What it is

Notesnook is an open-source, end-to-end encrypted note-taking application in the productivity and knowledge-management ecosystem. It is presented as a free alternative to Evernote, with clients for the web, desktop, and mobile platforms. The project uses a TypeScript and JavaScript monorepo, React for the interface, React Native for mobile apps, and Electron for the desktop app.

The concrete problem it solves is keeping notes synchronized across devices without exposing their contents to the service provider. Notesnook addresses this by encrypting data on the user's device with XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2, and by publishing its client code under GPL-3.0 so users can inspect the implementation.

Key capabilities

• Notesnook encrypts note data locally on the user's device using XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2.
• The project provides web, desktop, and Android/iOS clients from a shared codebase and a common core package.
• The desktop client is built with Electron, while the mobile clients are built with React Native.
• A web clipper package and browser extension are included for capturing page content into notes.
• A cryptography package wraps libsodium, and a streamable file-system package provides a streaming interface around an IndexedDB based file system.

Who uses it and how

• Individuals who want an Evernote-like note-taking experience with local encryption can use the web client or download the desktop and mobile apps.
• Cross-platform users can keep notes available on the web, on a desktop computer, and on Android or iOS devices.
• Browser users can use the web clipper extension and clipper core to capture page content for later note-taking.
• Developers can build and modify the web, desktop, and mobile clients from the monorepo using NPM, React, React Native, Electron, and TypeScript.

Getting started

The README points users to the Notesnook website for downloads and access to the web client, and it states that the repository contains the code needed to build the web, desktop, and mobile clients. Developers can work from the monorepo with NPM, since the project does not use Yarn or PNPM.

When to use it — and when not to

Notesnook is a good match for users who want an open-source, end-to-end encrypted alternative to Evernote and who value a public codebase for web, desktop, and mobile clients. It may be less suitable for users who need a documented self-hosted deployment path, because the README describes client builds and downloads but does not provide Docker images, database setup, storage configuration, SMTP setup, or backend deployment instructions. The repository metadata also lists 1,012 open issues and 0 contributors, so potential users should review current maintenance and support before adopting it for critical note-taking needs.