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 The links below come straight from the latest GitHub release, so this page is never out of date.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

Installing

Three platforms, three short sets of steps. Windows adds a warning you will have to click through.

Why Windows warns

SmartScreen flags installers from publishers it does not recognise, and becoming recognised is a recurring cost we have not taken on yet.

The builds are produced by a public GitHub Actions workflow from a public commit, and you can read both. It is trackedin the open.

macOS

  1. Open the .dmg.
  2. Drag Open Note to Applications.
  3. Launch it.

One universal build for both Apple silicon and Intel. Requires macOS 10.13 or later.

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

  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.