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Open Note

Getting started

Open Note keeps your notes in a Git repository you control. Before it can do anything, it needs two things: git, and a repository to point at.

1. Check you have Git

Section titled “1. Check you have Git”

Open Note runs your own git binary rather than embedding one. That is what makes your SSH keys, credential helpers, commit signing and proxy settings work without configuring any of them twice.

Terminal window
git --version

If that prints a version, you are ready.

  • macOS — running the command above offers to install the Xcode command line tools, which include Git.
  • Windows — install Git for Windows.
  • Linux — sudo apt install git, sudo dnf install git, or your distribution’s equivalent.

2. Get a vault

Section titled “2. Get a vault”

A vault is an entire Git repository. Not a folder inside one — the whole thing. You have two ways in.

Clone one you already have

Section titled “Clone one you already have”

On the welcome screen, choose …or clone one from a URL, paste an SSH or HTTPS remote, and pick where it should live. Because the clone runs through your own Git, a private repo works exactly as it does in your terminal.

Open a folder you already have

Section titled “Open a folder you already have”

Choose Open a vault… and pick any folder that is a Git repository. An empty repository is fine — a new vault with no notes is a normal starting point.

If the folder is not a repository yet:

Terminal window
mkdir notes && cd notes
git init

Then open it. You can add a remote later; Open Note will commit locally in the meantime and say no upstream in the status bar until you do.

3. Write something

Section titled “3. Write something”

Press ⌘N (Ctrl+N on Windows and Linux), or the ＋ button above the file tree. Give it a name — .md is added if you leave it off.

Type. The note is written to disk half a second after you stop, and the status bar goes from Unsaved to Saved.

That file is now a real Markdown file on your disk. Open it in any other editor and it will look exactly as you would expect.

4. Read the sync indicator

Section titled “4. Read the sync indicator”

The bottom-left of the window always says what the vault is doing. It is never silent, because a notes app quietly doing nothing is the one outcome that cannot be allowed.

It says It means
Synced Everything is committed and pushed. Your work is safe on the remote.
Unsaved changes Edits are on disk, waiting to be batched into a commit.
Committing… / Pushing… In progress.
Updates available The remote has commits you do not. They will be pulled shortly.
Offline No network. Work continues locally and pushes when you are back.
No upstream The branch has no remote to push to. Local commits still happen.
Sync paused You turned automation off. Nothing will commit or push.
Conflict Two versions of a note disagree. Everything stops until you decide. See Conflicts.

Click the badge to pause and resume syncing. Click the branch name beside it to switch branches or open a pull request.

Where to go next

Section titled “Where to go next”