SilverBullet Quick Start Guide for Students: A Practical Workflow for Master Classes

A practical guide to getting productive with SilverBullet for academic work. Based on the official video series by Zef Hemel.

June 11, 2026 Productivity , Education 9 min read

A productive academic workspace illustration with note-taking, study elements, and a laptop

After getting SilverBullet running on my own server, the next challenge was learning how to actually use it for my master’s classes. I spent time with the official “Welcome to SilverBullet” video series by Zef Hemel (the creator of SilverBullet) and distilled the essential workflow into this practical guide.

If you are a student or anyone who needs to organize notes, tasks, and references efficiently, this guide is for you.

SilverBullet is built entirely on Markdown. Every page you create is a plain text file with .md extension. This means:

No lock-in: Your notes are portable. You can open them in any text editor, VS Code, or even Obsidian.
Git-friendly: You can version control your entire knowledge base with Git.
Future-proof: Markdown is not going anywhere.

SilverBullet renders Markdown in a live preview mode. When you place your cursor on a line, you see the raw Markdown syntax. When you move away, it renders beautifully. This is the same WYSIWYG approach popularized by Obsidian, but web-based.

Before anything else, learn these shortcuts. They will speed up your workflow dramatically:

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+K` / `Cmd+K`	Page picker (open any page)
`Ctrl+Shift+P` / `Cmd+Shift+P`	Command palette
`Ctrl+Enter` / `Cmd+Enter`	Navigate to link under cursor
`Ctrl+Slash` / `Cmd+Slash`	Toggle fold on outline item
`Ctrl+Shift+Slash` / `Cmd+Shift+Slash`	Fold all / Unfold all

The command palette is your best friend. Type any command name and SilverBullet will find it. You can also search for commands by typing keywords like outline, upload, sync, etc.

There are several ways:

Click the page icon (book) in the top right → “New Page”
Use the page picker (Ctrl+K) and type a page name that does not exist yet
Create a link from another page: type [[New Page Name]] and press Ctrl+Enter

The third method is the most powerful. It is how you organically grow your knowledge base.

For my master’s coursework, I use a simple naming convention:

MCD-2026-Spring/Statistics/Week-03-Hypothesis-Testing
MCD-2026-Spring/Optimization/Week-05-Linear-Programming
MCD-2026-Spring/Projects/Final-Report

This creates a natural folder structure without actual folders. The forward slashes organize pages visually in the page picker.

Page picker (Ctrl+K): Shows all pages. Type to filter.
Click links: Any [[Page Name]] link is clickable.
Linked mentions: At the bottom of every page, you see a list of all pages that link back to it. This is bidirectional linking at work.

This is the feature I use the most during live lectures. SilverBullet has powerful outline support that makes it ideal for taking structured notes quickly.

Use - or * to create bullet points. Press Tab to indent (create a child) and Shift+Tab to outdent (promote to parent).

- Introduction to Linear Programming
  - Definition: optimization of a linear objective function
  - Constraints: linear inequalities
  - Standard form: maximize c^T x subject to Ax <= b
    - Example: diet problem
    - Example: production planning
  - Solution methods
    - Graphical method (2 variables)
    - Simplex method

During a lecture, you want to capture everything. Later, you want to review only the top-level structure. Use:

Fold: Ctrl+Slash on any item to collapse its children
Fold all: Ctrl+Shift+Slash to collapse everything and see only the structure
Unfold: Press Ctrl+Slash again to expand

This lets you take dense notes during class and review them hierarchically afterward.

If you realize an item should be at a different level:

Demote (make it a child): Tab or use the command palette
Promote (make it a sibling): Shift+Tab

Tags are the backbone of organizing non-hierarchical content. SilverBullet supports tags at three levels:

Add a tag at the top of a page:

---
title: 'Week 03: Hypothesis Testing'
description: 'Notes on hypothesis testing for the Statistics course'
tags: ['statistics', 'mcd-2026-spring', 'week-03']
---

Or inline anywhere:

# Week 03: Hypothesis Testing

#statistics #mcd-2026-spring #week-03

You can tag individual outline items:

- Read chapter 4 of the textbook #todo
- Review the lecture recording #todo
- Ask professor about the p-value interpretation #question

For structured data, use YAML blocks inside code fences:

```yaml
#contact
name: 'Dr. Smith'
email: '[email protected]'
office: 'Building A, Room 302'
```

This creates a structured data object that can be queried and displayed in tables.

Once you have tagged pages and items, you can query them dynamically. This is where SilverBullet becomes more than a note-taking app.

[!NOTE] In SilverBullet queries (based on Lua), you use == for equality comparisons, not = like in SQL. This is important when writing query conditions.

