Installation

# npm: macOS, Linux and Windows (Node 18 or newer)
npm install -g @adrianmg/noted

# Homebrew: macOS and Linux
brew tap adrianmg/noted https://github.com/adrianmg/noted
brew trust adrianmg/noted
brew install noted

# Install script: checks the build against the release's checksums
curl -fsSL https://noted.computer/install | sh      # macOS, Linux
irm https://noted.computer/install.ps1 | iex        # Windows, in PowerShell

If npm warns that an install script was blocked, noted is still installed: run noted. The optional script improves startup speed on macOS and Linux. To allow that optimization, reinstall with an npm version that supports --allow-scripts:

npm install -g @adrianmg/noted --allow-scripts=@adrianmg/noted

Usage

noted                     # a new note, cursor ready
noted buy oat milk        # a new note that starts with those words
noted --theme amber       # system, turbo, amber, phosphor, charcoal, lime,
                          # midnight, c64, catppuccin, gruvbox, kanagawa,
                          # solarized, synthwave
noted --dir ~/Notes       # keep notes in another folder this time
noted --path              # print where your notes are
noted --help              # every option

Import existing notes or change location

Already have notes in Obsidian, iA Writer, or another app that saves Markdown? Open their folder with --dir; quote paths with spaces:

noted --dir ~/Notes
noted --dir "$HOME/Documents/My Notes"

Existing notes open in place, including notes in nested folders, and new notes are saved there. There is no separate import or conversion step. --dir applies only to this run: it does not change the default or move notes from your previous folder.

To change the default permanently, use Noted ▸ Notes folder…. The current location is shown read-only, and "Folder to use" starts with that path. Use new folder becomes available when you choose a valid, different location. Bring existing notes from '…' then lets you move your current notes along, or leave them where they are by unticking it. Existing notes in the chosen folder appear either way; Cancel changes nothing.

What it does

noted opens on a new note in about 2.5 ms, answers each key in under 0.1 ms (about 0.1 ms in a 30,000-line note), and saves as you type, so there's no save button and nothing to lose. Each note is a plain Markdown file named after its first line, in a Noted folder in iCloud Drive when it's on, or else in Documents, where any editor can open it: noted --path prints where, and Noted ▸ Notes folder… chooses where notes open and save. Markdown is lit as you type, finding searches every note as you type, and it all looks like MS-DOS: pull-down menus, Norton Commander panes and thirteen themes, one of them in your terminal's own colors (xterm's on Windows). It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows, in any terminal.

How it compares with Apple Notes, Obsidian, VS Code, vim and Emacs, measured on one Mac with every sample published: benchmarks.

Keys

| Key | | |---|---| | ESC | Notes list, and back | | ⌘F or ^F | Find a note, or create one | | ^N | New note | | ^T | Make a task, tick it | | ^G | Insert a table | | ⌥↩ or ⌥-click | View the image at the cursor | | ^D | Delete the note (to the Trash; ^Z puts it back) | | F10 | Menus | | F1 | Every key | | ^Q | Exit |

On a PC, read ⌘ as ^ and ⌥ as ALT.

Vim keys

Options ▸ Vim keys (⌥O then m) turns the note modal, as in vim. It's off until you turn it on. The footer shows the mode, and the cursor is a bar in Insert mode. A new note starts in Insert mode, an opened one in Normal.

| Key | | |---|---| | i a I A o O | Insert mode; ESC leaves it | | h j k l w b e 0 ^ $ gg G f t { } % | Move, with counts: 3w 5j | | d c y | With a motion or a text object: dw c$ yy dd ciw ci" da( | | x D C s p P r ~ J >> << | As in vim | | u ^R | Undo, redo; a whole insert is one step | | / | noted's find, across all your notes |

In the notes list, j k go down and up. It's the core of vim, checked against vim itself, not all of it: there's no Visual mode (v), ., registers, marks, macros or : commands, and a key vim has that this doesn't says so in the footer. ^ keys stay noted's, so ^F finds and ^D deletes a note.

Updating

npm install -g @adrianmg/noted     # npm
brew upgrade noted                 # Homebrew

With the install scripts, run them again.

Why?

A thought is gone in seconds, and most notes apps take longer than that to open. noted is a terminal away, ready before you finish pressing Enter, and leaves you nothing but plain files in a folder you own.

Do you want to know more? Visit noted.computer, with a live demo and the User's Guide.

Questions? Ideas? Bugs?

Open an issue or hit me up on Twitter.

This repository holds noted's releases, its Homebrew formula and this README; the npm package, @adrianmg/noted, ships the same builds, and is published from here, with provenance. To report a vulnerability, see SECURITY.md.

License

Made by Adrián Mato. Available under the terms of the MIT License.