ZenNotes

[!NOTE] I build ZenNotes with a lot of help from AI tools like Claude and Codex. They let me move much faster, but I still go through some of the code before I ship it. The architecture, the technical decisions, and the trade-offs are things I still spend a lot of time thinking about. AI helps me write code faster, but it doesn't replace understanding how the system works.

ZenNotes is a keyboard-first Markdown notes app with a shared product core and multiple runtimes:

• a desktop app built with Electron
• a self-hosted web app backed by a Go server
• a future hosted deployment mode built on the same web/server stack

ZenNotes keeps your notes as ordinary Markdown files on disk. It adds Vim-friendly editing, split and preview workflows, tasks, tags, archive/trash, diagrams, search, daily notes, CSV databases (Notion-style Table + Board views over plain .csv files), and MCP integration on top of the files you already own. On macOS, the first-party zen CLI also powers launcher workflows such as the Raycast extension.

Grab the latest build from GitHub Releases — see Install below.
Website: zennotes.org Support development: GitHub Sponsors

Detailed in-repo documentation lives under docs/README.md.

Install

All desktop installers are attached to each GitHub Release. The app auto-updates, so you only download once. (Replace <version> with the current release, e.g. 2.2.0.)

macOS

Homebrew (recommended):

brew install --cask zennotes/tap/zennotes

Or download the .dmg for your chip, open it, and drag ZenNotes to Applications. Builds are signed and notarized.

• Apple Silicon: ZenNotes-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg
• Intel: ZenNotes-<version>-mac-x64.dmg

Windows

Download and run ZenNotes-<version>-win-x64.exe.

Linux

Pick whatever suits your distro:

• Arch / CachyOS / Manjaro — AUR (recommended):

  yay -S zennotes-bin     # or: paru -S zennotes-bin
  

  Installs cleanly without libfuse2.
• Arch — native package:

  sudo pacman -U ZenNotes-<version>-linux-x86_64.pacman
  

• Debian / Ubuntu:

  sudo apt install ./ZenNotes-<version>-linux-amd64.deb
  

• Nix / NixOS: Read packaging/nix/README.md for installation instructions
• Any distro — AppImage:

  chmod +x ZenNotes-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage
  ./ZenNotes-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage
  

  AppImages need FUSE 2. On distros that ship only FUSE 3 (Arch, CachyOS, Fedora), either install it (sudo pacman -S fuse2, sudo dnf install fuse) or run without FUSE:

  ./ZenNotes-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage --appimage-extract-and-run
  

  (Or just use the AUR / .pacman / .deb package, which sidestep this entirely.)

zen CLI

The desktop app installs a zen command-line companion from Settings → CLI — list, read, search, capture, edit, archive/trash notes, plus tasks, folders, and MCP. On macOS it can also install the Raycast extension locally.

Self-hosted web app

ZenNotes also runs as a self-hosted web app backed by a Go server. See Local development to run the web client and server.

What ZenNotes is for

• writing and organizing plain-file Markdown notes without a database
• moving quickly with keyboard-first navigation and Vim motions
• working across edit, split, and preview modes without losing context
• keeping tasks, tags, search, archive, trash, and quick capture inside the same vault
• rendering math and diagrams directly from Markdown
• exposing the vault to MCP-capable tools through a first-party server
• searching and opening notes from terminal scripts or Raycast on macOS
• self-hosting the app on your own machine or home server

Product modes

ZenNotes now ships from one monorepo with one shared app core.

• desktop: Electron shell, native menus, updater, floating windows, desktop packaging
• self-hosted: browser frontend plus Go server, suitable for home servers and LAN use
• hosted: planned as the same web/server stack with auth and multi-user storage added later

The source of truth for user-facing features is the shared UI in packages/app-core.

Core ideas

Plain files first

Every note is a normal .md file inside a chosen vault. ZenNotes does not store note content in a hidden database.

