I do understand the sentiment, but a couple of things that make it ok for me: 1. exporting everything is simple 2. the official bear CLI is quite capable, and Claude has no trouble using it to handle all manner of searching, organizing, you name it.

Shiny Frog, the team behind Bear, have been working on a file backed notes app for years. Recently revived and rebranded from Panda to https://lettera.md.