heyman/heynote

A dedicated scratchpad for power users

JavaScript

5,374

1,238 commits

updated Jun 24, 2026

See the code

README

Heynote

GitHub release (latest SemVer) Build Status

General Information

Heynote is a scratchpad and note-taking app for developers and power users. It functions as a large persistent text buffer where you can write down anything you like. Works great for that Slack message you don't want to accidentally send, a JSON response from an API you're working with, notes from a meeting, your daily to-do list, etc.

Heynote buffers are divided into blocks, and each block can have its own Language set (e.g. JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, etc.). This gives you syntax highlighting and lets you auto-format that JSON response. Just hit Ctrl/Cmd + Enter to create a new block.

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

New sidebar buffer tree feature

Features

  • Persistent text buffers

  • Block-based

  • Inline images

  • Multiple buffers in tabs

  • Search (single and multi buffer)

  • Math/Calculator mode

  • Currency conversion

  • Syntax highlighting:

    C++, C#, Clojure, CSS, Elixir, Erlang, Dart, Go, Groovy, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSX, Kotlin, TypeScript, TOML, TSX, JSON, Lezer, Markdown, Mermaid, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Shell, SQL, Swift, Vue, XML, YAML

  • Language auto-detection

  • Auto-formatting

  • Multi-cursor editing

  • Dark & Light themes

  • Option to set a global hotkey to show/hide the app

  • Default, Emacs-like or custom key bindings

  • Spellchecking

Documentation

Documentation is available on the Heynote website.

Development

To develop Heynote you need Node.js and you should (hopefully) just need to check out the code and then run:

> npm install
> npm run dev

Run Tests

To run the tests:

> npm run test

To run the tests in the Playwright UI:

> npm run test:ui

Contributions

I'm happy to merge contributions that fit my vision for the app. Bug fixes are always welcome.

FAQ

Where is the buffer data stored?

See the documentation.

Can you make a mobile app?

No, at the moment this is out of scope, sorry.

What are the default keyboard shortcuts?

See the documentation.

Thanks!

Heynote is built upon CodeMirror, Vue, Electron, Math.js, Prettier and other great open-source projects.

developer-tools
editor
notes
notes-app
note-taking
productivity-tools
scratchpad

heyman/heynote

A dedicated scratchpad for power users

JavaScript

5,374

1,238 commits

updated Jun 24, 2026

See the code

README

Heynote

GitHub release (latest SemVer) Build Status

General Information

Heynote is a scratchpad and note-taking app for developers and power users. It functions as a large persistent text buffer where you can write down anything you like. Works great for that Slack message you don't want to accidentally send, a JSON response from an API you're working with, notes from a meeting, your daily to-do list, etc.

Heynote buffers are divided into blocks, and each block can have its own Language set (e.g. JavaScript, JSON, Markdown, etc.). This gives you syntax highlighting and lets you auto-format that JSON response. Just hit Ctrl/Cmd + Enter to create a new block.

Available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

New sidebar buffer tree feature

Features

  • Persistent text buffers

  • Block-based

  • Inline images

  • Multiple buffers in tabs

  • Search (single and multi buffer)

  • Math/Calculator mode

  • Currency conversion

  • Syntax highlighting:

    C++, C#, Clojure, CSS, Elixir, Erlang, Dart, Go, Groovy, HTML, Java, JavaScript, JSX, Kotlin, TypeScript, TOML, TSX, JSON, Lezer, Markdown, Mermaid, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, Scala, Shell, SQL, Swift, Vue, XML, YAML

  • Language auto-detection

  • Auto-formatting

  • Multi-cursor editing

  • Dark & Light themes

  • Option to set a global hotkey to show/hide the app

  • Default, Emacs-like or custom key bindings

  • Spellchecking

Documentation

Documentation is available on the Heynote website.

Development

To develop Heynote you need Node.js and you should (hopefully) just need to check out the code and then run:

> npm install
> npm run dev

Run Tests

To run the tests:

> npm run test

To run the tests in the Playwright UI:

> npm run test:ui

Contributions

I'm happy to merge contributions that fit my vision for the app. Bug fixes are always welcome.

FAQ

Where is the buffer data stored?

See the documentation.

Can you make a mobile app?

No, at the moment this is out of scope, sorry.

What are the default keyboard shortcuts?

See the documentation.

Thanks!

Heynote is built upon CodeMirror, Vue, Electron, Math.js, Prettier and other great open-source projects.

developer-tools
editor
notes
notes-app
note-taking
productivity-tools
scratchpad

Significant stargazers

(top 24 of 69)

Jared Forsyth

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