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Last Updated: 06-17-2026 01:05 PM (UTC)

Nanote

100% portability is Nanote's one non-negotiable principle as a self-hosted note-taking app. There is no database - notebooks are plain folders and notes are plain Markdown files on your filesystem, so the same notes remain fully manageable from a terminal, Notepad, or any other editor, and walking away from Nanote costs nothing because your data was never in a proprietary format to begin with. Built with Nuxt and TypeScript around the Milkdown editor, it layers modern conveniences on that plain-file foundation: fast content search across all notes using OS-optimized tooling (ugrep), native Markdown rendering, image and file attachments, and a mobile-friendly layout for reading and editing on a phone. Clever remark directives make plain text interactive - typing ::file inserts an inline upload picker, while ::today, ::now, and ::tomorrow expand to live dates and times. A fully typed REST API with validation covers automation, and access is protected by a configurable secret key. Deployment is one container with three env vars: paths for notes, uploads, and config, all bind-mountable so your Markdown lives wherever you want it - including inside an existing sync setup. AGPL-licensed and actively daily-driven by its author.

Nanote

Benefits

  • Portability Is Absolute
  • Plain folders and Markdown files - edit them in any tool, leave anytime.
  • No Database to Break
  • Backups are file copies; corruption risk is a filesystem problem, not an app problem.
  • Search That Keeps Up
  • OS-optimized ugrep content search stays fast across large note collections.
  • Text Becomes Interactive
  • Directives like ::file and ::today add uploads and live dates inline.

Features

  • Notebook Folders
  • Directory structure is the organization - nothing hidden or proprietary.
  • Milkdown Editor
  • A modern WYSIWYG-style Markdown editing experience.
  • Universal Search
  • Fast full-content search across every note.
  • File Attachments
  • Inline and block file pickers with a configurable upload path.
  • Typed REST API
  • Fully typed, validated endpoints for automation.
  • Mobile-Friendly
  • Responsive layout for reading and editing on phones.