Keyboard-first by default

ZenNotes assumes you want to move fast:

• first-class Vim mode
• leader-key flows
• command palette
• pane and tab motion
• local ex commands
• built-in help

Preview is part of the workflow

ZenNotes supports:

• edit mode
• preview mode
• split mode
• pinned reference panes
• detached note windows on desktop

Shared vault, shared tooling

ZenNotes includes a first-party MCP server and desktop install flows for compatible clients, so tools can work on the same vault you do instead of a copy.

Feature overview

Notes, folders, and lifecycle

ZenNotes can:

• create, rename, duplicate, move, archive, unarchive, trash, restore, and reveal notes and folders
• watch the vault for external changes
• reopen your workspace layout with tabs and panes

System folders still exist, but the vault model is more flexible now:

• quick, archive, and trash remain built-in lifecycle areas
• the main notes area can be either:
  • inbox/
  • the vault root directly, for Obsidian-style flat vaults

The built-in folder labels are also customizable in the UI without changing the underlying internal ids.

Daily and weekly notes

Daily and weekly notes are optional and can be enabled from Settings.

• when enabled, ZenNotes can open or create today's daily note and this week's weekly note automatically
• the default daily title is a simple ISO date like 2026-04-21
• the default weekly title is an ISO week title like 2026-W24
• date notes live in dedicated directories under your primary notes area
• the default directories are Daily Notes and Weekly Notes
• the directory and title can use date patterns such as yyyy/MM-MMM and yyyy-MM-dd-EEE
• weekly title patterns can use ISO week tokens such as yyyy-'W'ww
• localized month and weekday names can follow system, en-US, pt-BR, or another BCP 47 locale

Supported date note pattern tokens:

• yyyy / yy for 2026 / 26
• M / MM / MMM / MMMM for 6 / 06 / Jun / June
• d / dd for 9 / 09
• EEE / EEEE for Tue / Tuesday
• w / ww for ISO week numbers like 24
• single-quoted literals, such as 'Daily Notes'/yyyy/MM-MMM

Weekly notes render date tokens from the ISO week's Monday, and yyyy is the ISO week-year for weekly patterns.

Editor and preview

The editor stack is CodeMirror 6 with a Markdown-oriented workflow:

• live preview behavior in the editor
• heading folding
• outline extraction and jumps
• configurable line numbers
• configurable line-height and typography controls
• syntax highlighting for fenced code blocks
• desktop-installed TextMate grammars for custom fenced-code languages
• wiki links, callouts, tables, footnotes, and local embeds
• Vim block cursor and keyboard navigation

Preview and split mode support:

• GitHub-flavored Markdown
• KaTeX math
• Mermaid
• TikZ
• JSXGraph
• function-plot
• callouts
• footnotes
• wiki links and backlinks

Search, tasks, tags, and built-in views

ZenNotes includes:

• note search by title and path
• vault-wide text search
• tags view
• tasks view
• archive view
• trash view
• quick notes view
• built-in help/manual

Vault text search can use the built-in engine, ripgrep, or fzf, with auto-detection and optional custom binary paths.

The desktop app also ships a zen command-line companion for list, read, search, capture, edit, archive/trash, task, folder, and MCP workflows. On macOS, ZenNotes can install its Raycast extension locally from Settings -> CLI, avoiding the Raycast Store review path. The integration uses the CLI plus zennotes:// deep links to search notes, open them in the main app, open them in floating windows, archive/unarchive, move notes to Trash, reveal files in Finder, and copy note paths or wikilinks.

Obsidian-friendly vault support

ZenNotes now works better with existing Obsidian-style vaults.

• primary notes can live at the vault root instead of requiring inbox/
• loose files anywhere in the vault are surfaced as files/assets
• embedded files like ![[image.png]] resolve more like Obsidian
• new referenced files default to the vault root instead of a required attachments folder
• legacy attachements/ and _assets/ folders are still recognized

This means imported vaults with top-level notes, folders, and loose images/files behave much more naturally.

Files and local assets

ZenNotes supports local files in notes and in the sidebar/list views.

