Vein Feature Overview and Usage Guide
What Vein Is
Vein is a local-first browser knowledge capture tool.
When you come across something worth saving on a web page, Vein lets you capture, edit, organize, and export directly on the current page, without switching to Notion, Obsidian, bookmarks, or other apps.
It is designed for people who read, research, gather references, and collect materials in the browser every day.
Vein is not a new knowledge base, and it is not a read-later app. It is more like a capture layer in your browser: it helps you keep valuable content first, then export it to your own system when the time is right.
What Vein Helps You Do
1. Quickly capture content on the current page
You can capture the following on a web page:
When capturing, Vein preserves source information as much as possible, including page title, URL, capture time, and original excerpts. So when you review later, you do not just see an isolated link.
2. Save selected text with the quick-capture bubble
When you select a piece of text on a web page, Vein shows a quick-capture bubble.
You can directly save content to:
Left click saves quickly. Right click saves and opens a preview.
This is ideal for keeping key sentences, definitions, opinions, code snippets, or citations while reading.
3. Use the main panel to manage captures centrally
Press `Alt + V` to open the Vein main panel from the right side of the page.
The main panel is used for saving, editing, viewing, searching, and organizing content. You can complete most operations without leaving the current page.
The left side of the main panel is the staging area
The right side mainly contains three spaces:
4. Move content by drag and drop
Drag and drop is a core interaction in Vein.
You can drag blocks from Staging to Read Later, Collections, or Canvas. You can also move content between different spaces.
Hold `Ctrl` while dragging to copy content instead of moving it.
5. Export to your knowledge system
Vein does not lock your content inside itself.
You can export saved content in the Export module of Dashboard:
You can continue using this content in Obsidian, Notion, or any other knowledge system you use.
Content Spaces
Staging: a temporary transfer area
The staging panel on the left side of the main workspace is used as a temporary holding area for content. It displays, from top to bottom, content blocks from the current web page, added document or Markdown text blocks, images, and content from the system clipboard.
Staging is designed for temporary handling only. It is not intended for long-term storage, and its content cannot be exported.
Read Later: save content to revisit
Read Later is ideal for content you do not need to process right away, but want to come back to later.
It is organized as a linear queue, mainly sorted by time and priority, making it a good place for articles, reference material, page excerpts, and reading items.
Collections: store stable references
Collections are designed for content that is more defined, more stable, and worth keeping over time.
Vein supports a two-level structure with main Collections and sub-Collections. Each item can include a name, source, and body content.
It is well suited for project materials, research notes, product references, writing references, and technical resources.
Canvas: organize material visually
Canvas is designed for looser content that benefits from association and visual arrangement.
You can drag content blocks onto the canvas and perform basic editing, movement, scaling, and grouping. It also provides tools such as selection, brush, drawing, text, and eraser.
It is ideal for material collage, idea organization, topic clustering, and early-stage research.
Where Data Is Stored
Vein data is stored in the browser's local IndexedDB.
This means:
Vein is positioned as local-first and export-first. It catches important content from the web, rather than replacing your long-term knowledge system.
Basic Workflow
Who Vein Is For
Vein is suitable for:
How Vein Differs from Bookmarks
Bookmarks mainly save links.
Vein saves content fragments, sources, timestamps, and your notes. It focuses more on why a piece of content is worth keeping, rather than only recording that a page exists.
How Vein Differs from Notion and Obsidian
Notion and Obsidian are better suited for long-term organization and knowledge management.
Vein focuses on the earlier step: when you discover valuable content on the web, capture it first with the lowest possible cost.
Vein does not replace your knowledge system. It is the input layer into those systems.