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Show HN: Notes Plus – A 100% Markdown Apple Notes Clone (notesplus.io)

1 points by sliqqq ↗ HN
tldr: clone of Apple Notes, but every note is a local Markdown file.

Hi, I used a summer of unemployment to actually finalize a hobby project, a literal clone of Apple's Notes, with open access to the filesystem, meaning each note is just a markdown file. Then implemented renderers for Excalidraw, Latex, AsciiMath, mermaid diagrams, PlantUML, Graphviz, Vega Lite, mhchem and footnotes (a feature i need a lot in texts).

It can also show notes in vertical lists, like swimlanes, I call it "JIRA view" ;)

Free for now (might monetize later if successful, with $19 one-time payment, NOT subscription)!

I'm not 100% sure about the legal aspect of this, but i will try to even list it in the Appstore. The binaries are signed / notarized by Apple.

*PLEASE NOTE:* This is an early alpha! SO BACKUP YOUR STUFF OR JUST WORK WITH COPIES! There are issues! I'm posting this here to collect hurtful user feedback. There's a bug report button in the app, and it will notify you about available updates.

Thanks, I kindly request any form of feedback!

10 comments

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timer_interrupt
It looks really neat! I use Latex still for a few documents, but I honestly have never loved the overall interface for Latex editors. Even the VSCode extensions are pretty temperamental. I can always appreciate a nice UI over these things.
tarwin
Very impressed, especially with the markdown/visual syncing. Tried it myself in an app (see tinyjs.app - nib example) and it's hard. Also the copy/paste from other places can be complex woop!

Appreciate the app size - including releasing separate Intel/ARM versions - no need for giant binaries! Thanks.

I realise you're not trying to be Obsidian (ie markdown is everything) but wondering how you are saving your priority etc? In a side directory like VSCode does or just internally in the app?

sliqqq
Thank tarwin! The app saves metadata like priorities, tags and rank/orders, pin status, favorite status (for files) and sorting (for folders) inside the app itself, technically in ONE simple .json in the app's macOS data folder (might have different locations on Intel and Apple silicon macs):

~/Library/Application Support/.... .notesplus/notes-metadata.json

It's a simple key-value JSON, simply a list of every file, and the according prio, tags, etc. (if set). The notes themselves are not touched and there are NOT any .files or so.

Regarding speed: To be honest i rebuild the app multiple times from scratch, every single time for performance reasons. ;)

zakxxi
Really nice work, feels solid for an alpha. I'd be one of the first buyers once you flip on the $19 payment!

One feature request: iCloud or other cloud sync for iOS/iPadOS/Another Mac or PC would make this a daily driver!

On the editing side: I like the idea of moving text blocks via the drag handle on the left, but in practice it's a bit fiddly to grab and manipulate precisely.