Note Taker - Minimalist Always-On-Top Notes App

A minimalist, text-driven note-taking application for Mac that stays always-on-top and focuses on quick note capture with actionable items and connections.

Current Status: Full-featured v1.6.2 with Monaco editor, smart autocomplete, syntax highlighting, system tray integration, comprehensive note organization, complete audience filtering, improved keyboard navigation, and dynamic note timestamps.

Features

🎯 Text-First Design

• 95% text area with minimal UI chrome
• Distraction-free writing environment
• Always-on-top window (300x400px)

📝 Smart Note Format

• Metadata: #group @person format for organization
• Actions: [] (incomplete) → [x] (completed)
• Connections: Subject -> Subject (incomplete) → Subject -x> Subject (completed)
• Reverse Connections: Subject <- Subject (incomplete) → Subject <x- Subject (completed)

🎨 Syntax Highlighting

• Colour-coded metadata, actions, and connections
• Visual distinction between completed and incomplete items
• Headers and markdown support

✨ Interactive Features

• Double-click to complete: Double-click on [] or -> to toggle completion
• Smart autocomplete: Recent suggestions for #groups and @audience from last 2 weeks
• Auto-save: Automatically saves and updates existing notes after 1 second
• Tab indentation: Tab/Shift-Tab for bullet point indentation
• Keyboard navigation: Option+Up (newer notes) and Option+Down (older notes) to navigate between notes
• Navigation with actions: Option+Left (next with actions) and Option+Right (previous with actions)
• Dynamic window title: Shows note creation date/time in format "Tue 26 Aug 14:31"
• Delete current note: Right-click system tray → "Delete Current Note" with confirmation dialog

📊 Smart Organization

• Open Notes: Shows notes with incomplete items from last month
• Time-based sections: Today, Yesterday, Prior Week, Previous Week
• Audience grouping: "With..." menu groups notes by person from last month
• Comprehensive filtering: Shows all audience members with notes from last month
• System tray: Right-click menu with completion counts and quick access
• Local timezone: All date groupings use local time (not UTC)

File Structure

Notes are stored as markdown files in ~/Documents/Notes/ with:

• Filename: YYYY-MM-DD_HHMMSS.md
• Format: YAML frontmatter + markdown content
• Metadata: Extracted from #group and @person tags

Example Note

---
date: '2025-08-26'
group: Product
audience: ["Sarah", "DevTeam"]
created_at: '2025-08-26T10:30:00Z'
updated_at: '2025-08-26T10:30:00Z'
---

#Product @Sarah @DevTeam

# Product Meeting Notes

## Actions
[] Follow up with engineering team on API changes
[x] Schedule review meeting for next week

## Connections
Sarah -> Security team for compliance discussion  
DevTeam <x- Product requirements delivered

## Key Points
- Discussed new feature requirements
- Identified potential blockers

Usage

Getting Started

1. Download and install the DMG from releases
2. Launch - appears as always-on-top window in bottom-right corner
3. Start typing with text-first interface (auto-saves after 250ms)
4. Use #group and @person tags for organization
5. Add actions with [] and connections with Subject -> Subject

Navigation

• System tray: Left-click show/hide, right-click for menu
• Double-click: Complete [] actions and -> connections
• Tab/Shift-Tab: Indent/outdent bullet points
• Type # or @: Smart autocomplete from recent notes
• Delete note: Right-click tray → "Delete Current Note" → confirm deletion

Menu Organization

• Open Notes: Recent notes with incomplete items
• Today/Yesterday/Prior Week: Time-based groupings
• With...: Notes grouped by audience member (shows all notes from last month)
• All sections show completion counts in parentheses

Development

# Run the app in development mode
./run.sh                # Quick start script
npm run dev            # Development with hot reload

# Build and package
npm run build          # Build for production
npm run dist          # Create distributable DMG

# Code quality
npm run typecheck     # TypeScript checking
npm run lint          # ESLint checking
npm test              # Run comprehensive test suite (52 tests)
npm run test:coverage # Full coverage report
npm run test:all      # Run all tests including integration

Architecture

• Frontend: React + TypeScript + Monaco Editor
• Backend: Electron main process with SVG-based tray icon
• Storage: Local markdown files with abstracted interface
• Testing: Jest with comprehensive unit test coverage (49.57% FileStorage coverage)
• IPC: Electron IPC for file operations, search, and menu structure

Recent Updates (v1.6.2)

• Improved Navigation UX: Changed shortcuts from Cmd+arrows to Option+arrows to avoid conflicts with text editing
• Better Typing Experience: Cmd+Left/Right now work normally for cursor movement without triggering navigation
• Enhanced Test Coverage: 52 comprehensive tests covering core functionality
• Code Cleanup: Removed 827 lines of unused code in v1.6.1
• Stable Release: All tests passing with improved user experience

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions! Please see the comprehensive test suite for examples of the expected code quality and coverage standards.