MDNotebook

An offline-first, encrypted markdown notebook for Windows. Your notes never leave your device.

Download

Pre-built Windows installers (no dependencies required):

Installer	Format
MDNotebook_0.1.0_x64-setup.exe	NSIS (recommended)
MDNotebook_0.1.0_x64_en-US.msi	MSI

Windows may show a SmartScreen warning since the app is not code-signed. Click "More info" then "Run anyway" to proceed.

Features

• AES-256-GCM Encryption — Vault is encrypted with your passphrase using PBKDF2 key derivation. No server, no cloud, no telemetry.
• WYSIWYG Editor — Rich-text editing powered by MDXEditor (Lexical) with a formatting toolbar, code blocks, tables, task lists, and more. Stored as Markdown.
• Wiki Links — Link between notes with [[Note Name]] syntax. Click to navigate or create.
• Mermaid Diagrams — Write diagrams in fenced code blocks with live preview.
• Tabs — Open multiple notes at once with a tab bar.
• Daily Notes — One-click daily note creation with Ctrl+Shift+T or the calendar button.
• Templates — Create notes from built-in templates (Meeting Notes, Project Plan, Journal Entry, etc.).
• Tags — Organize notes with tags and filter by AND/OR logic.
• Folders & Drag-and-Drop — Nest notes in folders, reorder with drag-and-drop.
• Zen Mode — Distraction-free writing with Ctrl+Shift+Z.
• PDF Export — Export any note to PDF via the system print dialog.
• Source View — Toggle between rich-text, source, and diff modes in the editor toolbar.
• System Tray — Runs in the background. Close the window and it hides to tray.
• Global Hotkey — Ctrl+Shift+M brings the app to focus from anywhere.
• File Associations — Double-click .md files to open them in MDNotebook.
• Dark Mode — Toggle with Ctrl+Shift+D.
• Auto-Save — Notes save automatically after you stop typing.
• Import/Export — Import .md files, export all notes as JSON backup, restore from backup.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
F1	Open help panel
Ctrl+N	New note
Ctrl+Shift+N	New folder
Ctrl+Shift+F	Focus search bar
Ctrl+Shift+T	Open/create daily note
Ctrl+Shift+D	Toggle dark mode
Ctrl+Shift+Z	Toggle zen mode
Ctrl+\	Toggle sidebar
Ctrl+Shift+M	Global hotkey — bring app to focus

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 22.12.0
• Rust (latest stable)
• Tauri CLI prerequisites for Windows

Getting Started

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run tauri dev

# Run tests
npm test

# Build for production (outputs MSI and NSIS installers)
npm run tauri build

Installers are written to src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: Next.js 16, React 19, TypeScript
• Backend: Tauri 2 (Rust)
• Editor: MDXEditor (Lexical) for WYSIWYG with built-in source mode
• Encryption: Web Crypto API (PBKDF2 + AES-256-GCM)
• Diagrams: Mermaid.js
• Drag & Drop: @dnd-kit
• Testing: Vitest

Security

• Your passphrase is never stored. It derives an encryption key via PBKDF2 with 100,000 iterations.
• All vault data is encrypted with AES-256-GCM before writing to disk.
• No network requests. No analytics. No telemetry. Fully offline.
• Vault files use atomic writes (temp file + rename) to prevent corruption on crash.

License

MIT