Deta Surf: A Local-First AI Notebook App
/surf
Deta Surf is a desktop AI notebook that pulls your files, webpages, PDFs, and YouTube videos into one workspace instead of scattering them across browser tabs and a document editor. It stores your library locally in open formats and works with your own API key, a cloud model, or a fully local LLM. Reach for it if you research across many media types and want AI notes with real citations; skip it if a plain note-taking app is all you need.
Introducing Deta Surf: Your AI Notebook
Deta Surf is a personal AI notebook application for MacOS, Windows, and Linux that brings your files and the open web into one place for research and writing. It stores everything in a local library called SFFS (Surf Flat File System), lets you @-mention any file, tab, or webpage directly into a note, and generates interactive Surflets — small coded applications — on request, all powered by an AI model you choose, including local ones.
Core Features for Enhanced Productivity
- ✓Multi-media library that stores local files, webpages, and web links (YouTube videos, Tweets, and more) in one place, organized into Notebooks, per the README.
- ✓Surf Flat File System (SFFS) — the local storage engine behind the library, keeping data in open, transparent formats rather than a proprietary database.
- ✓Smart Notes with @-mention: type @ to pull any tab, website, or library item straight into a note, plus web searches triggered from inside a note that bring results back into the text.
- ✓Citations link straight to the exact spot they came from — the specific web-page passage, video moment, or PDF page — instead of pointing to the source as a whole.
- ✓Surflets: interactive applications generated without writing code, for visualizing or exploring a concept or dataset.
- ✓Tabs, split view, and a sidebar for navigating notes, files, and web pages side by side, similar to a browser's layout.
- ✓AI model flexibility: bring your own API key for a popular model, add a cloud model, or run a local language model instead.
- ✓Paste images, tables, or data from other applications directly into a note and have Surf incorporate them, per the README.
Practical Applications and Things to Try
- •Open a YouTube video and ask a question about it — Surf generates notes from the video content.
- •Open a PDF and ask a question, letting Surf pull an answer straight from the document with a citation back to the page.
- •Use the app-generation tool to describe an app and have Surf build a Surflet for it, without writing code.
- •Trigger a web search from inside a note (using the web search tool, or asking a question containing 'search') to pull research results into your writing.
- •Build a personal knowledge base across files, sites, and notes in Notebooks, and reference it later with @-mentions.
Getting Started with Deta Surf
The README points to a dedicated docs/INSTALL.md guide for the installation steps rather than listing them inline, so exact commands aren't part of the facts available here — treat that file as the source of truth. It confirms Deta Surf runs on MacOS, Windows, and Linux. If you want to build from source or set up local development instead, the README points to CONTRIBUTING.md for that process.
Strengths
- ✓Pulls files, webpages, PDFs, and videos into one library instead of forcing you to jump between apps and browser tabs.
- ✓Citations deep-link to the exact source location — a webpage section, video timestamp, or PDF page — not just a generic reference.
- ✓Local-first, open-format storage via SFFS, plus open source code under Apache-2.0.
- ✓AI model choice isn't locked to one vendor: bring your own key, add a cloud model, or run a fully local LLM.
- ✓Surflets let you get a small interactive app or visualization out of a prompt without writing code.
Considerations for Use
- △Install specifics deferred to docs/INSTALL.md — no commands appear in the README itself, so you can't gauge setup friction from the facts here.
- △AI features require you to supply your own API key, add a cloud model, or set up a local LLM — no default model ships with the app per the README.
- △No version number, changelog, or roadmap appears in the facts provided, so there's no documented read on release cadence or how far Deta Surf is from a stable milestone.
- △Licensing has carve-outs: the Deta name and logos aren't covered by the Apache-2.0 license, and the @ghostery/adblocker-electron patch ships under MPL-2.0 instead.
- △The README's own acknowledgements section says its dependency list 'is not a comprehensive list,' so the full technical footprint beyond Svelte, TypeScript, Rust, Electron, and Tiptap isn't documented.
Exploring Other AI Note-Taking Tools
Frequently Asked Questions About Deta Surf
Deta Surf runs on MacOS, Windows, and Linux, according to its GitHub README.
Deta Surf is open source — its code is licensed under Apache-2.0, though the Deta name and logos are explicitly excluded from that license.
Deta Surf stores your library locally in open, transparent formats using its own storage engine, SFFS (Surf Flat File System), rather than a proprietary or cloud-only database.
Deta Surf's AI features support Local Language Models, in addition to letting you bring your own API key for a popular model or add a cloud model, per the README's AI section.
Deta Surf defaults to the Apache-2.0 license, with one exception: MPL-2.0 is the license governing the patch for the @ghostery/adblocker-electron package. The Deta name and logos are not covered by either license.
Deta Surf's Smart Notes can trigger a web search from inside a note to pull research results back into your writing, per the README.
The problem it solves
Research that spans PDFs, YouTube videos, and web pages usually means bouncing between a browser, a PDF reader, and a separate notes app, then manually copying quotes and links back into a document. Deta Surf's own motivation section frames this directly: most tools handle a single task or media type, so connecting ideas across sources means the user does all the searching, opening, scrolling, and copy-pasting by hand. Surf's library and @-mention system are built to pull that material into one place instead.
Who should try it — and who should skip
Try Deta Surf if you're a researcher, writer, or developer who juggles PDFs, YouTube videos, and web pages while writing and wants an AI notebook that keeps citations tied to the original source and lets you pick which LLM does the work, local or cloud. Skip it if you want a lightweight, plain-text notes app — the multi-media library, SFFS storage engine, and Surflets are real extra surface area you don't need for simple note-taking.
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