Paperkites docs.
Paperkites is a place to put things down before they drift off: a thought on the train, a line from a meeting, the name of a book someone mentioned. It's a desktop app for notes and the small thoughts that come before them, and you drive it from the keyboard.
Most of what's worth keeping starts small, and most apps ask you to decide where it goes before you let yourself write it. Paperkites doesn't. You write first. The connections come later, from the #tags, [[links]] and @mentions you add as you go.
Paperkites is in development and not released yet. These pages describe the app as it is built today.
The ideas
Plain files you own. Every note is a plain markdown file in a folder on your disk. There's no database to export from and no account to sign in to. Git, grep, sync tools and other editors all work on your notes.
Keyboard first. Every action has a key. Paperkites borrows from vim: you move around in NORMAL mode, write in INSERT mode, and : opens a command line. If you'd rather not use vim keys, you can turn them off. The mouse works too.
Capture first. Paperkites opens on the capture box. Save a thought as a short fragment with ⌘↩, or turn it into a full note with ⌘E. Nothing you type there is thrown away.
A quiet screen. One column of text with a narrow gutter of details beside it. There's no toolbar, no tabs and no status bar. Messages appear in a small pill at the bottom of the window, and everything else is summoned from the keyboard.
Pages
- Getting startedFirst launch, the welcome notes, the three modes and your first capture.
- WritingThe capture box, fragments and notes, the editor, tags, links, images and the format bar.
- TodosCheckboxes in any note, their seven states, and the keys that change them.
- Finding thingsThe list, ⌘K summon, / search, tag pages, backlinks and pins.
- PeoplePerson notes, @mentions, the person page and renaming.
- The graphA live map of your notes, tags and people.
- Sidebar and splitThe floating sidebar and two columns side by side.
- SettingsAppearance, reading, writing and your vault.
- ThemesThe built-in themes, and how to make your own.
- Your filesThe vault, front matter, other tools, the trash and pins.
- Locked notesA password of a note's own: its text and images encrypted on disk.
- Keys and commandsEvery key and every
:command, in one place. - FAQShort answers to common questions.
Coming soon
coming soonSync. Sync built into Paperkites is on the way, with notes encrypted at rest and in sync, and the key staying with you. It isn't in the app yet.
Today your notes are plain files in a folder, so you can already sync them yourself with git, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or anything else that syncs folders. See Coming soon for how.
Help inside the app
:keys shows the full keymap from anywhere. It's built into the app, so it's there even if you edit or delete the welcome notes.