DevJot — Quick Notes for Developers

Stop switching tabs. Jot down ideas, TODOs, and code snippets without leaving VS Code.

DevJot lives in your sidebar, stores notes as real Markdown files, and syncs to Google Drive when you're ready.

Features

Notes, your way

• Sidebar-first — notes panel lives in the activity bar, one click away
• Real Markdown — every note is a .md file with full VS Code editing: syntax highlighting, preview, extensions
• Pin & star — pin notes to the top, flag important ones with a star for quick access
• Date groups — notes auto-organize into Pinned, Today, Yesterday, and Older

Scope control

• Global notes — available across all workspaces
• Workspace notes — scoped to a project, visible only when that workspace is open
• Move freely — right-click any note to move between global and workspace scope

Google Drive sync

• One-click sync — right-click a note → Sync to Cloud
• Smart dedup — won't create duplicates if the file already exists on Drive
• Sync status — cloud icon shows which notes are synced
• Status refresh — verify sync state against Drive and clean up stale mappings
• Flexible delete — choose to delete locally, from Drive, or both
• Your credentials — uses your own Google Cloud project (no shared keys, no third-party servers)

Getting Started

1. Install DevJot from the VS Code Marketplace
2. Click the DevJot icon in the activity bar
3. Click + to create your first note
4. Start writing — it's just Markdown

Google Drive Setup

DevJot uses your own Google Cloud credentials to sync notes. This keeps your data private — nothing passes through third-party servers.

Step 1: Create a Google Cloud project

1. Go to Google Cloud Console
2. Click Select a project → New Project
3. Name it anything (e.g., "DevJot") → Create

Step 2: Enable the Google Drive API

1. Go to APIs & Services → Library
2. Search for Google Drive API
3. Click it → Enable

Step 3: Configure the OAuth consent screen

1. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen
2. Select External → Create
3. Fill in the required fields:
   • App name: DevJot (or anything you like)
   • User support email: your email
   • Developer contact: your email
4. Click Save and Continue
5. On the Scopes page, click Add or Remove Scopes
6. Find and select: https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.file
   • This scope only allows access to files created by DevJot — not your entire Drive
7. Click Save and Continue through the remaining steps

Step 4: Create OAuth credentials

1. Go to APIs & Services → Credentials
2. Click Create Credentials → OAuth client ID
3. Application type: Desktop app
4. Name: DevJot (or anything you like)
5. Click Create
6. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

Step 5: Add credentials to DevJot

1. In VS Code, click the cloud icon in the DevJot title bar
2. Or run Dev Jot: Cloud Sync from the command palette
3. Choose Enter Credentials
4. Paste your Client ID and Client Secret

That's it. Your credentials are stored securely in VS Code's encrypted secret storage — never in files or settings.

Note: While your app is in "Testing" mode on Google Cloud, only test users you add can authenticate. To add yourself: OAuth consent screen → Test users → Add your Google email.

MCP Server (AI Integration)

DevJot includes an MCP server that lets AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Windsurf manage your notes directly.

Enable MCP

Click the plug icon in the DevJot title bar, or toggle devjot.mcp.enabled in VS Code settings.

Configure your AI tool

VS Code Copilot Chat / Cursor

Handled automatically — when you enable MCP, DevJot registers itself in VS Code's mcp.servers setting. No manual config needed.

Claude Code

Run this in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport stdio devjot node ~/.vscode/extensions/mohamaddanish.devjot-<version>/dist/mcp/server.js --scope user

Tip: The exact path is shown in the notification when you click the plug icon to enable MCP.

Other MCP clients

Add this to your MCP client config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "devjot": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["<extension-path>/dist/mcp/server.js"]
    }
  }
}

Extension path by OS:

• Linux/macOS: ~/.vscode/extensions/mohamaddanish.devjot-<version>
• Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.vscode\extensions\mohamaddanish.devjot-<version>

Available tools

How it works

When MCP is enabled, the extension starts a local API server on 127.0.0.1 (localhost only). The MCP server translates AI tool calls into API requests to the extension. All operations go through the same services as the UI — no direct file access, no risk of data corruption, and the sidebar updates instantly.

Note: VS Code must be open with MCP enabled for the MCP server to work.

Commands

Privacy & Security

• No telemetry — DevJot collects nothing
• No shared credentials — you use your own Google Cloud project
• Minimal scope — drive.file only accesses files DevJot creates, not your entire Drive
• Encrypted storage — OAuth tokens stored in VS Code's SecretStorage (OS keychain)
• MCP is local-only — API server binds to 127.0.0.1 with a random bearer token, never exposed to the network

License

MIT