jot

Keep one notebook for nonsense. That’s where your real patterns hide.

jot is a terminal-first notebook for capturing raw thoughts — instantly, privately, without structure.

No apps. No dashboards. Just one command, one notebook, and time.

quick start

brew install jot
# or
npm install -g @intina47/jot
# or (Windows)
choco install jot

Then, the moment a thought appears:

jot

Type. Press enter. Return to your work.

That’s the whole loop.

what is jot?

jot is a notebook for thoughts that are not ready yet.

Not ideas. Not tasks. Not notes.

Nonsense.

The half-formed sentence. The thing you thought at 01:43. The idea you don’t respect yet.

Most tools ask you to be clear. jot lets you be early.

why jot exists

Developers don’t lack tools. They lack a place where nothing has to make sense.

You open Notion when things are polished. You open a doc when things are explainable. You open Slack when things are urgent.

But where do you put the thought that feels stupid until it isn’t?

That’s what jot is for.

the rule

There is only one rule:

Everything goes in the same notebook.

No folders. No tags. No categories.

Time will do the sorting.

usage

capture a thought

jot
# or
jot init

You’ll see:

jot › what’s on your mind?

Type one line. Press enter. Exit silently.

No confirmation. No formatting. No dopamine tricks.

reading back

jot list

You’ll see a simple timeline:

[2026-01-04 22:31] notion but in the terminal
[2026-01-06 09:12] onboarding tools assume users read
[2026-01-09 01:03] loneliness isn’t social, it’s unseen

This is not a feed. It’s a mirror.

patterns

Eventually, curiosity wins.

jot patterns

For now, jot simply says:

patterns are coming. keep noticing.

Later, it will reflect what you keep returning to — nothing more.

You may not like the answer. That’s the point.

what should I write?

If you’re unsure, start here:

• “this feels important but I don’t know why”
• “why does this annoy me every time?”
• “I keep circling this idea but avoiding it”
• “note to self: don’t forget how this felt”
• “this is probably nonsense”

Especially the last one.

what jot is not

• ❌ a second brain
• ❌ a productivity system
• ❌ a knowledge base
• ❌ a markdown playground

Those come later — if they come at all.

jot lives before structure.

philosophy

• Capture over clarity
• Friction is the enemy
• Chronology beats organization
• Patterns emerge, they are not forced

If it feels boring, it’s working. If it feels quiet, you’re close.

data & privacy

Your thoughts are yours.

• Stored locally by default
• Plain text (~/.jot/journal.txt)
• No lock-in
• Sync is optional, never assumed

If jot ever feels like a platform, uninstall it.

who this is for

• developers who think in fragments
• founders with too many almost-ideas
• people who trust time more than tools

If you want to optimize your thinking, this isn’t for you. If you want to notice it, welcome.

uninstallation

Remove the binary however you installed it.

Your notebook stays. Even if jot doesn’t.

final note

Most ideas don’t fail because they’re bad. They fail because they were embarrassed too early.

jot is where embarrassment goes to wait.