Use the query command to find tagged items:

page where tags == "todo"

This will show all pages tagged with #todo.

For coursework, I track tasks with a simple system:

- [ ] Read chapter 3 #statistics #week-02
- [ ] Complete problem set 2 #statistics #week-02
- [ ] Email professor about office hours #admin

Then query them:

item where tags == "statistics" and tags == "week-02"

SilverBullet supports live templates that auto-update. For example, you can create a “Current Tasks” page that always shows open todos.

For my classes, I need to include screenshots, diagrams, and PDFs.

Copy-paste: Take a screenshot and paste it directly into a page (Ctrl+V). SilverBullet will prompt you for a file name and save it.
Drag and drop: Drag an image from your file manager onto the page.
Command palette: Upload: File command.

Pasted images are saved as files in your space and embedded as Markdown:

![[MCD-2026-Spring/Statistics/Week-03-diagram.png]]

If you protect your SilverBullet instance with Cloudflare Access (as I do), you must add a bypass rule for /.fs/* in your Cloudflare Access application. Otherwise, images will not render in Chrome, Brave, or Opera. Firefox handles it differently, but Chromium-based browsers need this bypass.

See my installation guide for the exact Cloudflare Access configuration.

SilverBullet is a Progressive Web App (PWA). This means:

Install it: In Chrome or Edge, click the install icon in the address bar. It will appear as a standalone app.
Offline mode: Once installed, you can take notes without an internet connection. Changes sync when you reconnect.
Mobile-friendly: The PWA works on phones and tablets.

Open your SilverBullet instance in Chrome or Edge.
Click the install icon (usually in the top-right of the address bar).
It will appear as a standalone app on your desktop or phone.

Here is how I structure a typical week:

Create a page for the week’s topic: MCD-2026-Spring/Statistics/Week-04
Add a basic outline with headings from the syllabus.
Tag it: #statistics #week-04 #todo

Open the page in the PWA.
Take outline notes during class. Capture everything.
Use folding after class to collapse dense sections and review the structure.
Tag open questions with #question.

Re-read the notes.
Add wiki-links to related pages from previous weeks.
Add screenshots or diagrams.
Update #todo items to #done.

Query all #question items across the semester.
Research answers and update the notes.
Create a summary page linking to all weekly notes.

Once you are comfortable with the basics, explore these features:

SilverBullet has a built-in scripting language called Space Lua (based on Lua). You can write custom functions to automate tasks, transform text, or generate dynamic content.

Create reusable templates for recurring structures:

```template
## Lecture Notes

### Date: {{today}}
### Topic: {{topic}}

- Key concepts
  -
- Questions
  -
- References
  -
```

SilverBullet can federate with other SilverBullet instances. This means you can link to notes on other people’s servers, creating a distributed knowledge network.

You can customize the appearance with Space Styles. Add custom CSS blocks to change fonts, colors, or layout.

The following sections are specifically tailored for Data Science master’s students and complement the basic workflow above with advanced features for mathematical notation, scientific diagrams, and research paper management.

For data science coursework, mathematical notation is essential. Enable the KaTeX or silverbullet-math plugin for elegant math rendering:

Inline formulas: Wrap with single dollar signs $
- Example: The gradient descent algorithm is defined as $\theta_{t+1} = \theta_t - \eta \nabla_\theta J(\theta)$
Block equations: Wrap with double dollar signs $$
- Example (Binary Cross-Entropy Loss):

$\mathcal{L}(\theta) = -\frac{1}{N} \sum_{i=1}^N \left[ y_i \log(\hat{y}_i) + (1-y_i) \log(1-\hat{y}_i) \right]$

Example (Multivariate Normal Distribution):

$f(\mathbf{x}) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{(2\pi)^k |\boldsymbol{\Sigma}|}} \exp\left( -\frac{1}{2} (\mathbf{x} - \boldsymbol{\mu})^T \boldsymbol{\Sigma}^{-1} (\mathbf{x} - \boldsymbol{\mu}) \right)$

Install the silverbullet-mermaid plugin to draw architecture diagrams directly in your notes:

graph TD
    A[Raw Data Sources] --> B(ETL / Cleaning Process)
    B --> C{Data Split}
    C -->|80% Training| D[Feature Engineering]
    C -->|20% Test| E[Model Evaluation]
    D --> F[Model Training]
    F --> G[Model Serialization .pkl]
    G --> E
    E --> H{Meets Business Metrics?}
    H -->|Yes| I[Deploy to API / Cloud]
    H -->|No| D

graph LR
    subgraph Input Layer
        X1(x1)
        X2(x2)
    end
    subgraph Hidden Layer
        H1((h1))
        H2((h2))
        H3((h3))
    end
    subgraph Output Layer
        Y((y_hat))
    end
    X1 --> H1
    X1 --> H2
    X1 --> H3
    X2 --> H1
    X2 --> H2
    X2 --> H3
    H1 --> Y
    H2 --> Y
    H3 --> Y