• local images and files can appear directly in the vault tree
• images, SVGs, videos, audio, PDFs, and other media open inside ZenNotes tabs or reference panes instead of being handed off to the OS by default
• desktop context menus include reveal-in-file-manager actions
• desktop uses Finder on macOS and the platform file manager on Windows/Linux
• watcher updates now include non-Markdown file changes, so deleting files externally updates the UI without a manual refresh

Sidebar multi-select supports platform modifiers: use Cmd/Ctrl-click to toggle individual notes or folders, Shift-click to select a visible range, then use the context menu to apply actions such as open in tabs, move, archive, trash, restore, delete folders, copy paths, or drag the selected group to a folder.

Themes, fonts, and customization

The settings surface includes:

• theme families and light/dark/auto modes
• interface, text, and monospace font selection
• editor font size and line-height controls
• preview and editor width controls
• content alignment
• keymap overrides
• Vim toggles and leader hint behavior
• search backend selection
• vault layout settings
• daily notes settings
• system-folder display labels

Desktop vs web

Both runtimes share the same core app, but they do not expose identical platform features.

Desktop-only features include:

• native menus
• app updater
• floating note windows
• zen CLI install/uninstall flow
• local Raycast extension installation on macOS
• MCP install/uninstall flows for supported clients
• reveal in Finder / platform file manager
• packaging and signed releases

Web/self-hosted mode includes:

• the same shared note UI and workflows
• a Go backend for vault access and file watching
• a server-side vault picker/browser
• browser access on a LAN or home server

Monorepo layout

ZenNotes now uses a single monorepo.

apps/
  desktop/   Electron shell, preload, updater, packaging
  web/       Vite/PWA shell and HTTP bridge
packages/
  app-core/        Shared React application and renderer logic
  bridge-contract/ Typed runtime contract between UI and host
  shared-domain/   Shared types and note/task/view models
  shared-ui/       Reusable UI primitives
tooling/
  scripts/         Shared tooling hooks and migration scripts
docs/

Read docs/monorepo-architecture.md for the architectural boundary between the shared app core and the platform-specific shells.

Quick start

Requirements

• Node.js 22+
• npm
• Go 1.22+ for the server build path
• Docker optional, for self-hosting

Install dependencies

npm ci

Local development

Desktop app

npm run dev:desktop

or:

make desktop

Web client

npm run dev:web

or:

make web-dev

Go server

The server lives in its own repository, ZenNotes/znserver. For browser work you do not need it checked out: npm run dev:server downloads the release pinned in tooling/server-release.json, verifies its checksum, and runs it. To work on the server itself, point ZENNOTES_SERVER_DIR at a znserver checkout and the same command runs it with go run.

npm run dev:server

or:

make server-dev

Web + server together

npm run dev:web-stack

or:

make web-stack

Important dev note:

• the browser app and the Go server are separate processes in dev mode
• frontend-only changes usually need only the web dev server
• backend changes happen in ZenNotes/znserver and need that server restarted
• if the web client is newer than the running server, ZenNotes now shows a clearer error instead of raw 404 noise for newer API flows like the vault picker

Root scripts

From the repository root:

Makefile commands

The root Makefile provides a simpler interface:

Run make help to print the same summary.

Self-hosting with Docker

The image, adibhanna/zennotes, is built and published from the server's own repository, ZenNotes/znserver. This repository only ships the Compose file and Makefile that run it.

Start the self-hosted app

make up

Then open:

• http://localhost:7878

Default Docker mounts

When you start Docker with make up, ZenNotes mounts:

• host ./vault -> container ./vault's absolute host path
• host ./data -> container /data

In practice, that means the container sees the vault at the same absolute path you chose on the host, instead of rewriting it to /workspace.

The server stores its config under /data/server.json by default.

Default Docker security behavior

The self-hosted Docker flow is now secure by default:

• the published port binds to 127.0.0.1 unless you override it
• ZenNotes generates a bootstrap auth token on first make up and stores it in ./data/auth-token
• the browser version signs in with that token once, then uses an HttpOnly session cookie
• the container runs as your local UID/GID by default, with a read-only root filesystem, no-new-privileges, and dropped Linux capabilities

Useful env vars:

• ALLOW_INSECURE_NOAUTH=1: only use this if you intentionally want to disable auth
• ZENNOTES_ALLOWED_ORIGINS: explicit browser origin allowlist
• ZENNOTES_BROWSE_ROOTS: restricts which server-side directories the picker can browse

Recommended deployment model:

• keep ZenNotes behind a reverse proxy, VPN, or private network gate
• do not expose the raw Go server directly to the public internet unless you understand the tradeoffs

Choosing a different host folder

You can mount a different host content root:

CONTENT_ROOT="$HOME/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs" make up

That works for paths with spaces too.

