Open Note

Download Open Note

Free and MIT licensed. The links below come straight from the latest GitHub release, so this page is never out of date.

Finding the latest release…

These builds are not signed yet

Your operating system will say so, in fairly alarming terms. Here is exactly what you will see and why.

Why

Code signing certificates are a recurring cost — an Apple Developer Program membership for macOS, and a signing service or EV certificate for Windows. Until those are in place, the installers are unsigned. The builds themselves are produced by a public GitHub Actions workflow from a public commit, and you can read both.

Signing is tracked in the open:macOSandWindows.

macOS

You will see “Open Note cannot be opened because the developer cannot be verified.”

  1. Open the .dmg and drag Open Note to Applications.
  2. In Applications, right-click Open Note and choose Open.
  3. Click Open in the dialog. macOS remembers, so this is once only.

Double-clicking gives you a dialog with no Open button. The right-click is what makes the difference.

Windows

SmartScreen will show “Windows protected your PC.”

  1. Run the .exe.
  2. Click More info.
  3. Click Run anyway.

The .msi is there for managed deployment. For a normal install, take the.exe. Pre-releases ship no .msi, because Windows Installer versions cannot express a tag like 0.2.0-beta.1.

Linux

No warning — Linux does not gate unsigned binaries this way.

  1. AppImage: chmod +x Open*.AppImage then run it.
  2. Debian, Ubuntu: sudo apt install ./Open*.deb
  3. Fedora, RHEL: sudo dnf install ./Open*.rpm

Builds are x86-64. On Wayland, WebKitGTK is the weakest of the three webviews — if text input misbehaves, try GDK_BACKEND=x11.

Before you open it

Two things worth knowing, because neither is a bug.

  • You need Git installed.Open Note runs your own git so that your keys, credential helpers and signing config keep working. macOS ships it with the Xcode command line tools; most Linux distros have it already; on Windows, install Git for Windows.
  • You need a repository to point it at.Any Git repo works, empty or not. Clone one from a URL inside the app, or open a folder you have already run git init in.The getting started guide walks through both.