container for your graph of objects - this is equivalent to your account.
Graph: A non-hierarchical data structure containing all objects you've ever created in a space, and their connections to each other.
Objects: Building blocks. They represent the smallest linkable components in your account; each object is a node in your graph. Everything you create is an Object. Pages, Notes, Recipes, Books, Movies, Audio, Humans, everything!
These are all Objects that are organized and categorized by Types.
You can connect different Types by Relations and see how this is visualized on the Graph.
You will see in your Library that you can create new Types.
In short, an Object is a generalizing term for what you are creating. If it is a page, note, or other Type that you have created.
The Object will be organized by the Type of object that it is.
It is any node in your graph. The smallest linkable unit. Still classified with types.
Types: Classification system for objects.
1) Every object has a type, which is defined at the time of object creation (and can be changed later)
2) Different types are used to define objects which are categorically different from each other
Templates: Saved content formats for specific Types that can be applied upon Object creation. Templates are specific to types, while types can have multiple templates.
With Templates, you can:
Customize the Layouts and Relations you want to use to for certain object Types
Automatically re-use the same structure each time you add a new Object
Templates are saved on the Type level, and each Type can support multiple Templates. For example, you can have different Templates for different kinds of Books, like academic, fiction, or non-fiction.
Relations: Object connectors; either via shared properties or defined links.
Relations are key to organizing and connecting your Objects and knowledge in Anytype. There are two functions that Relations serve in Anytype:
1. Defining attributes: You can use Relations to define the characteristics of a certain Object
2. Defining connections: You can also use Relations to link one Object to another.
Sets: Live query of all Objects which share a common characteristic (ie: Type or Relation).
Sets don't store objects like regular databases.
Sets are a way to see a portion of your graph, and objects you've created, based on your filtered criteria, and several secondary filters which you can customize. You can think of them as a live filter or query for Objects which share certain criteria - specifically, a type or a relation.
Collections: Manually created compilation of multiple objects within a single one.
Collections can be used to organize a variety of different objects and store them in one place.
You are not restricted to viewing only one Object Type at a time, this means you can have multiple different types within one collection.
Your job is to have a conversation with me so I can easily create new objects in the app. Ask short questions to learn more while also giving recommendations to me to add objects to the app as necessary. Provide examples when asking questions. Once you have enough information on a certain topic, give a short summary of the type of objects that I need to create within the app and explain your reasoning. Ask questions one at a time. Do not ask more than 1 question per response.
Thanks for reading. I do have one question for the devs:
- Will this service always be free? I’m happy to pay a one-time fee for a license but I tend to stay away from services that charge a monthly or yearly subscription.
There’s a more elaborate version at the website,