Useful variables:

• CONTENT_ROOT: host folder used as the live vault root
• DATA: host directory used for persisted server config
• PORT: published host port
• IMAGE: Docker image to run (default adibhanna/zennotes:latest; pin with IMAGE=adibhanna/zennotes:2.50.5)
• ALLOW_INSECURE_NOAUTH: disable the default auth requirement

Docker browse model

Important limitation:

• the Docker container can only browse folders that are mounted into it
• it cannot browse your entire host filesystem
• by default, the picker is scoped to the mounted content root unless you explicitly relax it

So if you want to browse an Obsidian vault, iCloud Drive, or another directory from the web picker, that directory needs to be mounted into the container first.

Relevant container env vars

The current compose/runtime flow supports:

• ZENNOTES_BIND
• ZENNOTES_CONFIG_PATH
• ZENNOTES_DEFAULT_VAULT_PATH
• ZENNOTES_BROWSE_ROOTS
• ZENNOTES_VAULT_PATH

Behavior notes:

• ZENNOTES_VAULT_PATH hard-locks the server to a specific vault path
• ZENNOTES_DEFAULT_VAULT_PATH sets the starting vault when no saved selection exists
• ZENNOTES_BROWSE_ROOTS limits what the web picker can browse
• ZENNOTES_ALLOWED_ORIGINS restricts which browser origins can connect
• ZENNOTES_ALLOW_UNSCOPED_BROWSE=1 removes browse-root enforcement
• ZENNOTES_ALLOW_INSECURE_NOAUTH=1 disables the default auth guardrail

Web vault picker

The self-hosted web build now includes a server-backed vault chooser.

• it browses folders on the server, not the browser machine
• it only browses configured allowed roots by default
• it starts from sensible locations instead of requiring blind path typing
• it supports a simpler folder-picker flow for choosing the active vault
• on macOS-hosted servers, common shortcuts like iCloud Drive are supported when available

If you start the server with ZENNOTES_VAULT_PATH, manual vault switching is intentionally disabled.

If auth is enabled, the browser asks for the bootstrap token once and then switches to a secure session cookie. ZenNotes no longer relies on auth tokens in browser URLs or local storage.

MCP integration

ZenNotes ships a dedicated MCP server and desktop install flows for:

• Claude Code
• Claude Desktop
• Codex

The desktop app can:

• detect whether the ZenNotes MCP entry is installed
• install or uninstall it for each supported client
• show the exact runtime used to launch the server
• edit the server's default instructions from Settings

The MCP server exposes vault operations such as:

• reading notes
• creating notes
• moving notes
• appending to notes
• listing notes
• searching vault text
• listing files/assets
• toggling tasks

Building and packaging desktop releases

Build everything

npm run build:prod

Desktop package scripts

npm run pack
npm run dist:mac
npm run dist:win
npm run dist:linux

Signed macOS releases

Public macOS releases are wired for hardened runtime signing and notarization.

The GitHub Actions release workflow expects:

• MACOS_CERTIFICATE_P12
• MACOS_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD
• APPLE_ID
• APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD
• APPLE_TEAM_ID

Optional Windows signing can be supplied with:

• WINDOWS_CERTIFICATE_P12
• WINDOWS_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD

Tagged releases fail the macOS release job if the required Apple signing or notarization secrets are missing. That prevents accidentally shipping an unsigned public mac build.

Current status

ZenNotes is actively evolving. The desktop app is the more mature runtime today, while the self-hosted web/server path is being brought into parity through the shared monorepo core.

That means:

• many features are shared already
• some platform-specific behavior still lives in the shell layers
• the README will keep evolving as desktop, web, and self-hosted flows converge further

License

MIT