Scratch

Note

This is a fork of erictli/scratch that contains vibe-coded changes to the original project. They were built with AI assistance and are not part of the upstream app.

Changes in this fork:

• Alphabetical notes in folders - Notes inside folders are sorted A–Z (pinned notes stay on top; root-level notes keep newest-first order)
• Sidebar hover reveal - When the sidebar is hidden, resting the pointer near the left edge of the note editor reveals it, just like the toggle button would. It hides again once the pointer moves away, with a short dwell time so quick movements out of the window don't trigger it
• Section path - A bar above the note shows where you are as a breadcrumb of headings (My big title / the story), following the cursor after clicks or typing and the scroll position when scrolling. When it doesn't fit, the enclosing headings shorten first so the current one stays whole. A thin line along the bottom of the bar shows how far through the note you've read. Click the bar to expand an animated tree of all headings across the window and jump to one (Esc or a click elsewhere closes it). It replaces the heading indicator on the right edge and its setting. Hidden in source and focus mode and in notes without headings
• Line numbers - Optional line numbers in the editor (Settings → Editor: Off, Faint or Subtle), numbering each paragraph, heading and code line. Source mode numbers the real markdown lines, so the two can differ. The top bar shows the cursor's line as x/max. Hidden in focus mode
• Resizable table columns - Drag a column edge to set its width. Widths are saved in the note as a hidden <!-- table-widths: ... --> comment above the table, since markdown tables can't hold them. Tables you haven't resized still size to their content
• Callouts - Turn a passage into a colored callout from the toolbar or the / menu: Note, Info, Tip, Important, Definition, Example, Question, Summary, Exam, Warning, Caution, and Plain (gray, without a title). Saved as GitHub-style > [!NOTE] blockquotes, so they render as alerts on GitHub and as plain quotes elsewhere
• Inline math - Typing $ (or the Inline Math toolbar button) opens a popup that renders the formula live at the cursor as you type; press Space on the empty field for a literal $. Click inline math to edit it the same way. In saved notes $x^2$ is inline math following the Pandoc rule (no space just inside the $ signs, no digit right after the closing one), so prices like $5 and $10 stay plain text
• Highlights - Highlight text in yellow, green, blue, pink, or gray from the toolbar (Cmd+Shift+H for yellow). Yellow is saved as ==text==, other colors as <mark data-color="...">
• Live reload of external edits - When the open note changes on disk (e.g. edited by another app or an AI agent), it reloads automatically, keeping the cursor position. If you have unsaved edits, the Refresh button appears instead
• Filenames independent of content - A note's filename is its title and no longer follows its first line. Rename a note from its right-click menu in the sidebar, or scroll up once more while at the top of a note to reveal the filename bar (filename: <name>.md, without the folder) over the section path (it stays until you scroll down). New notes open with the filename field focused
• Remembered positions - Switching back to a note restores its scroll position and cursor. Positions are kept for 12 hours after you last left a note
• Tabs and windows - Open a note in a new tab or window from its right-click menu (middle-click also opens a new tab). Clicking a note in the sidebar still replaces the current note, so the tab bar only shows up in the title bar once two or more tabs are open. Cmd+T new tab, Cmd+W closes the tab (or the window on the last one), Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch tabs, Cmd+Shift+N new window. Each tab returns to where you left it, and renames carry over to other windows
• Markdown files open in the editor - Files opened from Finder (double-click or "Open With"), the CLI (scratch file.md) or by drag-and-drop open as a new tab in the normal editor instead of a separate preview window, with the same toolbar, section path and line numbers. Files outside the notes folder are edited in place and can be copied into it with the "Save to notes folder" button; pin, delete, duplicate and AI edit are hidden for them
• Lower energy use - The search index no longer writes to disk on every autosave or polls in the background, refreshing the note list only re-reads changed files, and typing no longer re-renders the whole editor
• Responsive with large notes - Toolbar actions, math popups, menus, tooltips and the sidebar animation no longer stall when a long note is open, and switching back to a recently opened note shows it without reading or re-parsing it. Dragging the page width handles stays smooth too
• Fast note switching - Clicking a note in the sidebar re-renders only the items whose highlight changes, however many notes there are, and notes load from the moment you press. Parsing long notes no longer slows down disproportionately with their length
• Quieter toolbar - The heading and list buttons are gone from the toolbar (use Cmd+Alt+1–4, Cmd+Shift+7 / 8 or the / menu), and toolbar tooltips only appear after hovering for 2 seconds
• Cleaner window - Vertical scrollbars are hidden (scrolling works as before), and in full screen the sidebar toggle and date move to the left edge, where the window buttons would be
• Popups respect the zoom - With the interface zoomed in or out, menus, tooltips and editor popups open at the pointer and stay inside the window instead of running past its edge

