Justnote is a GPL-2.0 licensed, privacy-focused note-taking app with web, Android, and iOS clients written in TypeScript, for anyone who wants to capture notes quickly while keeping real ownership of their account and data.
What it is
Justnote is an open-source note-taking client published by stxapps under the GPL-2.0 licence. The web client is built with React, Redux, TailwindCSS, CKEditor for rich text editing, and the Stacks JavaScript library (stacks-js); the mobile client is built with React Native. The project's topic list places it in the note-taking and knowledge-management space, and also tags it as a decentralized application tied to the Stacks and web3 ecosystems, which reflects the account-ownership model it advertises. It sits in the Productivity & Utilities / Note Taking & Knowledge Management category and is distributed as a monorepo with separate packages/web and packages/mobile directories sharing a common npm workflow.
The concrete problem it solves is ownership. Most quick-capture note apps hold your account and your notes on the vendor's infrastructure, which means the vendor decides who can read your data and what happens to it. Justnote instead states end-to-end encryption where the decryption key is known only to you, so the operator of the service cannot read note contents. The README names Google Keep, Evernote, and Joplin as its inspiration, which frames the intended replacement: the fast, list-based capture flow of a Keep or Evernote, but with the account and data belonging to the user rather than the platform.
Key capabilities
- End-to-end encryption, with the decryption key known only to the user.
- Client coverage across web, Android, and iOS from a single project.
- Nested lists (folders) for structuring notes into hierarchies.
- Pin to the top for keeping important lists and notes within reach.
- Tags for cross-cutting organisation, plus lock on individual lists and notes.
- Dark mode for the web and mobile clients.
- Web client assembled from React, Redux, TailwindCSS, CKEditor, and stacks-js, with the mobile client on React Native.
Who uses it and how
- Privacy-conscious individuals who want their notes encrypted end to end and do not want the hosting provider holding a readable copy.
- Users in the Stacks and web3 ecosystem, which the repository's
stacks, web3, and decentralized-application topics point to, who want a note app that aligns with account ownership rather than platform custody.
- Self-hosters and contributors who clone
justnote-client and run the web or mobile package locally through the shared npm scripts.
- Cross-platform note-takers who capture on the web and expect the same lists, folders, pinned items, and tags on Android and iOS.
- People migrating off hosted quick-capture services that they no longer want to depend on.
Getting started
Clone https://github.com/stxapps/justnote-client.git, change into packages/web or packages/mobile, then run npm install followed by npm run start. A hosted instance is also available at https://justnote.cc, with documentation at https://docs.justnote.cc.
How it compares
The README names Google Keep, Evernote, and Joplin as inspirations, placing Justnote in the quick-capture, list-oriented note category rather than in the heavyweight wiki or knowledge-base space. Against the two hosted services on that list, the difference the facts support is licence and custody: Justnote is GPL-2.0 and its client source is available for anyone to run, whereas the others are hosted offerings where the account lives with the provider. Joplin is the open-source name on that list, and Justnote's own distinction within that group is the Stacks and web3 account model combined with end-to-end encryption and a choice of web, Android, and iOS clients.
When to use it — and when not to
Pick Justnote if you want encrypted notes you can run yourself and you are comfortable working from a client repository that documents npm install and npm run start rather than a packaged server deployment. Be aware that the README does not document the backend, database, or storage layer a self-hoster would need beyond the client build, so anyone planning a full production deployment should read the documentation at https://docs.justnote.cc first. It is also a small project by the numbers in this registry — 67 stars, 6 forks, and 16 open issues — so teams needing vendor support, formal service guarantees, or an established operational track record should look elsewhere.
