Show HN: NotesHub: cross-platform, Markdown-based note-taking app (about.noteshub.app)
- The app is available for iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, Apple Vision Pro, and the Web.
- The Web version is implemented as a Progressive Web Application that is very responsive, local first, offline first, can be installed, and is entirely free to use.
- Native (hybrid) versions do not require subscription fees and have small one-time payment.
- You can store your notes in Git using any Git provider such as GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. However, it has the best built-in integration with GitHub. Self-hosted scenarios like Gitea are also supported. In addition to Git, you can store your notes in a file system and iCloud Drive on Apple Devices.
- It has a rich Markdown syntax support with added extensions like Mermaid, ABC music notation, callouts, etc.
In addition to regular Markdown notes, you can create Kanban boards for easy task management (under the hood, it is still stored in Markdown). If that is not enough, you can create whiteboards based on Excalidraw and embed them back into your notes.
115 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 190 ms ] threadFrom a filesystem perspective, it's no different from jails or container mount points.
iOS has definitely improved in that area and definitely now has a filesystem.
I want something WYSIWYG-like, without dealing with the underlying mechanisms... give me rich-text on the front and save the file in Markdown behind the scenes. I hardly care, as long as there is a robust export option built-in.
</end rant>
Markdown vs. Rich Text to me is less about the editing experience and more about do you want your files aligned to a file system or not. The options are either:
- rich text editor with files that only make sense to a single application. - rich text editor with no files but (hopefully) some way to export them to (hopefully) compatible formats. - text files in a folder than can be read / edited by almost anything, with the editing experience tied to your application of choice.
Markdown ist basically a must have for me though, because I know most applications will be outlived by my notes, and I want to be able to move on to a different editor. To try a new one, or even use multiple at the same time (say, on my phone and on my computer), it's unacceptable for me if I have to export and import all my notes first and risking diverging branches.
In general I think taking notes is a very personal thing many people do every day and they're looking for an app fitting their exact workflow. That's why there are so many options. I was considering writing my own one several times already, although it's probably not worth the time.
A robust export option is what we're all looking for here.
> taking notes is a very personal thing
I agree with that.
[0]: https://notesnook.com/
I literally don't need anything else.
Oh, wow! I didn't know it handled files this well. It'll even play video. What's keeping you from using Notes all the time? The lack of export options? What sort of export options are you looking for?
I currently use Foam on VSCode for notetakng / personal project management. But 2/3rds of my actual typing tends to be inside NeoVim following the foam format (vscode vs vim on the day is determined more by what i'm working on that day vs anything else). I'm constantly on the lookout for a better* system; but haven't found one yet as sometimes I want a UI; but Grep and quick jots inside the terminal is just very useful.
I sadly use my own hand-rolled markdown system way too often to really switch, but I’ll definitely have to check this out for an on-the-go replacement for Google Keep.
B) “offline first” is a great feature, but I’m curious why you didn’t go with the terms hear more often, “local first”? Just wanted something more accessible to laypeople?
C) “offline first” seems hard to match up with “progressive web app” — not from any sort of user perspective (sounds ideal, even!), just in terms of technical implementation. Am I correct in assuming that the iOS and android versions are PWAs, and that they still durably store files on device? If so, how hard was that?
D) “all major platforms: iOS/macOS/Android/Windows” made me shed a brief tear. It’s ~~infrastructure~~ Linux Week, time to add a platform!!
Best of luck and thanks for sharing your work. I look forward to meeting you on top of the world one day ;)
Although I didnt quite like that it asked for a permission to pretty much _everything_ in Githuhb - public and private repos, deploykeys?!, everything. I wish that were customisable. It was okay for me because I dont keep any non public code in Github, but others might have..
> To accomplish this scenario select generic Git notebook provider (instead of GitHub) and for the password field put fine-grained personal access token which can be generated to have access only to certain repositories.
Thx!
I just wish every rich text editor had accessible markdown…
If I were still using it regularly I'd put one together using WordBASIC/VBAscript.
YMMV, but this is my recollection.
"your notes will always be" -> "your notes are always" "content will be synced" -> "content is synced"
"note will be periodically synced" -> "notes are periodically synced" "You can use it for managing personal tasks..." -> "Manage your personal tasks..."
"You can choose between light and dark" -> "Choose between light and dark"
The active voice equivalent of "content will be synced" would be "NotesHub will sync your content".
> "content will be synced" -> "content is synced"
FYI that's still passive voice.
If it’s clear the zombies are doing the action (subject), then the content is passive voice. Otherwise, if the zombies are an adverbial phrase, the sentence is in active voice.
Passive voice: “Content is synced by zombies”
Active voice: “NotesHub syncs the content by zombies”
When I started grad school and was learning how to write effectively, I struggled with passive/active voice differentiation… until I learned the zombies tip. It’s so absurd that you can’t forget it, and it’s simple enough to differentiate the two in a split second!
Great three part series on that topic and others:
https://jasonzweig.com/on-writing-better-part-1/
A really interesting feature would be the ability to post to your own host --- the publishing aspect is the one thing which has me seriously contemplating Obsidian, but I'm so deep into gitbook and github I haven't been able to justify a cost-benefit calculation.
[0] https://obsidian.md/pricing
I wrote a plugin called Relay that makes obsidian multiplayer with live collaboration (using CRDTs), and there are a few others in the space too.
Obsidian sync is also great for e2e encrypted sync for your own devices if you don't want to rely on third parties like GitHub.
https://github.com/tadashi-aikawa/obsidian-another-quick-swi...
I need the sandbox, for bussiness is a no brainer, allow some apps from the store, give the right permissions, done and for me personally, I don't use anything that doesn't come from the store, even if I can download the app freely from the project page, a few bucks for the sandbox and peace of mind is worth it to me.
I donated to Obsidian because I liked the project in general, I dislike the way they distribute the app in all platforms outside of ios, ex, snap with --classic rendering the attempt to sandbox it useless.
Edit ---
Reading some comments, it's pretty obvious that a lot of people even install third party plugins, on an app that is about taking personal notes, it's refreshing to see how much people care about cybersecurity and their personal, business notes.
Are notes held on disk unencrypted?
However, a few questions:
1. Can I self-host it? If so, how? 2. Can I connect to a "private" Github repo? (I dont want my personal notes publicly viewable, unless I choose so) 3. What's the pricing model? Wasn't entirely clear.
Thanks!!
The FAQ says "To accomplish this scenario select generic Git notebook provider (instead of GitHub) and for the password field put fine-grained personal access token which can be generated to have access only to certain repositories."
I created a PAT with EVERY permission within a selected repo, to the fullest-extent allowed by the fine-grained PAT, but still see "An unhandled error occured, please try again" when setting it up within NotesHub.
I made a quite similar app with some other features that are a personal must-have which this one lacks.
Markdown based with HTML templates to allow for different appearance when converted to PDF. It also has cross references to other files, so that long documents can be broken down into separate files.
It doesn't have all the features that NotesHub has - hats off to that and I hope NotesHub becomes a success.