A block-based desktop note app that can spread out.
Write in a Notion-style block editor, keep every note in one tidy window, then scatter them across your desktop as pastel sticky windows when you need them in view. Local-first, no account, no sync service.
Most note apps make you choose. Either everything lives in one window and disappears the moment you switch away, or every note is a floating scrap with no structure and no real editor.
NotePane does both, and switches between them with one shortcut.
- A real block editor. BlockNote gives you the
/command palette, drag handles, nesting, tables, toggles and code blocks. Its default UI is used as-is rather than wrapped in a custom toolbar, so it behaves the way you already expect. - Two shapes for the same notes. Gather them into a sidebar, or spread them across the screen. Nothing is duplicated or exported between modes.
- Yours, on your disk. Notes are a plain JSON file in your user data directory. No sign-in, no server, no telemetry.
One window. Sessions live in the sidebar, each with its own accent colour and
a ⌘1–⌘9 shortcut. This is where you draft, compare and organise.
Every session becomes its own small window, arranged across your display and tinted with its accent colour. Pin the ones you want above other apps and keep working elsewhere.
Press ⌘⇧T to move between them. Drag a sidebar tab out of the window to
detach a single note; drop a detached note back to dock it again.
Type / anywhere to insert a block. Available blocks:
| Text | Paragraph, Heading 1–3, Toggle Heading, Quote |
| Lists | Bullet, Numbered, Check, Toggle |
| Structure | Table with advanced handles, Code block with syntax highlighting and a prettifier |
| Media | Image with download and crop, File, Video, Audio |
Plus inline styles, links, per-note typography, a table of contents rail, and Markdown import straight from the slash menu.
git clone https://github.com/Extransload/NotePane.git
cd NotePane
make install
make appThe installer or archive lands in release/. make app builds for the
machine you are on; make app-mac produces a macOS arm64 zip and
make app-win a Windows x64 installer.
make install
make runmake run builds the renderer and opens the desktop app. On WSL it produces a
Windows app folder and launches NotePane.exe for you.
Requirements: Node ^20.19 or >=22.12, and npm. make install also
downloads the Chromium build used by the test suite. Without make, the
equivalent is npm install && npm run install:browsers && npm start.
make dev-web # Vite dev server on 127.0.0.1:5173
make dev-app # Electron against that server, in a second terminalCreate a session, write, and switch. Sessions are titled automatically from their first line until you rename one by double-clicking its tab.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌘T / ⌘N |
New session |
⌘1 … ⌘9 |
Jump to a session |
⌘⇧T |
Switch between Tab sessions mode and Sticky windows mode |
/ |
Open the block palette |
⌘, |
Preferences |
⌘⇧E |
Export as PNG or PDF |
These are the default macOS shortcuts (⌘ = Command, ⇧ = Shift).
On Windows, use Ctrl instead of Command.
See the usage guide for more shortcuts and appearance settings.
A single JSON file in Electron's userData directory:
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/NotePane/notes.json
Windows %APPDATA%\NotePane\notes.json
It holds the BlockNote document, a Markdown fallback, window bounds, colours and typography for every note. Preferences include a full backup export and import, so moving to another machine is a file copy.
npm run check:refs # undefined references, about a second
npm run verify:quick # build, unit tests, distribution checks
npm run verify # everything above plus both end-to-end suitesdocs/architecture.md has a code map naming the file that owns each kind of
behaviour, and AGENTS.md describes how much verification a change needs.
Renderer code is grouped by ownership:
src/editor/ editor engine and behaviour
src/model/ stored data and its normalisation
src/style/ colour maths and computed styles
src/ui/ React components
src/hooks/ stateful behaviour lifted out of the editor shell
src/utils/ small shared helpers
Tests live in tests/e2e/renderer/ by feature, tests/e2e/electron.spec.mjs
for desktop behaviour, and tests/unit/ for the store.
AI, comments, real-time collaboration and DOCX/ODT export are not currently provided. NotePane focuses on local note-taking.
NotePane is licensed under the MIT License. Third-party dependencies remain subject to their respective licenses.