← AI Lab
04 / AI LAB / FOLIUM

Folium

In useLocal-firstPrivate

A freeform canvas for portfolio reviews, one that never leaves your machine.

I built Folium for one job: running CV and portfolio reviews without scattering candidates' work across a dozen cloud services. I duplicate the Portfolio Review template per person, drop their images and videos onto an infinite canvas, and annotate with numbered comment pins. When I'm done, I export the whole board as a single self-contained HTML file and send it over chat.

Everything lives in the browser that opened it, boards, cards, ink, images, stored locally in IndexedDB. Nothing is uploaded, there are no accounts, and there's no server to answer to. The one exception is opt-in: I start a live review session and the reviewee opens my exported file, joins over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection, and drops comments and pins straight onto my board while we're both online.

Underneath the review workflow is a full freeform workspace: nestable boards, columns, arrows, whiteboard ink, sticky notes, tables, templates, global search, a present mode for stepping through a board fullscreen, and light/dark boards. I named it Folium, Latin for a leaf, a single sheet of paper, so it sits alongside Tessera, Perpetūra and Ariadne.

FREEFORM CANVAS

An infinite board of cards, columns, arrows and nested sub-boards. Drag, marquee-select, resize, pan and zoom, with context menus, alt-drag, undo/redo and keyboard shortcuts for everything.

RICH CARDS

Notes with bold/italic/highlight/lists/checklists, to-do lists, tables, colour swatches, link cards with favicon and YouTube previews, file cards with audio/video preview built in, and chart cards (bar, line, pie or donut) that render straight on the board.

WHITEBOARD TOOLS

Draw freehand straight onto the canvas: colours, stroke widths, a stroke eraser. Plus sticky notes and shapes (rectangle, ellipse, diamond) for when a card is too much structure.

BUILT FOR REVIEWS

Duplicate the Portfolio Review template per candidate, drop their images and videos onto the board, and annotate with numbered comment pins. Storyboard, moodboard and project-plan templates ship alongside it.

LIVE REVIEW SESSIONS

Start a session to get a code; the reviewee opens your exported file, joins over an encrypted peer-to-peer connection, and drops comments and pins onto your board in real time. No accounts, comment-only access.

SHARE AS ONE FILE

Export any board as a single self-contained HTML file: images inlined, nested boards navigable, comment pins visible, print-to-PDF built in. Markdown and full JSON backup exports too.

IMPORT & SEARCH

Drag Markdown files onto a board and each one becomes a board of typed cards, for bringing content over from anything that exports Markdown. Search Pexels stock photos straight from an image card, no separate tab.

LOCAL-FIRST

Everything lives in the browser via IndexedDB. No uploads, no accounts, no server. Opt-in cross-machine sync mirrors the workspace through a folder you already sync (OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud).

A LOOK / FOLIUM