Portent models knowledge as a graph. Instead of choosing one folder, you connect each item to things that explain why it matters.
The default relationships are deliberately simple. Use belongs_to for ownership and related_to for looser context, then add more specific ones only when your system needs them.
Portent treats every piece of information as moving through a simple lifecycle. Capture first so nothing is lost, organize when you can say what it is and what it is useful for, archive when it has served its purpose.
This keeps the workspace clean without making capture expensive.
Portent is born from 5 years of full-time writing at Refactoring, 10 as CTO of a high-growth startup, and my PhD research on database models. Along the way, I amassed 10,000 notes on various tools' workspaces, learned a lot about knowledge mgmt, productivity, and working well with AI.
5 yearsfull-time writing
10 yearsstartup CTO work
10,000notes across tools
Stay in the loop.
Subscribe to the Refactoring newsletter for updates on Portent, Tolaria, and behind-the-scenes of building in public.
