Nouz

A minimalist, fully local, AI-powered note-taking application built with .NET MAUI and Blazor. Nouz combines the flexibility of block-based editing with intelligent AI assistance to help you capture, organize, and retrieve your thoughts effortlessly.

Features

Local, no cloud

• All data is saved locally in a sqlite database

Block-Based Note Editing

Build notes from flexible, reusable blocks:

• Text blocks - Paragraphs, headings (H1-H4), and quotes
• Lists - Bullet lists, todo items with checkboxes, and agenda items
• Code blocks - Preserve syntax and formatting
• Special blocks - Decision boxes, warning boxes, and dividers
• Images - Paste or insert images with captions and adjustable sizing

Rich Text Formatting

• Inline styles - Bold, italic, strikethrough, and inline code
• Text colors - Apply custom colors with an integrated color picker
• Floating toolbar - Context-sensitive formatting when text is selected

Notebook Organization

• Create multiple notebooks to organize notes by topic or project
• Search notes within a notebook
• Move notes between notebooks
• Clean, distraction-free interface

AI Assistant

Chat with an intelligent assistant that understands your notes:

• Context-aware responses - Uses RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) to search your note library
• Note creation - Ask the assistant to create and manage notes from conversations
• Streaming responses - Real-time response streaming for a fluid experience
• Configurable context - Control how many relevant notes are included (0-10)

Export Options

• HTML export - Self-contained documents with embedded styles and images
• PDF export - Convert notes to PDF format
• Print support - Optimized CSS for printing

Appearance

• Dark/Light mode - Switch between themes with a single click
• Minimalist design - Clean, monochromatic UI with warm tones
• Resizable sidebars - Customize your workspace layout

Screenshots

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• Windows 10/11 (Windows 10.0.19041.0 or later)

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/spflugi/nouz-megatron.git
   cd nouz-megatron

2. Install the MAUI workload:

   dotnet workload install maui-desktop

3. Build and run:

   dotnet build Nouz/src/Nouz/Nouz.csproj -c Release -f net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0 -p:RuntimeIdentifierOverride=win10-x64

AI Assistant Setup

To enable the AI assistant features:

1. Open Settings in the app
2. Enter your OpenAI API key
3. Configure your preferred chat model (e.g., gpt-4o-mini, gpt-5)
4. Optionally configure the embedding model for semantic search

Architecture

Nouz follows clean architecture principles with strict layer separation:

Nouz (Main MAUI App)           - Blazor UI components
├── Nouz.Application           - Commands, handlers, state management
├── Nouz.Domain                - Entities, repository interfaces
├── Nouz.Infrastructure        - EF Core/SQLite, OpenAI integration
└── Nouz.ReduxSimple           - Custom Redux state management

Tech Stack

Category	Technologies
Frontend	.NET MAUI, Blazor WebView, Radzen.Blazor
State Management	Custom Redux-like pattern with System.Reactive
Database	Entity Framework Core, SQLite
AI	OpenAI API, Microsoft Semantic Kernel
Testing	xUnit, NSubstitute, Shouldly, NetArchTest

Development

Build Commands

# Build entire solution
dotnet build Nouz/Nouz.slnx

# Build main app (Release)
dotnet build Nouz/src/Nouz/Nouz.csproj -c Release -f net10.0-windows10.0.19041.0 -p:RuntimeIdentifierOverride=win10-x64

# Run all tests
dotnet test Nouz/Nouz.slnx

# Run specific test project
dotnet test Nouz/test/Nouz.Application.Unit.Tests
dotnet test Nouz/test/Nouz.Infrastructure.Unit.Tests
dotnet test Nouz/test/Nouz.Architecture.Tests

# Run single test by name
dotnet test Nouz/Nouz.slnx --filter "FullyQualifiedName~YourTestName"

Project Structure

Nouz/
├── src/
│   ├── Nouz/                      # Main MAUI application
│   │   └── Components/            # Blazor UI components
│   ├── Nouz.Application/          # Business logic, CQRS handlers
│   ├── Nouz.Domain/               # Core entities and interfaces
│   ├── Nouz.Infrastructure/       # Data access, external services
│   └── Nouz.ReduxSimple/          # State management library
├── test/
│   ├── Nouz.Application.Unit.Tests/
│   ├── Nouz.Infrastructure.Unit.Tests/
│   └── Nouz.Architecture.Tests/
└── Nouz.slnx                      # Solution file

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Acknowledgments

This project was developed with the assistance of Claude Code, Anthropic's AI-powered coding assistant.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.