Jot
plain-file notes for Linux
Notes that are just files.
Jot keeps your notes as plain Markdown files in a folder you choose, and gives you an editor that styles them as you type. Any other app can read them, any sync tool can carry them, and nothing locks them in. Free, open source, no account, and no AI features you did not ask for.
What it does
- Your notes are filesA folder of Markdown files is your vault, its folders are notebooks, and tags and to-dos live in the notes themselves. Change them in any other app and Jot follows along; anything Jot keeps beside them is a cache it can rebuild.
- Markdown that styles itselfHeadings grow, emphasis shows, and the marks behind them fold away except on the line you are on. Ctrl+/ shows the Markdown exactly as written.
- Formatting at handA row of formatting over each note, lists that carry on as you type, tables that line themselves up, and code colored by its language.
- Links both waysType
[[to link a note as you go. Under each note, the notes that link to it and the ones that name it; resting on a link previews where it leads, and renaming a note rewrites the links to it. - Find anythingSearch every note with filters such as
tag:andin:, or press Ctrl+P and type a few letters of a title, an alias or a folder. - Pictures and filesPaste an image or drop files on a note to keep them beside it, with pictures shown in place of their links.
- To-dosCheckboxes in any note, and notes that are to-dos with a due date, all in one list. Ticking one changes its note.
- Make it yoursSeven built-in themes, the same as Callie's, or your own: change any color, import and export themes, base16 schemes included.
- A terminal, tooThe
jotcommand searches, lists, shows and makes notes and lists what is left to do, with JSON for scripts and completion for bash, zsh and fish.
Install
On Fedora 44 or later, Debian 13 or later, or Ubuntu 26.04 or later, this installs the latest release with your package manager, after checking the download:
curl -fsSL https://jotwriter.org/install.sh | sh
It stops without changing anything on other systems. To see what it would do first, add
-s -- --dry-run after sh. Later, jot upgrade installs
each new release. Or download the package from the
latest release and install it
yourself:
sudo dnf install ./jot-*.x86_64.rpm # Fedora
sudo apt install ./jot_*_amd64.deb # Debian and UbuntuOr build it from source, as the README describes.
Support Jot
Jot is free, with no subscription and nothing to sell. If it makes your notes easier to live with, you can support its development with a coffee on Ko-fi.
What it does not do
Jot is young. It does not sync on its own yet, so keep your notes folder in Syncthing, Nextcloud or Dropbox if you want it on more than one computer, and any Markdown app on your phone can open it there. It has no account system, no servers and no AI. Your notes stay on your computer: the only thing Jot asks the internet is GitHub, once a day, whether there is a newer release, which you can turn off. Read the privacy policy for the details.
Jot is Callie's little sibling: the same look and the same themes, for notes rather than calendars.