nota

Turn lectures, papers, and projects into structured, browsable HTML — as a coding agent skill.

📖 中文版 (Chinese version): README_CN.md

This is a coding-agent skill, not a hosted service. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex CLI, OpenClaw, or any editor environment that supports skills. There is no cloud, no signup, no telemetry.

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What it does

mynotes packages knowledge into single-file HTML with MathJax formulas, syntax-highlighted code, folded proofs, and a sticky TOC — readable on any device, offline, no build step.

Four natural use cases:

Use case	What you hand the agent	What you get
Lecture notes	PDF slides / handwritten scan	Structured HTML with theorems, proofs, examples
Paper reading	arXiv PDF	Section-by-section breakdown, key equations, Q&A blocks
Project summary	Your own notes / logs	Distilled writeup, methodology, results
Academic poster	Any of the above	Print-ready A1/A2 poster via poster_print template

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Showcase

Lecture notes: 代数基础 Lecture 10

代数基础 Lecture 10: Hermitian 矩阵与正交投影 — generated end-to-end from a course PDF.

Covers: Courant-Fischer theorem · Hermitian matrix eigenvalue squeeze inequalities · Schur triangularization · normal matrices · orthogonal projectors, with full proofs in folded blocks and a two-level linked TOC.

Default theme (left) · Dark theme (right) — switched with /notes-theme

Theme	Link
Default	examples/alg_lecture10/alg_lecture10-default.html
Dark	examples/alg_lecture10/alg_lecture10-dark.html

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Paper reading: Generalized Predictive Control Part I

Clarke et al., Automatica 1987 — a 12-page classic control paper turned into an interactive HTML note via /notes-split + /notes-new.

Workflow: /notes-split paper.pdf --pages 5 → 3 chunks → /notes-new per chunk → merged into a complete note.

Covers: CARIMA model derivation · Diophantine recursion · matrix control law · control horizon analysis · comparison table (GMV / DMC / EPSAC / Peterka) · simulation study · numerical appendix — all derivation steps in folded blocks, Q&A auto-generated.

12-page paper → interactive HTML with formulas, comparison tables, and folded Q&A (820 lines)

→ examples/gpc_part1/gpc-part-i-1.html

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Project summary: Water Tank GPC Control

Multi-file structure example (index + 7 section pages), covering a full project from theory to hardware:

Theory → experiment adaptation → verification → simulation → C++ implementation

System identification (ARX model validation) · simulation (closed-loop step response) · hardware-in-the-loop test

Covers: ARX system ID · CARIMA model · Diophantine recursion · stepped GPC · RLS online identification · tuning cheat sheet.

→ examples/water_tank_gpc/index.html

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Skills

Six skills ship with this repo. Point your agent at the skills/ directory:

Skill	Trigger	What it does
notes-split	/notes-split	Split a PDF into page-granularity chunks → splits/ subdirectory, as a pre-step for /notes-new
notes-new	/notes-new	Create a new note from source material (PDF, text, or description)
notes-update	/notes-update	Add sections, Q&A blocks, or rewrite content in an existing note
notes-theme	/notes-theme	Switch color theme across one file or a whole directory
notes-snapshot	/notes-snapshot	Git-tag the current state for rollback
notes-index	/notes-index	Rebuild the browsable index page across all notes

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Templates

Three production-ready templates:

Template	Best for
academic_lecture	Multi-section lecture notes, cheat sheets — sticky TOC, callout blocks, code collapse
minimal_slide	Single-topic paper notes, lightweight reading records
poster_print	A1/A2 two-column print poster — MathJax, @page sizing for exact PDF output

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Themes

Theme	Status	Description
default	✅ ready	Gray-red academic palette
dark	✅ ready	Dark background, red/blue accents
solarized	🚧 coming soon	Solarized Light warm-yellow base
custom	✅ ready	Drop your own CSS variables

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Quick start

# Clone into your agent's skill directory
git clone https://github.com/straw-cpu/nota ~/.claude/skills/nota

# Then, inside your agent:
/notes-new --template academic_lecture --title "My Lecture" --source lecture.pdf

The agent reads the source, builds a complete HTML with all theorems / proofs / examples, and saves it locally. No internet needed after clone.

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Structure

nota/
├── skills/
│   ├── notes-split/      ← split PDF into page chunks (pre-step)
│   ├── notes-new/        ← create a note from source material
│   ├── notes-update/     ← edit / extend an existing note
│   ├── notes-theme/      ← switch themes
│   ├── notes-snapshot/   ← git-tag snapshots
│   └── notes-index/      ← rebuild index page
├── templates/
│   ├── academic_lecture.html
│   ├── minimal_slide.html
│   └── poster_print.html
├── themes/
│   ├── default.css
│   ├── dark.css
│   └── custom.css
├── tools/
│   ├── build_index.py    ← scan HTML, generate navigation page
│   └── theme_switch.py   ← batch theme replacement
└── examples/
    ├── alg_lecture10/    ← lecture note (default + dark theme)
    ├── gpc_part1/        ← paper reading example
    └── water_tank_gpc/   ← multi-file project summary

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Acknowledgements

HTML template structure and visual design reference two open-source projects:

• ARIS-in-AI-Offer — academic lecture template layout and CSS variable conventions
• posterly — poster print template and @page sizing approach

Both are MIT-licensed. mynotes adapts their visual style for a note-taking context; the skill workflows and content generation pipeline are independent.

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License

MIT. See LICENSE.