HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
aardappel
treesheets
C++2013–2026
aardappel / treesheets

treesheets

Hierarchical spreadsheet: a free-form data organizer that replaces outliners, mind maps and spreadsheets.

Systems & InfrastructureProductivityMobile & Desktop
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
15Distinct people
21Mentions
2Explicit recommenders
3.2KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Hierarchical spreadsheet: a free-form data organizer that replaces outliners, mind maps and spreadsheets.

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

He also made Treesheets which is where I first heard about him. I recommend people interested in Personal Knowledge Management or related stuff check Treesheets out because…

aquariusDue used a recommendation phrase. 2 indexed comments match. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 10:49:33 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year21 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2013-06-13 22:53:28 UTC to 2026-03-08 13:24:33 UTC.

024682013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 1 submissions, 1 comments20132014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments20192020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 1 submissions, 7 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20132013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC211
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC817
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

8 sources
karlicoss·Dec 30, 2022
First, big respect for working on software for so many years! My question is what data format is it using? I found some examples here [1], but looks like it's a custom binary format? Is there a functionality to auto-export (e.g. on save) to plaintext (xml/json/whatever), so I could hook TreeSheets files to other apps? I appreciate it would be lossy, but even a tree/graph structure with text nodes would be good. E.g. I'm a big fan of using plaintext search over all of my personal data/information, even in siloed apps [2] [1] https://github.com/aardappel/treesheets/tree/master/TS/examp... [2] https://beepb00p.xyz/pkm-search.html#personal_information
In TreeSheets: Open Source Free Form Data Organizer
quag·Dec 30, 2022
It’s a simple binary format. I’ve written a parser for it in python. https://gist.github.com/quag/e219f69670cd395d4a59a392557df28... An older version (v16) of the format is documented, but that was before zlib compression was added. I’ve opened an issue and listed out the gaps in the spec, but haven’t gotten around to updating the spec itself. https://github.com/aardappel/treesheets/issues/185 Happy to answer questions about the format.
In TreeSheets: Open Source Free Form Data Organizer
mhd·Dec 30, 2022
There's a version of the tutorial[1] online, but the 2-dimensional, nested document setup doesn't really map that well to other formats. It does support various exports, from a quasi-WYSIWYG equivalent using HTML tables to more abstract ones (XML, outlines etc.). The native format (.cts) seems to be binary, with a simple spec online[2]. [1]: https://strlen.com/treesheets/docs/tutorial.html [2]: https://github.com/aardappel/treesheets/blob/master/TS/docs/...
In TreeSheets: Open Source Free Form Data Organizer

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.