I’ve tried a lot of “second brain” types of apps at this point. Each one has its strengths, especially Notion, Obsidian, Joplin, and Microsoft Loop, but none of them have been able to measure up to AFFiNE for me. It hits the right balance between all the other tools’ strengths and weaknesses. There are databases, folder systems, a whiteboard, and an AI assistant - it’s everything I need out of a PKM tool.
Most of my digital life is stored in AFFiNE now, it truly does feel like an extension of my mind at this point. I use it to organize my notes and projects, manage tasks, brainstorm, and even chat with the assistant. It’s the perfect space for work and personal digital management. Here’s how I’ve been using the app that has basically turned into my second brain.
What is AFFiNE?
The all-in-one PKM tool that takes care of everything
AFFiNE is an open-source productivity app with a workspace that blends structured note-taking with visual thinking. It’s a bit like Notion, Obsidian, Miro, and NotebookLM combined, but in a minimalist package. There are paid tiers that give you access to more of its AI features and cloud storage (it is a local-first app, though). But you don’t need to subscribe for the everyday management features.
One of its most notable functions is the ability to switch between pages and canvases. Pages are where you’ll write your notes, create databases, insert media, and so on. The canvas is where you can connect all those pages visually and insert pretty much anything you want. Overall, AFFiNE is lightweight, privacy-forward, and designed for people who think in both words and visuals.
Organizing my work
What a typical setup looks like for me
One of my favorite things about AFFiNE is how approachable it is. Upon opening the app, you can start creating documents and organizing them in the left panel. Setting up a little folder system was one of the first things I did when I started using this AFFiNE - I’ve got a couple for work, writing, and design projects. The Journal utility is great for tracking daily notes and automatically grouping them into the current date.
Then there are Tags, which are self-explanatory, and Collections. This is a must-use feature if you want a quick way to filter through documents with specific properties. You do this by setting up rules, such as:
- [update] [after] [specific date]
- [favorited] is [true]
- [page width] is [standard]
Beyond these core organizational features, I don’t really go all-out with the block inserts in my documents. AFFiNE gives you a lot to work with, but I stick to tables, to-do lists, and basic text functions. As an aside, it’s a rich text and Markdown hybrid, supporting both the plain text syntax and rich text features like bold and italic. I manage my projects with tables, to-do lists are for everyday tasks, and text pages are for writing. This is all I need to lay the foundations of my second brain.
Thinking visually
The AFFiNE canvas is the perfect playground for visual thinkers
I’ve written before about how AFFiNE’s Edgeless canvas is a replacement for Obsidian Canvas, but better. It’s practically a mini design suite. You’ve got everything from shape tools, drawing pencils, and connective arrows to sticky notes and illustration presets. It’s the perfect place for visual brainstorming. Not only can I create mind maps from scratch, I can also drag other documents from my folders straight into a canvas as separate elements, and visually connect them.
One thing I don’t like, however, is that you can’t access individual canvas files in AFFiNE. To access them, you have to find the page document from where you switched over to canvas mode. Luckily, you can export canvas designs straight to your computer - and then I import them back as images into my other AFFiNE pages.
You could argue that the canvas isn’t integral to my workflow, which is somewhat true - tables and lists are really all I need for project management. But because I’m such a visual thinker, I’m going to dabble with some type of mind mapping tool anyway. So having a playground for this right inside AFFiNE keeps things compact and streamlined.
The AI pulls everything together
It completes the “brain” part
AFFiNE’s AI assistant is one of the most efficient assistants I’ve used in a productivity tool. It uses the same framework as NotebookLM in that it pulls directly from your data and is context-aware, but it can also access the web in real-time. Firstly, you can access it right in your pages via the slash command. This helps me with stuff like cleaning up grammar.
But the real magic is in the chat window. Here, I prompt it to summarize, retrieve, synthesize, spar, and compare. It’s like the final touch to my project management system and what ultimately turns it into my second brain, because I can interact with my own content. When the AI helps me reach new conclusions, I go back to my documents and update them with additional notes. Unfortunately, there is a cap on the AI features for free users.
AFFiNE practically runs my life at this point
I didn’t expect AFFiNE to become the center of my workflow when I first started using it, but it ended up being the place where everything connects. I input and organize my project data with zero friction thanks to the intuitive interface, then I play around with the whiteboard to brainstorm and link my ideas, and then I use the AI to interact with my work. It also lets me export my documents as Markdown or PDF files, which I've actually been importing into NotebookLM, creating a bit of a power duo. The fact that it’s open-source and private also makes it easier to trust long-term.