For tracking academic papers during your master’s program:

Create a note per paper with frontmatter:

---
type: paper
course: 'Machine Learning'
semester: 2
tags: [machine-learning, clustering, unsupervised]
status: pending
year: 2024
---

Link the PDF directly:

Read the full PDF of [Attention Is All You Need (PDF)](papers/pdfs/attention_is_all_you_need.pdf)

Query pending papers dynamically:

### Papers in Review

```query
from page
where type == "paper" and status == "pending"
select name, course, year
order by year desc
```

Use inline query expressions to display live counts in your text:

Currently I have **${query[[from page where type == "paper" and status == "pending"]]:length}** research papers pending for my projects.

SilverBullet indexes task checkboxes automatically. Use metadata-rich tasks:

- [ ] Solve Logistic Regression Practice [deadline: 2026-06-15] #prioritario
- [x] Submit Final Project Progress #completed

Query all pending tasks across your entire space:

### Pending Master's Tasks

```query
from index.tag "task"
where completed == false
select name, page, deadline
order by deadline asc
```

For a data science master’s program, organize your space like this:

notas-maestria/
├── clases/
│   ├── Machine_Learning.md
│   └── Multivariate_Statistics.md
├── proyectos/
│   └── Anomaly_Detection/
│       ├── research.md
│       └── pipeline_architecture.md
├── papers/
│   ├── Vaswani2017_Transformer.md
│   └── pdfs/
│       └── Vaswani2017_Transformer.pdf
├── templates/
│   ├── class_template.md
│   └── paper_template.md
└── index.md (Dashboard)

As a data science student, you will document algorithms in code and automate calculations in your notes. SilverBullet offers static syntax highlighting and dynamic scripting environments (Space Lua and Space Script).

Use standard code blocks with the language specified for syntax highlighting:

Python (Scikit-Learn Training):

from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression
from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score

# Fit logistic regression
model = LogisticRegression()
model.fit(X_train, y_train)

# Evaluate performance
predictions = model.predict(X_test)
acc = accuracy_score(y_test, predictions)
print(f"Accuracy: {acc:.4f}")

SQL (Analytical Query):

SELECT
    course_name,
    COUNT(student_id) AS total_students,
    AVG(final_grade) AS average_grade
FROM master_grades
GROUP BY course_name
HAVING AVG(final_grade) >= 8.5;

Space Lua is the ideal environment for creating mathematical functions or formatting utilities that you can invoke anywhere in your notes. Write your code in a space-lua block and it loads automatically:

-- Lua function to calculate F1-Score in your notes
function F1Score(precision, recall)
  if (precision + recall) == 0 then return 0 end
  return 2 * (precision * recall) / (precision + recall)
end

To use this function anywhere in your notes, invoke it with the expression syntax ${...}:

Usage: The resulting F1-Score for the evaluated model is ${F1Score(0.85, 0.78)} (computed on the fly).

If you prefer JavaScript for registering advanced editor commands or macros, use the space-script block:

silverbullet.registerFunction({name: "studentGreeting"}, (name) => {
  return `Hello, ${name}! Good luck with your study session today.`;
})

[!TIP] Remember to run the System: Reload command (Ctrl+Alt+R or via Ctrl+K / Cmd+K) every time you make changes to your space-script or space-lua blocks to update their references in the editor.

Start simple: Do not try to build a perfect system on day one. Start with basic pages and outlines, then add tagging and queries as needed.
Use the command palette: It is the fastest way to discover features.
Link aggressively: Every time you mention a concept, link it. Your future self will thank you.
Review backlinks: Check the “Linked Mentions” section at the bottom of pages. It often reveals connections you did not notice.
Backup your space: Since everything is plain files, you can back up the entire /space directory with rsync, Git, or any backup tool.
Keep plugins updated: Press Ctrl+K and type Plugs: Update to stay current with extensions.
Use Space Lua for automation: Create custom functions for repetitive tasks like formatting citations or generating report summaries.

Welcome to SilverBullet Video Series by Zef Hemel
SilverBullet Official Documentation
SilverBullet Community Forum
My Installation Guide for the server setup

This guide is a living document. As I use SilverBullet more during my master’s program, I will update it with new tips and workflows. If you have questions, feel free to reach out.