A lightweight Windows and Linux editor where your second brain in Markdown becomes the context for your AI agents. 100% local, Electron-free, under 50 MB of RAM.
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Turn AI agents loose on your code and keep your knowledge in plain Markdown — then let the two talk to each other. The developer tools are all here, in service of those two pillars.
Scintilla core with highlighting for ~70 languages, script execution (F5) and an integrated terminal — the strong editor that gives the cockpit its credibility.
Use your local AI CLIs or API providers (OpenAI, Gemini, Claude, or local models via Ollama): chat in the terminal, inline editing (Ctrl+K) with a diff — accept changes hunk by hunk — and an AI Sessions cockpit to track and review each session.
Simplified versioning, a per-line change gutter and checkpoints to audit what an AI session modified — including an isolated worktree per session.
Four screens for the same note (Ctrl+E): raw text, split, formatted editing — the default, with headings, lists, tables and images shown as they are — and reading. [[ ]] wikilinks, a tags panel and an Obsidian-style connections graph, in open .md files that stay yours.
Mermaid diagrams (33 types, from flowchart to Gantt, with a picker that previews them), LaTeX formulas and chemical structures drawn by the app itself — no JavaScript, no network, in your note's colours. They also show up in AI answers and in the files you export.
Bring your archive from Notion, Evernote, Obsidian, Logseq, Roam or Joplin — and documents from Word, OpenDocument, RTF and HTML — in as Markdown notes. Export a note or a whole folder to Word, OpenDocument, LaTeX, Typst, EPUB and HTML without pandoc, with editable equations and live citations.
A folder becomes a book, a thesis or a course: chapter order in an index.md, arrows to move from one to the next and the whole work compiled into one document. Plus a template gallery with fields to fill in, a calendar inside the note and printing with preview.
Colorful sticky notes on your desktop, an automatic journal and quick capture from the tray — with the global shortcut Ctrl+Alt+N, even with everything closed. The global shortcut is Windows-only.
Record your microphone and system audio from the tray, then transcribe or summarize with AI — including Google Gemini's free tier. System audio is Windows-only.
Chat with your second brain: answers grounded in your own notes, with clickable citations — local retrieval, plus optional semantic reinforcement via embeddings.
An MCP server and the lnote CLI expose the workspace to AI agents and scripts — read and write notes and tasks, search, query data and use Git. It's the intersection neither Obsidian nor Cursor has in the same process.
.lnc connections for SQLite, DuckDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server and Oracle — with schema, history and variables.
Integrated SSH terminal and remote file transfer through .lns files, with an encrypted password.
Open Parquet, CSV, JSON and Excel as a spreadsheet through DuckDB — filter, sort and export without code. Excel comes with the spreadsheet's own colours and layout, plus pivot tables and an analysis board saved next to the data itself.
Open .html with a real layout engine: text selection, modern CSS, in-page search, outline, zoom and PDF export — with working <details>, tabs and sortable tables, without JavaScript.
.lnt task boards as a table, Kanban or timeline — and Git-versionable without conflicts.
A workspace passphrase and Secure Markdown .lne with encryption that opens on any machine — plus portable mode, to carry LightNote and your profile on a USB stick.
Under 50 MB of RAM, CPU-only rendering and instant startup. Native C++/Qt, no Electron.
LightNote for Android opens the same workspace as the computer, with the same core: what one writes, the other reads, with no conversion. Git is the bridge — the computer shows a QR code and the phone clones the repository.
.lnt board, with reminders.SQL, terminal, SSH and AI stay on the computer: on the phone, those files open read-only.
Real captures of the app running. Switch themes and click to enlarge.
On the computer, both editions have the same features: use the free one for personal projects or support development with the Core edition on the Microsoft Store. On the phone, the Android app is a free preview.
Free · 64-bit
For personal, non-commercial use. Download and use it freely.
Download the installerPortable version (.zip) · Release page on GitHub
LightNote isn't code-signed yet, so Windows doesn't recognize the publisher and asks for confirmation the first time:
To check the file, compare its SHA-256 with the one on the release page on GitHub.
Local app: your files stay on your machine and nothing is sent to our servers.
Microsoft Store · contribution
For commercial use and to support development — same features as the free version.
Get it on Microsoft StoreYour contribution keeps the project alive and evolving. Thank you!
Linux
Free · preview · 64-bit
The same free edition, for personal, non-commercial use, as an AppImage or a .deb package.
Requires glibc 2.39 or newer (Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, Debian 13 or newer). The Core edition is Windows-only.
Android
Free preview · APK
Your notes on the phone, written by the same core as the desktop app and synced through Git.
Download the APKFree preview, outside Google Play. When it reaches Play, the app will be paid, with a one-time price; the preview does not include the store version.
How to install and update →LightNote grows with the people who use it. Join in, suggest improvements and help make it better.
Leave a suggestion, ask questions and follow development on GitHub Discussions.
Open DiscussionsReport problems on our GitHub. The more detail, the faster the fix arrives.
Report on GitHub IssuesLightNote is maintained by a single person. If it helps you, consider supporting it on Ko-fi — or get LightNote Core on the Microsoft Store.
Support on Ko-fiNo complicated setup. Download, open a folder and start writing.
| F1 | Contextual help |
| Ctrl+P | Go to file |
| Ctrl+Shift+P | Command palette |
| Ctrl+Shift+F | Global search (ripgrep) |
| Ctrl+` | Integrated terminal |
| F5 | Run file |
| Ctrl+K / Ctrl+I | Inline AI editing |
| Ctrl+Alt+N | Quick capture (global) |
Yes, for personal, non-commercial use: the download is free and the app runs entirely on your machine. For commercial use, or to support development, there is LightNote Core on the Microsoft Store — same features, with a commercial license and automatic updates.
On Linux, yes: as a preview since version 0.9, as an AppImage or a .deb package, with the same free edition (Core is Windows-only). The global capture shortcut and system-audio recording stay on Windows. On macOS, not yet.
Yes, for Android, as a free preview: the APK is on GitHub, and the Android app help explains how to install it. There is no iPhone app.
The preview is free. When LightNote reaches Google Play, the Android app will be paid, with a one-time price (not yet set). The preview does not include the store version, and the GitHub APKs may stop being updated after the launch. The desktop app stays free for personal use.
No. LightNote does not send your files to our servers — everything is local. You decide whether and when to sync anything (for example, via Git or a cloud service of your choice).
LightNote embeds no model: it connects to what you already use — local AI CLIs, API providers (OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude) and local models via Ollama or LM Studio. You can chat in the terminal, request inline edits with a diff to accept or reject, ask your notes, and expose the workspace via MCP to agents.
Use Git: tasks, connections and notes use text formats designed to merge without conflicts. The encryption (Secure Phrase) is portable and re-entered manually on each machine, so secure files work anywhere. On the phone, the Android app clones the same repository — the computer shows a QR code with its address.
Suggestions and questions go to GitHub Discussions; bugs, to GitHub Issues. Every contribution is welcome.