Noughtpad

A blank page that quietly remembers

Write the way you think. Noughtpad keeps every note as a plain Markdown file on your computer, then shows you which notes belong together and how your thinking has changed.

Download free See all features

For Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows and Linux. No account needed.

Open it and write

No titles, folders or templates to set up first. Noughtpad opens on an empty page with the cursor ready, and saves as you type. The sidebar stays out of sight until you reach for it.

Press ⌘ ⇧ Space in any app to start a new note. On Windows and Linux it's Ctrl Shift Space.

The Noughtpad writing page: two lines of text on an otherwise empty page, with no toolbar or sidebar showing.

Old notes come back when they matter

Open any note and press ⌘ J. Noughtpad finds earlier notes on the same idea, even when they use different words, and shows the exact passage that matched.

A thought from March sits next to the one you wrote today. Mark a suggestion "Not related" and it won't come back, and the suggestions get better as you use them.

A note about a venture capital framework, with a Related panel on the right listing three earlier notes on ownership and fund returns, each with the matching passage.

Watch an idea grow

Ideas over time gathers your notes into threads and lays them out month by month: what you keep coming back to, what's just starting, what you set aside, and the books and articles that shaped it.

It's all worked out on your computer from your own words. Nothing is written for you.

A thread called read, power, return, showing 10 notes over 8 months, laid out by month, with cues such as May build on Venture Deals and Asks a question.

Ask your notes

Ask how your view on something has changed, or what last spring was really about. Every answer points to the notes it came from.

Run a free model on your own computer, fully offline. Or bring your own Anthropic, OpenAI or Gemini account, or Ollama. Before any note goes online, Noughtpad shows you which ones and asks.

A chat asking how the writer's thinking on ownership changed this year. The answer cites two notes by number, and the model is shown as running on this computer.

Plain files. Nothing locked in.

Every note is a Markdown file in a folder you choose. Open it in any editor, back it up however you like, or keep it in git. Your notes are yours in the most literal sense.

  • Works alongside Obsidian

    Point both apps at the same folder and edits in one show up in the other. See how they compare

  • No account

    Download it and start writing. Nothing asks you to sign up.

  • Private by default

    Search, related notes and ideas over time all run on your computer.

  • Fast with thousands of notes

    Tested with 10,000 notes. Search answers in milliseconds.

Everything else a notebook needs

  • Search by meaning

    ⌘ K finds notes by their words and by what they mean. "Getting fit" finds your running notes.

  • Journal and activity map

    Your notes by day, week or month, and a year of writing at a glance. No streaks to keep up.

  • Labels and sources

    As many labels as you like, and a place to note the book, article or talk an idea came from.

  • Clean paste

    Paste from a web page, Google Docs or Word and get tidy Markdown. Images are saved next to your notes.

  • Diagrams and maths

    Mermaid diagrams and LaTeX maths render as you write.

  • Sync across computers

    Keep your notebook in step through your own Google Drive. Now in beta, by invitation. Learn more

Your next good idea is probably already in your notes.

Download free See all features

For Mac (Apple Silicon), Windows and Linux. No account needed.