Scratch

A minimalist, offline-first markdown note-taking app for macOS and Windows.

Website · Releases

Features

• Offline-first - No cloud, no account, no internet required
• Markdown-based - Notes stored as plain .md files you own
• WYSIWYG editing - Rich text editing that saves as markdown
• Edit with Claude Code - Use your local Claude Code CLI to edit notes
• Works with other AI agents - Detects external file changes
• Keyboard optimized - Lots of shortcuts and a command palette
• Customizable - Theme and editor typography settings
• Git integration - Optional version control for your notes
• Lightweight - Less than 10% the size of Obsidian or Notion

Screenshot

Installation

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended)

brew tap erictli/tap
brew install --cask erictli/tap/scratch

Manual Download

1. Download the latest .dmg from Releases
2. Open the DMG and drag Scratch to Applications
3. Open Scratch from Applications

Windows

Pre-built Windows binaries are not yet available. To run on Windows, build from source (see below).

From Source

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, Rust 1.70+

macOS: Xcode Command Line Tools · Windows: WebView2 Runtime (pre-installed on Windows 11)

git clone https://github.com/erictli/scratch.git
cd scratch
npm install
npm run tauri dev      # Development
npm run tauri build    # Production build

Keyboard Shortcuts

Scratch is designed to be usable without a mouse. Here are the essentials to get started:

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+N	New note
Cmd+P	Command palette
Cmd+K	Add/edit link
Cmd+F	Find in note
Cmd+Shift+C	Copy as...
Cmd+R	Reload current note
Cmd+,	Open settings
Cmd+\	Toggle sidebar
Cmd+B/I	Bold/Italic
↑/↓	Navigate notes

Note: On Windows, use Ctrl instead of Cmd for all shortcuts.

Many more shortcuts and features are available in the app—explore via the command palette (Cmd+P / Ctrl+P) or view the full reference in Settings → Shortcuts.

Built With

Tauri · React · TipTap · Tailwind CSS · Tantivy

License

MIT