You've tried studying Scripture in giant apps loaded with reading plans, streaks, and social features — but sometimes all that noise gets between you and the text. Forge strips it back to what actually matters: you, the Bible, and your own thinking. Open any passage in the built-in reader (BSB and KJV included), then capture what stands out as atomic notes — small, focused insight cards stored as plain markdown files in a folder you choose.^1
What makes Forge different from a generic note-taking app is how those insights compound over time. Notes connect directly to verses, and as your collection grows, themes begin to surface across books — building a personal web of biblical understanding that's uniquely yours. Everything lives on your machine as standard .md files with no cloud dependency, no account, and no lock-in. Back them up however you like, open them in Obsidian or VS Code, or just leave them right where they are.^1 Reading themes include warm paper, soft charcoal, and a true black dark mode.^1
Forge is built with Tauri by Payton Dennis, a software engineer at Google on the Geo team and a Computer Science graduate of Howard University.^2 He created Forge for himself first — a personal tool for active learners who want to forge their own understanding rather than consume someone else's. As Payton wrote: "Bible apps optimize for consumption. Forge optimizes for understanding."^4 The app is operated by PJ Ventures and is free to download, and the free local workflow needs no membership and carries no ads. An optional one-time Founding Membership adds early access to preview builds, paid desktop features released through version 1.0, and direct input on the roadmap. See the terms for what membership includes and excludes.^6 Anonymous usage analytics are off by default and run only if you enable them in Settings, via PostHog for product improvement.^3
Platforms: macOS 12+ (Windows planned) Pricing: Free to download, with an optional one-time Founding Membership. See the terms for current details.^6
