a cross platform note taking app

shizumu is a private writing app for your notes that runs on linux, windows and android, with a demo in the browser. it is the same app on each, so a page you start on the phone is the page you finish at the desk.

memory in shizumu: a search field over the trail map, one dated page per day across three trails memory in shizumu: a search field over the trail map, one dated page per day across three trails

where it runs today

linux: from flathub (x86_64 and arm64), with the source code on github. windows: a setup installer. both are on the download page. android is in a closed test on google play, and you can ask to join it. the browser has a working demo with a few weeks of writing already in it: try it.

mac is a beta download, and the iphone build is a testflight beta you can join from your iphone. if those are the devices you write on every day, it is early there.

how the devices stay in step

each device keeps its own copy of your notes in a local database, so the app opens and you write without waiting for a network. sync is optional. turn it on and changes move between your devices, sealed on the device before they leave. the relay holds what it cannot read, and neither can we.

hosted sync is free on two devices, which covers a phone and a laptop. running your own relay is free on every device you own. the plans: pricing. how it works: sync between devices.

who it fits, and who it doesn't

it fits people who write on more than one machine and want one set of pages across them: notes at the desk, a thought on the phone, the same project in both places. it suits someone who takes notes to think, not to file.

if you need a finished app on a mac or an iphone today, look at apps that ship there now. if you want a team wiki many people edit at once, a shared workspace does that well. shizumu is one writer's space, on the devices you own.

what a page, a pin and a trail do

a new page starts empty. you write to think. when a line turns out to matter, you pin it. a trail is for a project, not a day: a book, a job search, anything you'll come back to tomorrow. choose a trail and the page picks up context: the pins you already kept there, already on the page. everything else lives in memory: search it, or open one trail, one date, pages, or pins.

across devices this matters more than it sounds. you pin a line at the desk, and the next morning on the phone it is on that trail, where you left it.

the same keys on every keyboard

/ for a block, @ for a page, a pin or a trail, mod+k for the trail index and the command palette, mod+p to pin from the cursor, mod+f to find. mod is ctrl on linux and windows, and the shortcuts panel names the key your keyboard has.

moving your notes over

paste text in and it lands on the page. going the other way, every page exports as a markdown file into a folder you choose, and settings makes a full backup of the database.

open source on every platform

the client is apache-2.0 and the relay agpl-3.0-or-later, both on github. what syncs, and what the relay sees, is written down: how sync is encrypted and the threat model.

what holds on every platform

shizumu is free, on linux, android, and windows. your writing stays on your device. sync is optional and end-to-end encrypted: the relay holds what it cannot read, and neither can we. the app and the relay are open source: apache-2.0 on the client, agpl-3.0-or-later on the relay.

it will not write for you, because the writing is the thinking.

try it in your browser download