ChatMD Do I need an account?
No. There is no ChatMD account, no sign-up, no email required and no licence server to phone home to. You download it, open a folder, and work.
Buying Studio happens through the Microsoft Store, so Microsoft handles the purchase. ChatMD never sees a payment detail.
Does ChatMD send my notes anywhere?
Not on its own. The app makes no network connection at all unless you configure one or take an action that needs one. There is no telemetry, no analytics, no usage tracking and no update ping.
Connections only happen when: you point it at Ollama on your own machine (that traffic never leaves your PC), you enter an API key for a service you already pay for, or you paste a web link and ask it to fetch that page.
The separate case is choosing an AI assistant like Claude Code or Codex. ChatMD hands your question to the tool you installed; that tool then makes its own connections under its own account and policy. ChatMD is not reselling anyone's API, and it does not sit in the middle of that traffic.
The complete list of every destination is in the app under Settings, and in the Privacy Policy. It is generated from the source, not written by hand.
What is free, and what does the $14.99 buy?
The free editor is a complete Markdown editor and stays free forever — editing, tabs, file tree, search, outline, wiki-links, backlinks, tags, templates, daily notes, themes, local history and recovery, and opening PDF, Office, spreadsheet and database files to read them.
Secrets is free too. Encrypting API keys, passwords and tokens on your own machine, getting a key out of a plaintext note, leak checks and expiry reminders — none of that is behind the wall. Safety is never paywalled.
Studio is $14.99 once and unlocks converting files into other formats, batch and mixed-file queues, export routes, and the AI features. There is no subscription and no usage meter.
Is it a subscription?
No. One payment, kept permanently. No renewal, no trial that expires, no feature that switches off later.
If you use a cloud AI assistant with it, that assistant is billed by whoever provides it — under your own account, on your own plan. ChatMD adds nothing to that.
Will it work with my existing Obsidian vault?
Yes. A vault is just a folder of Markdown files. ChatMD reads [[wiki-links]], #tags and front matter, and writes ordinary Markdown back.
Nothing is imported, converted or locked in. Your notes stay exactly where they are, in a format any other editor can open — including the one you use now. If you stop using ChatMD tomorrow, you keep everything.
Which AI assistants can I use?
Claude Code, Codex CLI, Antigravity, Cursor Agent, Ollama, and any other command-line assistant you configure yourself. You install and sign into the tool you prefer; ChatMD detects it and guides the setup.
ChatMD does not sell AI credits and does not include them. You bring a tool you already have, which is why there is no usage meter here.
Do I need an AI assistant at all?
No. The editor, viewers, search, history and Secrets all work with no AI installed. Converting files runs locally on your machine.
The AI features are optional additions, not the product.
Will Ollama run well on my PC?
Only with a reasonable GPU. Ollama runs the model on your own machine, so its speed is your hardware's speed.
On a computer without a dedicated graphics card it is usable for short questions but slow on anything large, and the gap is wide rather than marginal. If that describes your PC, one of the command-line assistants will feel dramatically better. Ollama's advantage is that nothing leaves your machine at all — that is a real benefit, and it costs speed.
Can it read scanned PDFs and photos?
Yes, entirely offline — the text recognition runs on your PC with no service and no upload. It reads clean printed pages very well, corrects tilted and skewed scans, and handles multi-column layouts in the right reading order.
Handwriting is the honest limit. Rather than guess at handwritten pages and hand you plausible invented text, it tells you it could not read them reliably. A wrong transcription you cannot spot is worse than an admitted gap.
When a page is skipped or a region is uncertain, it says which page and why instead of quietly dropping it.
Where does it store my keys and passwords?
Encrypted in the app's own data folder on your PC, never in your notes and never on a server. You choose whether opening the locker needs Windows Hello, a password, or nothing.
It can also find keys already sitting in plain text in your notes and offer to move them somewhere safer.
Which versions of Windows does it run on?
Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit. It is a Windows app today; there is no macOS or Linux build.
What if it does not work for me?
Try the free editor first — it costs nothing and shows you how it handles your actual notes before any money is involved.
Studio purchases go through the Microsoft Store, so refunds follow Microsoft's process. If something is broken, tell us: it is a small enough operation that the developer reads every message.