Founder Jeff Tang announced on November 11, 2022 that the team was winding down Athens. The GitHub README now states Athens is no longer actively maintained; the repository is not archived, but the last release (v2.1.0-beta.5) shipped on October 10, 2022 and the last push was in February 2023.
Athens Research- Knowledge ManagementKnowledge Management
Athens Research is an archived product listing kept for reference.
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Athens was an open-source, collaborative knowledge graph and outliner inspired by Roam Research, with bidirectional links, block references, and daily notes, available as a desktop app and a self-hostable server.
Athens was started by Jeff Tang in March 2020 as an open-source, local-first alternative to Roam Research and went through Y Combinator's Winter 2021 batch. Built in Clojure and ClojureScript on top of the DataScript graph database, it offered a block-based outliner with [[bidirectional links]], linked and unlinked references, block references, daily notes, and a graph view, all stored locally so users owned their data. Later versions added multiplayer: teams could run a self-hosted Athens server and collaborate in real time from the Electron desktop app for macOS (Intel and Apple silicon), Windows, and Linux, and the project was funded through investors and Open Collective sponsors. The app itself was free under the Eclipse Public License 1.0. In November 2022 Tang announced that the team was winding the project down, later explaining that he no longer believed there was a large business in note-taking and knowledge graphs. The GitHub repository now opens with "Athens is no longer being actively maintained" and points users to a community export tool that converts graphs to Markdown and a Logseq-compatible folder; the repository is not formally archived, but its last commit dates from February 2023.
Who Is Athens Research Best For?
Athens Research is particularly well-suited for:
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NoteFinderz Research
October 9, 2026
NoteFinderz research refreshed on October 9, 2026.
Product Freshness
October 10, 2022
Latest known product update: October 10, 2022.
Descriptions, use cases, pros, and limitations are written and curated by NoteFinderz. Ratings and review volume are aggregated from public signals when they exist.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Is Athens Research free to use?
Yes, Athens Research offers a free tier that you can use without payment. Free and open source (EPL-1.0). The team planned paid hosted and enterprise self-hosting offerings and accepted sponsorships via Open Collective, but the desktop app and server were always free to use.
What platforms does Athens Research support?
Athens Research is available on Web, macOS, Windows, Linux. You can access it from any web browser, plus dedicated apps for other platforms.
Is Athens Research open source?
Yes, Athens Research is open source. You can view the source code and contribute on GitHub at https://github.com/athensresearch/athens.
Does Athens Research work offline?
Yes, Athens Research supports offline mode. You can access and edit your notes without an internet connection, and changes will sync when you're back online.
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