From a spark of an idea written on paper, grounded with Google's Deep Research and NotebookLM to a final published piece, my writing-publishing workflow lives inside a single, private, Open-Source ecosystem: Joplin. Let me show you my setup.
My process has three core stages, all connected within one central hub:
1. Research & Capture
The process starts with broad discovery using tools like Google Gemini (Deep Research). But once I find valuable articles, papers, or snippets, they need a home. For this, Joplin's Web Clipper is indispensable. I can save full web pages or simplified articles directly into my knowledge base, creating a rich, offline-first library of source material.
2. Writing & Synthesis
Now, many people in this space use and love Obsidian. It's a fantastic tool. But for me, a core principle was non-negotiable: the software must be truly #OpenSource. Obsidian is not. Joplin is. That was the decisive factor.
Plus: Joplin becomes an AI-powered studio with the Jarvis plugin. The key difference from the fragmented Obsidian ecosystem is that Jarvis is a single, cohesive suite that feels native to the app.
My writing process inside Joplin looks like this:
- Drafting & Refining: I use Jarvis to help write and edit text. I can connect it to powerful models like Google Gemini, but the real power is its ability to hook into local, offline LLMs via Ollama.
- Chatting with My Research (RAG): This is the most powerful feature. I can ask questions, and Jarvis performs a semantic search across my entire library of clipped articles to provide contextually rich answers, helping me synthesize information.
- Discovering Connections: Jarvis's semantic search helps me find related notes based on concepts, not just keywords, revealing connections I would have otherwise missed.
Crucially, by using local models, my research, notes, and drafts never leave my machine. This is the ultimate in privacy and control.
3. Publishing
The entire pipeline, from initial outlines and messy drafts to final, polished versions, is organized in Joplin notebooks. It’s my single source of truth before anything gets published.
This stack gives me the best of all worlds: the principles of open source, the security of local-first data, and a powerful, private AI assistant.
There's a fascinating ecosystem of tools out there. What does your personal knowledge stack look like? Share your setup below!
Sources:
Official website: https://joplinapp.org/
GitHub repository: https://github.com/laurent22/joplin/
Joplin cloud: https://joplinapp.org/plans/
Jarvis plugin: https://joplinapp.org/plugins/plugin/joplin.plugin.alondmnt.jarvis/