A minimalist, offline-first markdown note-taking app for macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Website · Releases

Features

• Offline-first - No cloud, no account, no internet required
• Markdown-based - Notes stored as plain .md files you own
• WYSIWYG editing - Rich text editing that saves as markdown
• Open any markdown file - Files opened from Finder ("Open With" or double-click), the CLI or drag-and-drop open as a tab in the normal editor, edited in place; files outside the notes folder can be saved into it
• Markdown source mode - Toggle to view and edit raw markdown (Cmd+Shift+M)
• Syntax highlighting - 20 languages with GitHub-inspired color scheme
• Mermaid diagrams - Render flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and more in fenced code blocks
• KaTeX math - Inline $...$ and block $$...$$ math, edited in a popup with live preview (type $ for inline math)
• Callouts and highlights - Colored GitHub-style callouts and multi-color text highlights
• Resizable table columns - Drag a column edge to set its width, saved in the note as a hidden comment
• Wikilinks - Type [[ to link between notes with autocomplete
• Slash commands - Type / to quickly insert headings, lists, code blocks, diagrams, and more
• Focus mode - Distraction-free writing with animated sidebar/toolbar fade (Cmd+Shift+Enter)
• Edit with Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, OpenCode, or Ollama - Use your local CLI to edit notes with AI (including fully offline via Ollama)
• Works with other AI agents - Picks up external file changes automatically
• Folders - Opt-in collapsible folder tree with drag-and-drop to organize notes
• Tabs and windows - Open notes in tabs or in separate windows
• Remembered positions - Each note reopens at the scroll position and cursor where you left it, for 12 hours after you last left it
• Filenames you control - A note's filename is its title and never changes with its content; rename from the sidebar or the filename bar above the note
• Section path - A breadcrumb of the current heading above the note with a reading progress line, expandable to the full heading tree
• Line numbers - Optional, unobtrusive line numbers in the editor and in markdown source, plus a current line counter in the top bar
• Keyboard optimized - Lots of shortcuts and a command palette
• Customizable - Theme, typography, page width, and RTL text direction
• Git integration - Optional version control with push/pull for multi-device sync
• Lightweight - 5-10x smaller than Obsidian or Notion

Installation

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended)

brew tap erictli/tap
brew install --cask erictli/tap/scratch

Manual Download

1. Download the latest .dmg from Releases
2. Open the DMG and drag Scratch to Applications
3. Open Scratch from Applications

Windows

Download the latest .exe installer from Releases and run it. WebView2 will be downloaded automatically if needed.

Linux

Download the latest .AppImage or .deb from Releases.

From Source

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, Rust 1.70+

macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools · Windows: WebView2 Runtime (pre-installed on Windows 11)

git clone https://github.com/erictli/scratch.git
cd scratch
npm install
npm run tauri dev      # Development
npm run tauri build    # Production build

Keyboard Shortcuts

Scratch is designed to be usable without a mouse. Here are the essentials to get started:

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+N	New note
Cmd+T	New note in a new tab
Cmd+W	Close tab / window
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Cmd+Shift+N	New window
Cmd+D	Duplicate note
Delete	Delete note
Cmd+Backspace	Delete note
Cmd+P	Command palette
Cmd+K	Add/edit link
Cmd+F	Find in note
Cmd+Shift+C	Copy & Export menu
Cmd+Shift+M	Toggle Markdown source
Cmd+Shift+Enter	Toggle Focus mode
Cmd+Shift+F	Search notes
Cmd+R	Reload current note
Cmd+,	Open settings
Cmd+\	Toggle sidebar
Cmd+B/I	Bold/Italic
Cmd+Shift+H	Highlight
Cmd+Alt+1–4	Heading 1–4
Cmd+Shift+7/8	Numbered/Bullet list
Cmd+=/-/0	Zoom in/out/reset
↑/↓	Navigate notes

Note: On Windows, use Ctrl instead of Cmd for all shortcuts.

Many more shortcuts and features are available in the app—explore via the command palette (Cmd+P / Ctrl+P) or view the full reference in Settings → Shortcuts.

Built With

Tauri · React · TipTap · Tailwind CSS · Tantivy

Contributing

Scratch is mostly stable and intentionally minimal, so I'm no longer monitoring issues and PRs regularly. You're welcome to open them, but I can't guarantee I'll get to everything, and it may take a while when I do.

What makes Scratch special is its minimal feature set and focus on user experience. We're not trying to build Obsidian or Notion, so not every feature will be a fit. If you want to make major changes or take Scratch in a new direction, you should fork it – it's MIT licensed.

If you open a PR: keep it small and focused, and try to address any CodeRabbit comments. I generally won't go back and forth with review comments – if I merge, I'll make any additional changes directly.

License

MIT